Collaboration and teaming
Bringing together very different people and stakeholders can be challenging. You can consider using agile and open ways of working developed in the digital sectors, which offer new ways to manage projects smoothly, run effective meetings, and get the most out of groups of people.
Agile ways of working
Agile is a project management approach developed for software engineering and based on delivering work iteratively and incrementally. The values and principles of agile can be applied beyond software, and promote new ways of working based on more motivated, empowered and productive teams.
HOW:
- Consider if you have the expertise in the group to run the project following a particular type of agile method (e.g. Scrum, and Kanban), or if you might bring in an expert that can lead the process
- There are 4 regular meetings which facilitate communication across the team you can consider using
- Sprint Planning: Regular meeting to discuss key upcoming tasks for the team, who will lead on them and by when. This is a chance to adapt the plan and activities as you learn more about what needs to be done
- Daily standup: Short 15-minute meeting designed to quickly inform everyone of what’s going on across the team (traditionally taken standing up to encourage speed)
- Review: A time to showcase the work of the team, discussing what you’re learning with key stakeholders
- Retrospective: Bring the team together to give rapid feedback, discuss what’s not working and find creative solutions to keep improving how your team works
Collaboration Checklist
Use this checklist ahead of your meetings to plan effectively and ensure the time spent together is as useful as possible.
HOW:
- Before scheduling a meeting, consider if a physical meeting is the best way to achieve your goals – might there be another way to get what you need from people?
- When planning a meeting, no matter the size, consider the questions in this checklist when developing the agenda for your time together.
“Yes, and…” warm-up
Build energy at the start of a meeting and encourage a new mindset of additive creativity and cooperation.
HOW:
- Organise the group into pairs. Together each pair will discuss how to make bread
- Person 1 starts by making a suggestion, like “To make bread, we could start by weighing the flour”
- In round 1, Person 2 will respond by starting their sentence with “No, but…”
- Continue for a few minutes
- In round 2 they will do the same again but instead Person 2 will start the sentence with “Yes, and…’
- Ask the group to compare the two rounds – what did they notice about the different ways to start a sentence?
- Usually participants notice that “Yes, and…” opens things up more, allows for more building and collaborative ideas, while “No, but…” tended to be more negative or shutting down ideas
- Encourage the group to take the “Yes, and…” approach into the meeting, to listen to each other’s contributions and think about building on those rather than shutting them down
Red & Green Feedback
Get quick and honest feedback from people about a plan.
HOW:
- Gather your team or a group of stakeholders you want feedback and input from
- Explain the purpose of the session is to get honest feedback and so they are encouraged to say anything at all – you won’t be offended
- Present your plan or proposal
- Ask the audience if there are any clarifying questions
- Green feedback: The group tells the team what they liked or loved about the proposal
- Red feedback: The group shares worries or doubts about the proposal. This must be constructive feedback!
- Tip: Consider having a separate facilitator so that those presenting can focus on taking notes and answering any questions.
READ MORE: Source: This is Service Design Doing
Reflection sessions
Reflect on the activities you have done recently, making space for the team to speak openly about what didn’t work and how things could be improved.
HOW:
• This tool can be used individually, within your Core Team, or with the Local Action Group
• If you are working in a group, give everyone some time to consider their answer to these questions, then discuss your answers together
• Consider using a whiteboard (real or virtual) so you can see each other’s contributions and identify any similarities
• Don’t forget to think about any actions that result from this activity
EXAMPLE:
At the end of each quarter, the ASToN network’s cities were invited to fill in this table in order to reflect on the previous 3 months. As a Core Team or a single project coordinator, this helped to take stock on what happened and how this compared to what was planned. This tool also allowed cities to surface and discuss issues causing delays in their work, such as challenges in collaboration between stakeholders. They were then able to consider mitigations and alternative approaches to tackle these challenges or avoid them in the future.
