Focus Groups:

Understanding Culture Through Storyboards

Troy Tungate

Lean Manager, Mint Division

WILD Flavors, Inc.

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What is Culture?

The collective values, beliefs, attitudes, and patterns that

shape an organization’s behavior

What is your organization’s culture?

Agenda

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• Introduction to Focus Group Storyboards

• Current State

• Future State

• Change Requirements

• Facilitator Guide

• Leadership Presentation and Recommendations

• Questions and Discussion

Why Focus Groups?

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• Provides an opportunity for participants to share their thoughts, feelings

• Generates transformative ideas

• Engages participants in the company

• Future

• Colleagues

• Provides current state “picture” of organizational culture that can be

engaged by leadership

Introduction to Focus Group Storyboards

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1. Current State Storyboard 2. Future State Storyboard

3. Change

Requirements

Current State Storyboard

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• Using pictures that represent different thoughts, feelings, ideas,

attitudes, etc. the participants will create storyboards

• Facilitator questions to ask:

• When you drive into work, what are your thoughts, feelings, ideas?

• Its Monday morning and you are getting ready for work, what are

your feelings, ideas, thoughts about work?

• Try to get to the baseline, deep, real current state culture

Current State Storyboard Examples

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Current State Exercise

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• In teams of 5, look through the pictures and pick 3 that indicate your

feelings, thoughts, ideas about the MLC conference.

• Using the glue sticks and scissors, cut these out and attach to the

storyboards on the table

• Be Creative

• Present to the group

• Time: 20 minutes

Future State Storyboard

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• Using pictures that represent different thoughts, feelings, ideas,

attitudes, etc. the participants will create storyboards

• Facilitator questions to ask:

• How should your organization look, feel in 2-5 years?

• What should your organization look and feel like in 2-5 years?

• Try to get to participants to imagine the future state culture

• Ideal state

Future State Storyboard Examples

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Future State Exercise

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• In teams of 5, look through the pictures and pick 3 that indicate your

feelings, thoughts, ideas about what the MLC conference should look

like in 2-5 years.

• Using the glue sticks and scissors, cut these out and attach to the

storyboards on the table

• Be creative

• Present to the group

• Time: 20 minutes

Change Storyboard

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• Determine required actions to get from current state to the future state

• Questions to Ask

• You’re the CEO/President/Governor/Director/Secretary/Manager,

what changes would you make to get to the future state?

• If you were in charge, what would you do?

• Try to get to participants to identify specific items that they believe will

get them to the future state

Change Exercise

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• In teams of 5, look through the storyboards and identify the 3 most

important actions the MLC should do to reach the future state.

• Write these on a sheet of paper

• Present to the group

• Time: 10 minutes

Facilitator Ground Rules

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• Open, Honest, and Transparent

• Tell participants exactly what happens with this information and how

it will be used

• Anonymous

• Integrity, trust

• No Judgment

• No Good/Bad

• No Right/Wrong

Facilitator Guide

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• The role of the facilitator is critical to obtaining real results

• Goal is to understand what the participants are communicating

• Ask questions and check for understanding

• Make sure teams are mixed

• Circle most important item on each storyboard

• Summarize key thoughts

• You will represent the participants to

leadership

Facilitator Duties

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• Do not get personally involved

• Keep the participants on schedule

• Estimate is 90 minutes for 2 groups

• Add 30 minutes for each additional group

• Prepare before the session

• Meeting room, materials and supplies

• Mental

• Empathize with participants

• Make it fun!

Leadership Presentation

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• Take pictures of each storyboard and change requirements

• Look for themes, important ideas- analysis, pareto

• Prepare presentation with pictures and summary

• Prepare a slide with themes, important ideas

Leadership Presentation Recommendations

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• Using your knowledge, learning, and impression of the focus groups:

• Determine what is real and important

• Determine what is ranting, smoke, agenda, complaint of the day

• Beware of your own bias!

• Develop recommendations

• Targeted, specific, incremental

Presenting to Leadership

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• Represent the focus groups as best as you can

• Allow the leadership to review, evaluate, and own the results

• Answer questions but don’t lead or push

• Keep it anonymous

Presenting to Leadership Exercise

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• In your teams, look through the current state, future state, and change

requirements and identify:

• What is most important? One item from each

• Present to the group

• Time: 5 minutes

Thank you!

Questions?

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