Design Teams - Innovation through Diversity
— Transforming Organizations, Revitalizing Communities and Developing Human Potential
Have you ever…
… had to plan a major session, conference, meeting or event, but felt you didn't have all the input and insight necessary for a design that addresses the diverse needs before you?
… have to design an engagement or solution in the last minute for a just-in-time delivery of content or a unique group looking to connect?
… had to create a training or intervention and felt the guidelines you were handed by management were lacking insight from the would-be trainees?
Our most recent 30 min, change tool webinar was focused on leveraging the voices of your stakeholders – past/future participants, community members, partners, suppliers, administrators, ... and facilitators. Design teams represent the voices of the stakeholders that you need to engage – allowing you to innovate the right design based on the representation of the diversity that will be in the room. This works great via video conferencing by the way, including the leveraging of virtual breakout rooms!
How does it work?
The Invitation is a critical component to creating your design team.
Invite as broad as possible a group of representatives of those who will be/need to be at the engagement you are designing [RACI + F].
Include the voices of past/future participants, community members/partners, administrators, and facilitators.
Secondly, Design Team Meetings do not need to be complicated – but they need clear structure. At NEXUS4change we use the PLAN framework:
Purpose & Outcomes [Why?] Design Teams need a clear mandate to either design to a clearly stated purpose and outcomes, OR design within a clear frame of how and what purpose and outcomes to develop as part of their effort.
Leaders & Stakeholders [Who? And WHO ELSE?] Good Design team practice will already have sought to identify and invite representatives of the key stakeholders in the process and the engagement to be designed. One of the first questions we always ask is: Who else? Who might we be missing – again using RACI+F as a sort of checklist can be helpful here.
Activities/Agenda [What?] The third item Design Teams must address is the ‘What?’ of the engagement they are designing. What activities, what agenda will serve the purpose and outcomes identified? And finally,
Needs [How?] This reality check of items 1. through 3. Includes logistics, work hours, schedules, budgets, etc.
Another factor that was so beautifully surfaced by Collaborative Change Library authors Patricia and Craig Neal and our own Carol Gorelick in our webinar session, is the need for facilitation and convening of Design Team sessions. According to Craig Neal:
“Convening is really an acceptance of taking responsibility and accountability, and a commitment to the whole project. So if it's a design team, we're considering all the aspects of that design team from conception to a commitment to action or what we call purpose or “the heart of the matter.” Facilitation is clearly a part of the convening process [that includes] principles of engagement or principles of conversation – basically principles along the way [that clarify]: What are the behaviors that we attach to the engagement – in this case, a design team. [. . .] The definition for facilitation is ‘to make things easier,’ and [by contrast] convening is really a way of seeing things whole and coming from that perspective and taking that accountability, responsibility, and commitment from the beginning to the end of that engagement.”
Why does it work?
Design teams work because,
Diversity unlocks Innovation, and
Representation Empowers: People support what they have helped create. In contrast, they experience frustration without representation.
Finally, in my experience, when you have done the work to offer a strong invitation, have set clarity for purpose and outcomes, and pursued representation and diversity – then Design Teams often follow the Principles of Open Space Technology:
Whoever comes are the right people.
Whoever is attracted to the conversation are the people who can contribute most to that conversation – because they care. So they are exactly the ones who are capable of initiating action.
Whatever happens, is the only thing that could have.
We are all limited by our own pasts and expectations, yet we'll all do our best to focus on NOW – the present time and place – and not get bogged down in what could have or should have happened.
When it starts is the right time. When it's over, it's over
Creative spirit has its own time, and the task is to make the best contribution and enter the flow of creativity when it starts. It has its own rhythm. So do groups. Remember to pay attention to the flow of creativity – not just the clock. [Adapted from https://www.openspaceworld.org/files/tmnfiles/2pageos.htm.]
Design Teams don’t work [well]:
Without diversity, and
As a gimmick with an expectation to sanction predetermined agendas.
Some use-examples for design teams include:
Trainings: Include past and would-be participants of training engagements alongside managers and other stakeholders to design or re-design training engagements.
Conferences and large group engagements: Design Teams for large group engagements can often benefit from being held online to maximize representation. Facilitators should attempt to ensure that an overlap of participants and core group is consistent in what are likely multiple sessions over several months ahead of the event.
Community events: NEXUS4change holds the quarterly Great Lakes Exchange, held quarterly on Saturdays, with a new Design Team convening on the Friday prior to design the event. For details check out: https://nexus4change.com/greatlakes.
Method development: The following is the ‘Design Team Invitation/Charter’ from eXtension’s 2018 effort in building the Impact Collaborative:
“We invite you to be on our design team and represent the voices of past/future participants, community members/partners, administrators, and facilitators. The design team is charged with [insert the design task].
Our design team’s purpose is to [example: craft an integrated experience that empowers our participants and their partners to collaboratively accelerate community-wide incubation and implementation of innovative projects that demonstrate local impact.]
Some of you will naturally fit more than one of the stakeholder groups that need to be represented on our team. Please know that your wisdom is valued and important to our work together. Our aim is to ensure that you are are getting and giving something of value during the design process.”
Many other examples exist in the practice of people and organizations that seek to be collaborative. Design teams are one of those tools that can yield meaningful, impactful, and even innovative results even when they are not taking place in ideal conditions. There is often a sense of wanting more diversity, better representation, more time, more sessions - do not let that stop you from leveraging Design Teams.
Check out NEXUS4change’s webinar series of 30-min. high-impact change tool talks. Check our events page [www.NEXUS4change.com/events] for more on the power of Design Teams, the Change Formula, Collaborative Roadmaps, Appreciative Benchmarking and more.