Advice, tips and inspiration to help you perform at your best
In a previous post, I outlined how to facilitate idea generation session. However, what about strategy workshops?
Just to clarify what strategy workshops are all about:
Essentially the focus will be on planning and decision making. For example an annual brand plan or 3 year business strategy. It will usually involve team alignment. For example around an organisation’s vision, values or brand positioning.
In the marketing world, there are 2 types of workshop we’re asked to facilitate - the creative and the strategic. Creative workshops are all about idea generation - new products, services, names, communications. Strategic sessions are about planning and making decisions. Sometimes you can combine a bit of both, eg creating brand positioning, but they do tend to focus on one or the other.
People need stimulus to generate ideas. Simply thinking of ideas spontaneously can only get you so far. In workshops we need inputs and techniques to force us to make lateral connections. There are many to choose from, but if you’re not sure where to begin, here’s three tried and trusted exercises I always turn to.
Susan Cain’s book ‘Quiet’ has had a big influence on me. It’s a manifesto in support of the world’s introverts and how to make the most of their talents. You get a sense of the book from her inspiring TED talk – here. I spend much of my working life facilitating workshops, standing in front of people and telling them what to do. Despite this, I’m an introvert. (really, it’s true!) I have a lot of sympathy for introverts who attend workshops.
When I facilitate, I have one golden rule. Always give time back, never take it away. I never, ever over-run. Time is such a precious commodity. People have chosen to give this up to take part in your workshop, so you need to treat it with respect. In my view, there’s nothing worse than a facilitator who over-runs. It shows you haven’t planned or you’re losing control of the session. The only time I ever go over the allotted time is when the session owner or the attendees request it.
You’re about to kick off the workshop. You’ve planned it meticulously. You’re in a cool venue. You’ve designed a dynamic, creative workshop process. As a facilitator, the key thing now is to focus on building a rapport with the expectant faces looking at you. You need to create a close, harmonious relationship with everyone in the room.
Idea generation sessions are the workshops I enjoy the most. I love the buzz, the energy and it’s so satisfying to go through the journey of inventing something new. If you were to simply walk into an idea generation session, it may appear chaotic with post-its, magazines, random products and objects strewn all over the place. However, the best sessions are really well organised. Of course they need to be planned properly, but once this is done, this is how you structure them.
The most successful workshops I’ve been involved in are a result of great planning.. The more time and effort you put into this, the better the session will be. Detailed planning allows you to really understand the brief, design a fabulous process and create a truly bespoke event. By the time the workshop day comes around you’ll be full of confidence and able to adapt, improvise and have fun.
