Over the next three blog posts, I will describe a recipe that I often follow with great success when I am conducting value envisioning sessions.
They are:
- Pre-work that is an important part of the prep for the sessions.
- The exercises that are central to the workshop sessions.
- Following up with a value framework as a deliverable from the sessions.
In this blog, I discuss the pre-work that goes into a successful design thinking value workshop. Speaking to experts in design thinking, I have landed on the following five best practice tips:
- Clearly articulate the hypotheses for your design thinking sessions. You must socialize them with your key sponsors. You and they need to agree on the expected outcomes from the value envisioning sessions.
- Provide background information for the participants. While we want the participants to demonstrate unconstrained thinking, we do want them to have the necessary background and context to improve the quality of their participation.
- Quite often, the employees are unaware of the full extent of their organization’s vision. Providing links to their executive viewpoints (both internal and external) is a good way to bring the participants up to speed.
- Never assume that your participants are familiar with design thinking exercises. I have seen many a workshop go south simply because a key participant was not comfortable with the fast-paced exercises. If necessary, walk the sponsor through some examples.
- Outline the agenda in the detail. Setting expectations with the participants on how you plan to glean the benefit levers through an initial broad lens that gets narrow as the session progresses. Such a narrative helps the participants avoid frustration and follow along with you in your facilitation journey.
In my next post, I will describe the design thinking exercises that are typically used as part of the value envisioning sessions.
