How to break the “write on post-its and vote” routine
Add variety by expanding your exercise repertoir.
Post-its and flipcharts. Mural and Miro (and other digital whiteboards).
At first, writing on post-its seems better than just talking.
But: Do it often though and things get a bit repetitive.
What then?
Try these three exercises to expand your facilitation repertoire:
Exercise 1: Expert Interview
Introduced Jake Knapp’s Design Sprint, the original Expert Interview served to a product team that wanted to understand its customers.
But it’s great whenever you want to help a team get insights from specific individuals.
How it works
Imagine 6 people in a meeting.
They need to better understand their customer’s problem.
Luckily: A couple of customers are in the room.
The first one takes the “expert’s seat.” Then she has 5 minutes to speak about her challenges. The team takes notes in the form of “how might we” statements. When the 5 minutes are up, the next “expert” takes their turn.
Detailed instructions: Ask the Experts video by AJ&Smart
Outcome 1: Writing your own ideas replaced by listening and writing down other people’s problems.
Exercise 2: Lightning Demos
Another one comes from the Design Sprint book. In Lightning Demos, the group is solving a problem.
Example: How to design our company Game room? Everyone gets 20 minutes to go online, and search for how other companies solved the problem. When the 20 minutes are up, everyone gets one or two minutes to present what they found.
Detailed instructions: Lightning Demos video by AJ&Smart
Outcome 2: Mind refresh by leaving the whiteboard and permitted wandering online.
Exercise 3: Concept Creation
This is a logical next step to a Lightning Demo. But it’s also a possible next step after you generate a list of ideas — and want to elaborate on them.
When the task is: “Elaborate the idea,” people may get stuck. But give them a structure — and they will be able to go surprisingly quickly.
Here’s an example of a structure you can use:
Outcome 3: Quick brainstorming replaced by deep(er) thinking.
Each of these three exercises has a place in the process of addressing problems or solving opportunities. They give you the opportunity to go deeper than just “write on post-its and vote.”
Quick Recap
- Get your team to listen with Expert Interviews
- Give them space to explore ideas with Lightning Demos
- Make them think deeper with Concept Creation
Pro tip: Before applying them in an important meeting, test them… in a less important meeting.
Good luck!
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