Facilitating Creative Thinking Workshop by Cristina Morejon

DGMT 732 + Savannah Bicycle Campaign Process Book

Index

Team....................................................................................................................3 Timeline.............................................................................................................4 Purpose of course........................................................................................5 Theories in practice.....................................................................................6 Organization search & selection.........................................................12 Client mission................................................................................................14 Challenges of the organization............................................................15 Problem statement and objective of the final workshop........16 Development of our Framework..........................................................17 Runthrough contex.....................................................................................22 Final workshop details.............................................................................26 Tools and justification...............................................................................29 About final facilitation...............................................................................31 Space.................................................................................................................34 Tools & time (Estimated and Actual)................................................35 Tools...................................................................................................................36 Client Feedback...........................................................................................49 Observations & Analysis.........................................................................50 Takeaways for Savannah Bicycle Campaign................................52 Obstacles we faced...................................................................................54 How did we become wiser....................................................................55 References.....................................................................................................56

Team

Cristina Morejรณn

Darshini Shah

Neha Tadepalli

John VanDerKloot

Project Timeline

Purpose of the course

For us to develop the skills to help induce creativity in/for an organization. Facilitation helps people to open up to creativity by breaking down barriers which helps in the progression of objectives. Incubating creativity within an organization brings different teams together in order to arrive at a creative solution and rethink problems/challenges.

Theories in practice

Throughout our learning experience in terms of facilitation and management of creativity, we encountered valuable themes and we intend to relate our takeaways with the experience of planning and conducting the workshop. Below are the visuals that represent our main takeaways from theory in practice throughout the process book.

These representations will be placed where we made a connection to the theory.

The meaning of creativity

“Creative thinking, as noted above, refers to how people approach problems and solutions—their capacity to put existing ideas together in new combinations.” (Amabile, 2014) Reference: Amabile, T. (2014, July 31). How to Kill Creativity. Retrieved January 14, 2018, from https://hbr. org/1998/09/how-to-kill-creativity

Our Connection: It is a common misconception to associate creativity with artistic skills and assume that it has nothing to do with people that don’t have those skills or an arts background. When we refer to the creative thinking workshop, we meant that our aim was to help the team find new ways of approaching their problems.

Leading the workshop

According to Kent: “Managing is an authority relationship while leading is an influence relationship.” (Mullins, 2016) Reference: Mullins (2016) “Leadership and organizations” Management and Organisational Behaviour, 11e © Pearson Education Limited

Our Connection: A leader develops an environment of teamwork and support. Through the workshop, the facilitators guide the participants without interfering with their work. The lead facilitator was a figure of authority to some extent, but by creating a comfortable environment and having certain distance with the participants the authoritarian role become more of a guiding, influencing figure.

Creating a safe and open environment

In this paper it discusses about how pixar follows a few things in order to continue being creative. Pixarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Operating Principles 1. Everyone must have the freedom to communicate with anyone. 2. It must be safe for everyone to offer ideas. 3. We must stay close to innovations happening in the academic community Reference: How Pixar fosters collective creativity, Ed Catmull, HBR Communications, pg: 12, September 2008

Our Connection: Creative facilitations enhance an environment where one can express their opinions and ideas without any boundaries and judgements. It relates back to Pixarâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s operating principles.

Level of communication

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Low-context communication, where the listener has to have everything explained in precise detail, and high-context communication, where a relationship between the speaker and the listener allows the context to be taken for grantedâ&#x20AC;? (Hall,1989) Reference: Hall, E.T. (1989) Beyond Culture, New York, Anchor Books

Our Connection: When colleagues are very comfortable with one another the context is sometimes taken for granted, this can sometimes lead to things not being fully communicated.

Reframing problems

In the paper “Are you Solving The Right Problems? HBR paper”, there is an example named “slow elevator”, which talks about the problem of having a “slow elevator” and is reframed into “the wait is annoying”. Reference:Wedellsborg, T. W. (2017, Jan. & feb.). Are you solving the right problems? Reframing them can reveal unexpected solutions[PDF]. HBR.

Our Connection: When we had first approached Savannah bicycle campaign, they expressed concerns of potential threats of reduction in donations due to new tax rules. But during the facilitation we re-framed their problem statement in order to help them rethink this in a different approach. They had plenty of ideas in the end which were easy to apply to their initial problem. It is similar to what the paper talks about as well. Re-framing the problem statement.

Organization search and selection

We reached out to 10 organizations in Savannah, out of which 5 showed interest in our proposal to facilitate the workshop. 1. Creative Coast - Bull Street Labs 2. Forever Tybee 3. Healthy Savannah 4. Savannah Bicycle Campaign 5. Sothebys Real Estate We met with all five of them and discuss the potential availability and expectations. A few of them had vague expectations and others hoped to work on branding strategy. Savannah Bicycle Campaign was working towards a larger cause and for the common good of people in Savannah. We considered availability, larger cause and cooperation of the members as major factors that led us to select Savannah Bicycle Campaign.

Client Mission

The Savannah Bicycle Campaign is a nonprofit membership organization that advocates for bicycling and bicyclists in Savannah and Chatham County. They help to create a safer and more convenient bicycling environment by uniting already existing cycling groups and individual cyclists, engages with local governments to advocate for better facilities and enforcement, while encouraging, educating, empowering residents and visitors to make bicycling a healthy part of their daily lives. They use the 6 E Model: Encouragement Education Engineering Evaluation Enforcement Equity

Challenges of the organization

We decided to meet the representatives of Savannah Bicycle Campaign at their office on Lincoln Street. We met John (Executive Director) and Kayla (Chair), who were well prepared and descriptive of their core concerns. They had three main problems which could be potential approaches for the workshop. The three main problems: 1. Increase the value of their membership: How to increase membership in response to new tax changes which would potentially affect their donations? 2. Brand transition: How to gain new member without alienating existing members? 3. Inventory control & organization: How to organize our inventory efficiently? It helped us gain confidence as they had clarity about the problems. We decided to reframe the organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s challenges through collaborative and creative exercises.

Problem statement and objective of the final workshop

Problem Statement: To think about ways of increasing membership for Savannah bicycle campaign with activities designed to reframe the problem. From our understanding after multiple meetings with Savannah bicycle members, we felt there would be value in helping them reframe the problem. Since the board members were going to be a part of the workshop as well, it would bring their multiple perspectives to converge on one problem and engage in a conversation. The objective of the workshop was to walk them through the process of diverge, discover and develop in order to reframe their problem.

Development of our framework

The goal we set for ourselves while conducting any workshop was to allow the participants to think differently through various activities. Our approach to the development of our framework was achieved by looking at various design processes. We referred to the Double Diamond tool and thought of ways it could be adapted to our goal which led us to develop our three core categories: Diverge, Discover and Develop and six subcategories: Explore, Gather, Synthesize, Define, Generate, Plan.

3D Framework Plan

rge ive D

Dev elo p

Explore

Generate

We developed the framework with the goal that it could be applied to any workshop to ignite creative thinking. Gather

Discover Define

Synthesize

3D Framework - Diverge Explore: Understanding the issue.

Diverge is focused on helping participants to look at all the different facets of the problem.

Gather: Collection of information.

3D Framework - Discover Synthesize: Grouping and making connections.

Discover is about making connections between disparate ideas to create meaning.

Define: Enhancing clarity around the issue.

3D Framework - Develop Generate: Ideation and generation of ideas.

Develop takes meaningful ideas and seeks to convert them into valuable opportunities.

Plan: To make ideas feasible.

Runthrough context Context

Runthrough 1 1

Framework

Boundary Examination Rich Picture Attribute Listing Card Storyboard Estimate - Discuss - Estimate Crazy Eights Help and Hinder Matrix

Brief

Look at Starlandia from the perspective of a potential customer. Analyze the problem areas in order to explore new ways that could improve their business.

Participants Space

Runthrough 2 Icebreaker Rich Picture Dreams and Nightmares Prioritization Grid Crazy Eights Feedback

Late night snacks in Savannah

3 people from DMGT 732 .

4 SCAD students

Long table, presentation on the screen and whiteboard.

Long table using a craft roll. Participants in one side, facilitators in the other side.

Runthrough context 1 Runthrough 1 Purpose

Challenges

Feedback

Future Improvements

Runthrough 2

Our initial purpose when developing the framework was to tackle the exact problem the organization shared with us. We conducted the runthrough to test our initial framework and the facilitation plan.

After our first runthrough experience in combination with our learnings from the class, we looked into developing a framework that will allow the participants to re-frame or openly arrive to the problem. We conducted the runthrough to test our second version of the framework and practice our interaction with the participants as facilitators.

- Not having an ice breaker to start didn't prepare the participants for the workshop or the make the environment more comfortable. - The interference with the participants work breaks the their connection to their work disrupting the workshop. - The physical space used was not appropriate for the activities planned.

- There was a lack of clear instructions, which disrupted the workshop. - Having a presentation in the screen was distracting for the participants - The tools selected were complex and hard to follow for the participants as well as for the facilitators.

- The participants didn't know each other, which took some time to get them comfortable impacting the mood of the workshop. - Having them sitting next to each other on the long table with the craft roll paper made it hard for them to engage in a conversation and to transition from one activity to the other disrupting the flow of the workshop. - The goal of the workshop was not mentioned. The positions and interaction with the facilitator was not comfortable, being in front was awkward for the participants. Making the environment and mood of the workshop fun and energetic since the selection of the ice-breaker did not accomplish that.

- Implementation of an ice breaker that helps the facilitators and participants get warmed up with the environment and with each other. - Focus the attention and engagement of the participants of the leader by not having a presentation. - Analyze in depth the selection of each tool and based on the experience of the runthrough make the necessary changes. - Plan the activities and the space in advance.

- Clear introduction of the workshop mentioning the objective. - Ensure that the interaction with the facilitators and the environment is enjoyable for the participants by rethinking the appropriate ice-breaker. - Rearrange our positioning in the space in order not to interfere with the participant's work.

Runthrough 1

Runthrough 2

Final Workshop Details

Client: Savannah Bicycle Campaign Date: Sunday 25th February Time: 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm Location: Foundry Cafe

Final Event - Our Agenda Tools

Our Roles for the Facilitation: Facilitator: John Time Keeper: Darshini Documentation: Cristina Visual Documentation: Neha

Introduction Ice Breaker: Sketch Pictionary Rich Picture

Time 2:00pm - 2:05 pm 2:05pm - 2:15pm 2:15pm - 2:30pm

Dreams and Nightmares

2:30pm - 2:45pm

Prioritization grid

2:45pm - 3:00pm

Crazy 8â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s + Discussion

3:00pm - 3:15pm

Estimate - discuss - estimate

3:15pm - 3:30pm

Feedback

3:30pm - 3:40pm

Tools used

Explore

Plan

rg e

D ev

iv e

e lo

Rich Picture

Generate

Gather

Crazy Eights

Dreams & Nightmares

D is c ove r Define Prioritization Grid, Estimate - Discuss - Estimate

Synthesize

Justification of tools under sub-categories

Explore - Rich Picture This tool is a means to immerse the audience in expressing their ideas and issues visually. It helps establish an understanding of the major concerns and bring everyone on the same page by sketching ideas and taking notes as a reference for them to look back on. Gather - Dreams & Nightmares After exploring and understanding the context through Rich Picture, the participants individually list their dreams and nightmares about the organization. This would help them collect all their individual wishes and concerns. Define - Prioritization Grid Once the participants have listed their Dreams and Nightmares, they need to quantify and define the possibility of it through a 2 x 2 matrix. This brings clarity to the level of importance and feasibility of their thoughts.

Justification of tools under sub-categories

Generate - Crazy Eights The participants would generate eight ideas from their selected high priority dreams & nightmares from the 2 x 2 matrix. The objective is to generate as many ideas as they can in a short amount of time. This would steer them clear of rationality and would enhance creativity. Define - Estimate Discuss Estimate This tool was meant to bring clarity by focusing the discussion towards the ideas that are most relevant. This discussions brings rationality to the ideas previously generated. Due to the scope and objective of this workshop we did not use tools from the stages Synthesize or Plan.

About final facilitation

We arrived at the finalized location an hour early to set up the room. It was more feasible to conduct the workshop in the space suggested by the client, as they were well-versed and comfortable working in that space. The event started at 2:05 pm with introductions. The workshop lasted for 1 hour and 22 minutes. The workshop was divided into various activities and ended with a short feedback discussion requested by workshop facilitators.

Participants

We planned for six participants from the board of Savannah Bicycle Campaing, in actuality we had eight participants plus one observer.

Planned

Actual

Observer

Participants

Brent Buice

Brook Serrano

Charisse Bennett

Caila Brown

William Jamerson

Chad Brock

Joe Steffan

Gayla Bennett

John Bennett

Space

Facilitators Participants Observers

Direction of facilitation area

Planned

Actual

Tools & Time Estimated

Actual Time

Introduction

5 min

2 min

Ice breaker

10 min

6 min

Rich Picture

15 min

10 min

Activity

Dreams and Nightmares Prioritization Grid

15 min 10 min + 5 min

6 min 14 min

Crazy Eights + Discus-

10 min

5 min

Estimate Discuss Esti-

10 min

23 min

Feedback

10 min

4 min

Total

1 hr 35 min

1 hr 22 min

Introduction

WHY? We explained what our roles were during the facilitation in order to avoid confusion and maintain clarity of who was leading the workshop. CONNECTION: This gave a level of comfort between participants and facilitators before starting the activities.

Ice Breaker - Sketch Pictionary

WHY? Through combining contextual elements of the organization with a game, the icebreaker familiarized the participants with themes and gave them a sense of confidence about participating in the workshop. CONNECTION: The playful atmosphere that the icebreaker game created was important to the success of the next activity which involved sketching. We needed people to get out of their comfort zones and be comfortable and playful with their ideas. SOURCE: Adapted from Pictionary Game

Rich Picture

WHY? This activity was intended to make the context of the organization apparent, and facilitate the sharing of organizational knowledge between the participants. CONNECTION: This gave them all a better understanding of the context to participate in the next activity, where they would look at the organizations challenges from their own perspective. Source: Checkland, P. (1992) Systems Thinking and Practice, Chichester, Wiley Farmer, E.S. (1994) Tutorial Case Study for T245, The Open University

Dreams and Nightmares WHY? This allows each participants own perspective of what they would want, and what they consider challenges to be seen. CONNECTION: This provided individual data points that could further be discussed and prioritized in the next phase. Source: IBM Design thinking field guide (2017). University

Prioritization Grid

WHY? We used this tool in order to discuss and quantify the importance of the data points through sorting and organizing ideas. CONNECTION: By analyzing the value of each idea, the group converged into one area of interest in order to branch out into individual creative work to share their own interpretation through quick Idea generation. Source: IBM Design thinking field guide (2017)

Crazy Eights

WHY? To produce multiple and unfiltered ideas. CONNECTION: This gave the group an opportunity to produce ideas individually which could then be further discussed with the group to estimate its possibilities. Source: Design Sprint Kit. (n.d.). Retrieved March 10, 2018, from https://designsprintkit.withgoogle.com/methods/sketch/crazy-8s/

Estimate - Discuss - Estimate

WHY? To share and understand individual ideas through discussion, and to converge upon ideas through evaluation. CONNECTION: To reach a possible outcome to the workshop, the group discussed and collectively came up with the most valuable ideas that they could take further to the process of implementation. Source: Nutt, P.C. (1992) Managing Planned Change, Macmillan

Client feedback

Expectations: They expected us to tackle the problem that was discussed at the beginning regarding membership. And it was also expected of us to come with active and engaging exercises; mentioned they weren’t disappointed. Experience: Considered it useful for new members and helpful to get them integrated with the organization. It helped them realize the different perspectives that exist. They appreciated our ability to stand back and let them work. Take away: Noticed a lack of awareness of the organization’s activities, which indicates to him (John Bennett) that he hasn’t communicated sufficiently what is happening. Now, the organization is moving to better inform its board members. It was considered a great warm up for the Spring Board Retreat Meeting coming up.

Observations & analysis

Space: The space used consisted of one large table for seated drawing activities, one table for sorting activities, and a framework posted on the wall. This allowed us to separate the activities in order to engage the participants fully with the activity at hand. The act of moving from place to place helped them stay energetic and focused. Having to move to the location of activities made it less likely that someone could be overlooked during an activity. Participants: Having a variety of older and newer board members helped the newer members understand existing problems. Also, members from different backgrounds, brought a variety of experiences to the workshop.

Observations & analysis

Framework: Our goal while designing our framework was to aid the organization in re-framing the problem. The workshop was meant to bring the members together and to collaborate outside their usual workspace. By using our 3Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s framework we chose tools for this workshop which equipped the participants to diverge and discover. By diverging from their pre-existing positions they were able to discover unexplored spaces. The scope of the workshop was limited to the generation of insights while the next steps was to develop these insights, a process they would undertake themselves. Time: The actual time spent on the activities ended up being less than what was planned, except for the discussion activities, which exceeded the planned time. During the workshop we observed participants discussing next steps to take the idea forward. They were engaged in a discussion which took much longer than initially anticipated.

Takeaways for Savannah Bicycle Campaign

Towards the end of the workshop, the group collectively came to discuss the following idea: “Better intentions/ Designed pilot projects to build support.” What’s next? To explore this idea further the participants can do a brainstorming activity such as Crazy Eights to generate potential solutions. Once they have brainstormed possible solutions and a focus area, they could use ‘Help and Hinder’ to plan the implementation steps.

Takeaways for Savannah Bicycle Campaign

Helps

Help & Hinder as a tool provides a clear view of the critical factors that can help or hurt the implementation of an idea. Source: Henry, J. and Martin, J.N.T. (1997) Creative Problem-solving Guide, B882 Residential School Booklet, The Open University

Context Exploration Who? What?

Action Planning How? When? Where?

Hinders

Obstacles we faced

-The ambient noise of the event room was distracting to a few participants. Combined with the music and the echo, it was a little disruptive to the activity. During the feedback it was mentioned that the space sound quality could have been considered for future facilitations. -The event room was booked back to back and we had to end the workshop promptly. Due to this time constraint, we did not get a chance to wrap up properly and get a detailed feedback. However, we overcame that by providing a follow-up plan in the next meeting. -Since there were more people than we expected, we had a limited supply of resources and the space was cramped. -Getting involved in a group that is already accustomed with each other was difficult. -The physical space had obstacles due to the columns in the centre of the tables.

How did we become wiser?

We learned that the key to a successful facilitation is to lay down the tools and step away. Not to interfere with the work of the participants. The real value of the workshop is in the follow up. It is important to bring together what was discussed and look at the steps to move forward. Be prepared for potential eventualities, and be adaptable to changes. The creativity aspect of a workshop does not refer to their personal artistic ability or talent but to approach problems with an open mind.

References Amabile, T. (2014, July 31). How to Kill Creativity. Retrieved January 14, 2018, from https://hbr.org/1998/09/how-to-kill-creativity Catmull, E. (2008) ‘How Pixar fosters collective creativity’, Harvard Business Review, September, vol. 86, no. 9, pp. 64–72. Checkland, P. (1992) Systems Thinking and Practice, Chichester, Wiley Farmer, E.S. (1994) Tutorial Case Study for T245, The Open University Design Sprint Kit. (n.d.). Retrieved March 10, 2018, from https://designsprintkit.withgoogle.com/methods/sketch/crazy-8s/ Hall, E.T. (1989) Beyond Culture, New York, Anchor Books. Henry, J. and Martin, J.N.T. (1997) Creative Problem-solving Guide, B882 Residential School Booklet, The Open University IBM Design Thinking Field Guide (2017) Martin, J. (2000). Technique library. Milton Keynes: Open University Business School Mullins (2016) Management and Organisational Behaviour, 11e © Pearson Education Limited Nutt, P.C. (1992) Managing Planned Change, Macmillan Stuhlfaut, Mark W. ; Vanden Bergh, Bruce G. Creativity is …: A metaphoric model of the creative thought process(2014) Journal of Marketing Communications, Vol.20(6), p.383-396 Wedellsborg, T. W. (2017, Jan. & feb.). Are you solving the right problems? Reframing them can reveal unexpected solutions[PDF]. HBR.