1. Challenge: Describe your challenge, including all relevant information.

I was leading a team of Lean consultants supporting companies in deploying Lean Management.  A Lean Management project was defined as a 3 month engagement working closely with the  team leaders and collaborators of a functional area (i.e. Motor Policy Issuance) in order to:  assess the current situation (as-is), create the future state (to-be) and develop the respective  action plan. The above analysis would take place in 5 pillars: Voice of Customer, Process  Efficiency, Performance Management, Organization, and finally Mindset and Behaviours.

The aim of the pillar “Mindset and Behaviours” was to capture how the collaborators felt about  their working environment and identify the behaviours / attitudes within the team that negatively  impacted team dynamics and collaboration; consequently having an effect on engagement,  motivation and ultimately individuals’ performance.

2. Selection: In your own words, briefly describe the tool you selected (e.g., what it is and

why you selected it for your challenge).

In order to map the as-is situation and create the to-be state, we conducted vision workshops  applying what in the Design Thinking training we termed as a “Visualisation tool”. In essence,  the participants were requested to build the as-is status and to-be state using: images from  flashcards, cutting photos from magazines, drawing their own pictures, etc. The premise was  that 1) participants would feel more comfortable using images rather than words to depict a  sensitive topic and 2) a good image can tell a more powerful story than a 1000 words.

3. Application: Describe how you applied the tool you selected to your challenge (e.g., what

you did and how the tool was applied effectively or ineffectively).

Opening (approx. 15 minutes):

- introduce the moderator(s) and the objectives of the session  - describe ground rules for the session  - reinforce the importance of an open and safe environment

Exploration (approx. 100 minutes)

- give participants opportunity to reflect on their current experience (individual synthesis)  - participants create their current state collage (group synthesis)  - explore participants responses in detail  - give participants opportunity to reflect on their desired state (individual synthesis)  - participants create their future state collage (group synthesis)  - explore participants responses in detail

Closing (approx. 30 minutes)

- summarise what has been discussed and replay to participants to ensure understanding  - ask participants whether any key issues have been overlooked  - thank participants for their contribution and time

We run a series of workshops in the last couple of years and became progressively better. These  involved: how to position the workshop and frame the question without producing too narrow  scope (i.e. focusing solely on communication issues); how to manage emotions and difficult  admissions; how to facilitate the emergence of patters without dismissing ideas that appear as  outliers; how to ensure the forum is not used for masked personal attacks.

4. Insight: Describe the insight you gained from applying the tool you selected to your

challenge (e.g., how an insight affected your thinking about the challenge and about  design thinking more broadly).

In the past, I was trying to organize and structure the workshops in a very rigid manner. The  theme of the session and more importantly the questions to be answered had to be very well  scoped and clearly defined in advance. All activities had to be timely executed to the pre- defined agenda, etc. What I was missing was that a group of people discussing a topic is a  dynamic setting. Perceptions and ideas evolve as individuals exchange and new dimensions or  themes may emerge as a result of the discussion. As a facilitator, I needed to be flexible to  accommodate changes in the agenda and approach, without losing sight of the larger picture.

More often than not, I would be surprised on the pain points identified and areas needing first  attention (i.e. the importance for the manager to greet his collaborators in the morning and  spend 5 minutes on how they are feeling, rather than silently walk towards his office). Moreover,  each team was different in terms of culture, dynamics, aspirations, etc. It is not possible to pre- guess the outcome of the sessions and what is important to them.

5. Approach: Describe what you might do differently next time -- applying the same tool

you selected or a different one -- and the reason(s) why

In the past, I was using post-it notes as a brainstorming tool. I find the use of pictures and  drawings to be more powerful, since it better captures the emotions of the individuals and how a  certain context makes them feel. Using pictures, participants appear more comfortable  expressing themselves on sensitive topics. At the same time, there are some participants that do  appreciate the option of using a more traditional way of capturing their thoughts (i.e. writing on  post-it notes). I am currently combining the two approaches in my sessions.

