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Getting The Most Out Of Hybrid Workshops

by dbward | Sep 27, 2021 | Facilitation Tips, Tutorials

This week’s post is by Josh LeFevre, Julie Williams Stogner

COVID-19 changed the way we all collaborate. As individuals and organizations make decisions about the future of their workplace, we are likely to see more collaboration sessions with a blend of in-person and remote participants. While Josh’s personal preference is to host workshops that are all in-person or all virtual, we’d like to share what we’ve learned from a recent hybrid workshop we led.

This should be the beginning of the conversation around how to make ITK, design or innovation style workshops most effective in the growing hybrid collaboration space.

THE CASE STUDY
In May, Julie asked Josh to develop and facilitate a workshop to help improve decision advantage for logistics teams that are stood up in times crisis . Throughout June and July, Josh and Julie worked closely with the sponsor to craft a half-day in-person workshop with a series of activities to achieve the desired outcomes.

The sponsor asked all the participants to attend in-person to elevate the level of collaboration. One week prior to the planned workshop, some participants expressed they could no longer attend in person or that they only felt comfortable attending virtually, due to COVID-19. While this abrupt change was not ideal, we quickly pivoted to run a hybrid workshop with six in-person participants and four virtual participants.

As one participant observed, the workshop turned out great “due in large part to the upfront planning and exceptional team support.”

If you are going to lead a hybrid ITK session, consider using this brief checklist:

IN A HYBRID CONTEXT

Test all connections, tools and tool access (like MURAL) for participants, video feeds, microphones, Teams access, projectors/monitors, etc., are working properly and are in sync to ensure virtual portion of the meeting will not have technical difficulties
- Leave enough time to troubleshoot (do not wait till the day of to test)
Ensure all materials are printed or available online ahead of time
Have one lead facilitator and at least two – four co-facilitators (3-5 facilitators total)
- Lead facilitator should attend in person if possible
- Have at least 1-2 extra co-facilitators in-person to collect notes and update lead facilitator of incoming virtual feedback. One of these facilitators should be responsible to monitoring the online chat and video feeds in the room.
  - The secondary facilitator may be needed as escort for participants depending on site guidelines
- Have at least 1-2 facilitators online to capture notes, transcribe in-person activities and manage online conversations. One of these facilitators should be confident running a virtual workshop on their own in case there are technical issues.
Make “video on” a requirement for virtual participants (or at least when they speak and participate). Video on encourages engagement and less distraction of virtual attendees. This also helps in-person participants feel as if they are being eased dropped on.
If using MURAL (digital whiteboard) and in-person whiteboards, make sure both are updated and match synchronously
- This can be done by either an in person or online facilitator
- This task is incredibly challenging as those attending virtually cannot always see the activity outputs until they are completed
  - Encourage participants to read their contributions as they are added
  - Facilitator (Lead) can re-read the up-voted contributions
  - Secondary facilitator can take pictures after each activity to ensure the online participants and facilitator(s) are able to follow
- Take time to pause and invite virtual participants to contribute to discussions
- Take breaks after dot voting to tabulate online and in-person votes
- Consider utilizing an MS Form version of Rose, Bud, Thorn
- Use printed handouts and virtual handouts for attendee bios, instructions for site, instructions for activities, contact information for follow on discussions (create these ahead of time)

ADDITIONAL THINGS TO TRY

Have a smart projector or large touchscreen up in the room for in-person and remote persons to collaborate seamlessly via a digital interface
Provide video feeds via tablet or mobile device at every in-person working group to facilitate a stronger in-person/remote collaboration during discussions
Pair up one in-person participant with a remote participant, throughout the workshop, to ensure the remote participant’s voice is heard and has a clear access to provide contributions to mixed (in-person and virtual) breakout groups
Take more frequent but shorter breaks to ensure remote attendees stay connected and to sync in-person and virtual contributions, as needed
Conduct a “how to” MURAL or platform training ahead of the hybrid workshop

Introducing The Time Blossom

by dbward | Sep 20, 2021 | Tools 101, Tutorials | 1 comment

Today’s blog post is by Allison Khaw

Let me tell you about the Time Blossom!

This innovation tool can be used to help you better manage your time on a project. On a larger scale, the Time Blossom is one of several existing “X-Blossoms,” which are specially-themed variations of the Lotus Blossom. Inspired by the diversity of X-Blossoms created before me, I chose time management as the underlying theme for the Time Blossom because of how pivotal a role it plays in our busy world today.

First, a refresher—to use the Lotus Blossom, start by labeling its center box with a problem or topic of your choice. From there, leverage the tool’s grid structure to brainstorm ideas and propagate them outward to the surrounding blossoms. These ideas may be characteristics, categories, or solutions related to your central topic, but the key is that you’ll generate many of them in a rapid manner.

The Time Blossom has the same structure as its parent tool, but it is pre-populated with eight open-ended questions that revolve around time management and prioritization. Thus, to use the tool, select a project or subject area to focus on, and then fill in the outer blossoms with your answers in the context of your project.

It’s as simple as that.

In particular, consider the top row of questions in the Time Blossom. Think of these as the “Goldilocks” questions, but in units of time: they ask you to identify tasks that are running “too hot,” “too cold,” or “just right.” In fact, the question, “What are we spending the right amount of time on?” was not included in an older version of the Time Blossom; only after early testing did I discover its importance. Recognizing what we’re doing right is just as valuable as recognizing what we can do better, after all!

Let’s take a look at a Time Blossom example. Imagine a fictional scenario where you and your team—Alisha, Gabe, Kai, Liz, Pat, Rob, and Stacy—are holding a brainstorming session on the development of your product. (This realistic premise stems from our very own choose-your-own-adventure-style book called The Toolbox of Innovation!) If you populated the Time Blossom as shown, what might you conclude about how effectively you are managing your time?

Perhaps your team would conclude that your product development is going well but could still be improved by the reprioritization of certain tasks. For instance, you might plan to spend more time with users or set up a meeting to uncover any hidden assumptions about your product. The boxes with thumbs-up symbols indicate the ideas that especially resonated with the team. Down the line, you might even hold Lotus Blossom sessions for some of the more complex ideas that should be further explored.

To me, improving your time management skills is as much about increasing your self-awareness as it is about working efficiently. Knowing which tasks you’re prioritizing, and why, can give you a sense of clarity that is hard to find otherwise. Tools are just one way to help with that. The Time Blossom is by no means the first—nor will it be the last—time management tool, but if it prompts you to reflect on these topics, it is time well spent.

Download an editable Time Blossom template

Stakeholder Toolchains

by choij | Aug 16, 2021 | Tools 101, Tutorials

The Innovation Toolkit has 5 stakeholder-related tools, and now that you know which one to use and when, the question becomes: How can I create an ITK Stakeholder Toolchain?

As a quick refresher, Toolchains involve using a series of ITK tools in sequence, where the outputs of one tool becomes the input for the next tool. By chaining multiple tools together, you can help your team really make progress towards your intended objective.

Planning for stakeholders falls into three general steps, as listed below:

Identifying who is a relevant stakeholder;
Assessing which stakeholders to engage with; and
Assessing the optimal engagement approach.

To create an ITK Stakeholder Toolchain, decide which planning steps are your objective. Next, pick & choose a tool that supports each step. If your objective is only one of the planning steps, then pick both of the tools. Voila! Now you have an ITK Stakeholder Toolchain.

Here are six example ITK Stakeholder Toolchains based on your objective:

#1 Stakeholder Toolchain: I want to identify a list of relevant stakeholders

Venn Diagram with two circles. Left circle is labeled Identification and right circle is labeled Assessment. In the left circle, two tools are listed: Stakeholder Identification Canvas (labeled 2) and Community Map (labeled 1). Arrows show iteration between the two tools.

#2 Stakeholder Toolchain: I want to categorize and assess multiple stakeholders

Venn Diagram with two circles. Left circle is labeled Identification and right circle is labeled Assessment. In the intersection of the two circles, two tools are listed: Stakeholder Power Categories (labeled 1) and Stakeholder Map & Matrix (labeled 2). Arrows show iteration between the two tools.

#3 Stakeholder Toolchain: I want to identify and categorize stakeholders

#4 Stakeholder Toolchain: I want to categorize and plan engagements for stakeholders

#5 Stakeholder Toolchain: I want to incorporate equity considerations when identifying, assessing, and planning engagements for stakeholders

#6 Stakeholder Toolchain: I want to identify, categorize, and plan engagements for stakeholders

While there are many stakeholder-related methods and tools on the market, our goal with these ITK stakeholder tools is to help teams quickly get started or unstuck when thinking through how to include relevant stakeholders for their effort. We encourage teams to use the ITK tools in combination with other market tools to create even more Stakeholder Toolchains.

Let us know how it goes in the comments below!

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Links to ITK Stakeholder Tools:

Which ITK Stakeholder tool should I use and when?

by choij | Aug 2, 2021 | Tools 101, Tutorials, Uncategorized

Tips on selecting from the 5 different ITK stakeholder tools

– – –

Planning for stakeholders falls into three general steps:

Identifying who is a relevant stakeholder;
Assessing which stakeholders to engage with; and
Assessing the optimal engagement approach.

The Innovation Toolkit now has 5 stakeholder-related tools, which serve different purposes and are complementary with each other. These tools are best used early in the effort, but they can be revisited whenever the effort needs to interact or collaborate with the people involved, interested, or impacted by the effort.

Here are some quick tips for when to use each stakeholder tool.

ITK Tool	What is it	Scope of Tool	When to use it	Why use it
Stakeholder Identification Canvas	Ideate a more comprehensive & representative set of relevant stakeholders to your effort	(Ideally) All stakeholders	Step #1 – Identifying who is a relevant stakeholder	The embedded equity lens helps broaden the team’s perspective to consider stakeholders beyond the default set
Community Map	A fast way to capture and prioritize stakeholders	(Ideally) All stakeholders	Step #1 – Identifying who is a relevant stakeholder	Can be conducted very quickly because of the simple and intuitive categories (which can be tailored to the team’s effort)
Stakeholder Power Categories	Quickly categorize and assess which stakeholders to engage	Multiple stakeholders	Step #2 – Assessing which stakeholders to engage with	The embedded equity lens highlights impacted stakeholders and how to elevate their roles on the effort
Stakeholder Map & Matrix	Look across multiple stakeholders and categorize them according to key variables (e.g., interest, influence, impact)	Multiple stakeholders	Step #2 – Assessing which stakeholders to engage with	Can assess and compare multiple stakeholders at the same time
Quickstart Stakeholder Engagement Canvas	A quick way to begin developing a plan for effectively engaging a stakeholder	Individual stakeholder	Step #3 – Assessing the optimal engagement approach	The embedded equity lens helps the team explore four additional considerations beyond the default to help create more equity-informed engagements

Let us know how it goes in the comments below!

What Is Innovation?

by dbward | Apr 12, 2021 | Tutorials

Last week we posted a video about the most frequently asked question. This week’s video addresses a question that doesn’t get asked often enough: What is innovation?

Introducing the updated Problem Framing Canvas!

by choij | Jan 7, 2021 | equity driven design, Tools 101, Tutorials

Learn more about the equity-driven updates to one of our most popular ITK tools.

– – –

As part of Team Toolkit’s collaboration with the MITRE Social Justice Platform, we embarked on taking a fresh look at our ITK tools with an equity lens.

Equity-driven design thinking encourages us to create not just inclusive and diverse solutions, but to create equitable solutions. Equitable solutions are available to all (e.g., equal access), and they also help equalize who benefits from the solution (e.g., many groups benefit, not just one). Equity-driven design thinking helps ensure we design at the margins, for those who have the greatest need, who are traditionally left out of the design process. When we design at the margins, we design for everyone.

One way we can do this is by considering who has been traditionally “left out” and to design solutions that level the playing field. In addition, equity-driven design thinking encourages us, as the designers, to take a critical look at our own assumptions and biases that we inherently bring to the table and implicitly embed as part of the final solution.

First up was one of our most popular tools: Problem Framing canvas.

Visually, you’ll notice that we’ve partitioned the Problem Framing canvas into three areas: Look Inward, Look Outward, and Reframe.

Look Inward speaks directly to the additional step, Notice, in equity-driven design thinking. In this section, participants are guided to look not only at the problem they are facing, but also how they themselves might be part of the problem. We’ve added questions to encourage groups to explicitly discuss assumptions and biases, and as part of the Reflect step in equity-driven design thinking, participants are asked to imagine which of these assumptions may be designed, reframed, or removed.

New questions have also been added to dig deeper into who experiences the problem. We ask participants to consider the lived experiences and consequences that users who have this problem face, which may otherwise have been overlooked. We also added equity-related factors for why this problem hasn’t been solved, such as lack of authority or a situational inequity.

Look outward also speaks directly to the Notice step in equity-driven design thinking. In this section, we encourage participants to broaden their thinking to find more insights and inspiration by learning from others who may or may not have this problem.

We’ve added questions to encourage participants to consider who has been left out, as well as to examine who benefits when the problem does or does not exist. We’ve also added an equity-related factor for why others don’t have this problem, which is that it’s been transferred.

Reframe culminates the Reflect step in equity-driven design thinking by asking participants to synthesize their insights and discussions into a succinct problem statement. We’ve streamlined the suggested “How Might We” statement to help groups create more powerful, action-oriented statements.

Lastly, we’ve introduced new “Question Bank” and “Facilitation Tips” sections in the Instructions to further assist problem framing discussions. These additional questions can provide more richness to the discussion, as well as deeper inquiry into the problem.

One final important point – Although we’ve updated the Problem Framing canvas with an equity-driven lens, this tool can be used to guide discussions on ALL problems, not just equity-related problems. By embedding this equity-driven lens into the questions and the tool itself, this naturally leads to discussions that will help create more equitable solutions since they bring equity to the forefront, rather than relying on a participant to bring them up.

We hope you find the updated Problem Framing canvas useful, and let us know what you think in the comments below!

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