HELLO!

There’s a session coming up. We want to understand what will happen and help you prepare.

Don’t worry; there’s nothing to worry about. and very little additional burden for you.

  • It’s an opportunity to fully engage in shaping the future of the operation. There a no trick questions and it’s not a test.

  • As a team, we will have the opportunity to discuss the most important aspects of the future strategy and plan to get there.

  • This isn’t a post-it note or lego build-a-bridge session. We are solving problems together and doing so through critical conversations where everyone has an opportunity to get involved.

 

WHAT TO EXPECT

You’ve probably been to many workshops.

The idea can often induce fear and dread. We’ve been there! We also didn’t appreciate days lost with little return on our participation. To combat this, we developed a different approach. It’s called Structured Visual Thinking™.

  • It’s designed to respect your time and be immersive and engaging.

  • It quickly focuses the team on solving the real challenge and creating clear and meaningful outcomes: plans, strategies and the equipment to deliver them.

By the time we get to the session, we’ve taken as much time as possible to learn about your current context and circumstances. We’ve analysed the material we’ve received that defines the world you operate in.

And as a result, we’ve created structured - highly visual frameworks within which to have the most powerful conversations possible.

 

An idea of the scale and style of the session.

 

IMAGINE

You will enter a large/safe space where there are no silly questions, and genuine debate is the order of the day.

The space will be ready with the frameworks that we will guide you through, they will already be meaningful. The frameworks contain important stimulus - information that provokes discussion.

Conversations are the order of the day.

 

Gathering the data, insight and information in advance.

 

IN PREPARATION

We don’t ask that you prepare too much (if anything) for this workshop. As mentioned, we’ve done everything needed to get us ready to start. Too much preparation can often create fixed views when we want energy, hearts, and minds. We may have spoken to some of you by the time we get to the session.

THE AGENDA

Hearts and minds don’t work to an agenda - but our sessions do follow a particular rhythm. That means we spend the time where needed on the right discussion. We move to the next discussion when we are happy that we’ve understood enough. There is a logic to the sequence.

Throughout our time together, we will take regular breaks. The time we spend together is an important part of a bigger work program.

While it will generate a significant amount of what’s needed, it is not the conclusion. Work will continue long after this session.

 

The insight we have gained from the research will inform the structures you will see in the room.

 

We will be working together to build the following:

  • An aligned set of outcomes and intentions.

  • The value and impact we intend to bring to our stakeholders.

  • A shared Vision of the future - one that will inspire and unify us and our marketplace.

  • A reality check on what will get in our way - the challenges and barriers we must consider.

  • A better understanding of how we must operate as we develop this new Vision and Strategy.

  • The capabilities and skills we will need in place.

  • A focus on what we need to do next to make this happen.

  • How we need to work as a team to sustain the work.

  • The principles and criteria required to govern and ensure the integrity of the above.

Structured Visual Thinking™ Follows A Proven Logic

Although we will explain the structure and logic in the session, we don’t want you to be overwhelmed by the philosophy and theory of it all. It’s placed here to give you the comfort that it’s proven and comprehensive.

 
 

PRACTICALLY SPEAKING

  • Timings will be confirmed by the sponsor of this programme. We will always start with some context setting and orientation of the work on the walls

  • Expect to break mid morning for coffee and fresh air, again at lunch for around 45 minutes and then again mid afternoon. We always aim to finish around 5-00 - 5-30 pm. The final day’s tim

  • There are no embarrassing warm up exercises!

 

Just a few of the ‘deliverable’ options that emerge from sessions.

 

WHAT NEXT?

Because what we’re building is highly visual (and we will capture every insight and thought), we can deliver the session's results in several ways.

Our goal is not to (just) record a series of discussions though. This is about alignment and decision-making.

We are engineering a runway to the future. The result is to gain engagement and ownership of the strategy and plan for what happens next. to arm you with tools to get to the next step.

We want to ensure the work we do together is the most sustainable.

We can create many tools as a result of working this way.

We don’t know what that means until we get to that point. Still, there are some examples - collaborative and more social ways to share the result and keep the conversations going - wide-scale ways to communicate and engage with wider stakeholders using the results and further digital developments.

We are very much looking forward to working with you.