Hive Toronto MeetUp - February 2015

Hive Toronto MeetUp One Collaboration Doesn’t Fit All

facilitated and prepared by Exhibit Change February 2015

Hive Toronto MeetUp - February 2015

As a part of Hive Toronto’s monthly meetups, Jennifer Chan, Founder of Exhibit Change was asked to kick off the new year of meetups with a workshop on collaboration. Bringing together design thinking and best practices about collaboration, Jenn led a hands-on and participatory workshop for participants. The workshop was scheduled for 2 hours, so participants were really only able to get a quick taste and introduction to design thinking. The goal of the workshop was to demonstrate some of the existing collaboration group dynamics that appear in everyday collaborations through somewhat fictitious and extreme challenges.

Here are some of the challenges that groups faced:

● Collaborations formed based on minimal shared goals ● Working through a task without knowing the teams

strengths or weaknesses ● Directives given in step-by-step rather all at once ● Sudden changes to plans ● Short timelines

Divided into groups, teams were asked to:

1. Elect one person to come select 2 pieces of paper 2. Create a mindmap connecting these two words 3. Identify possible areas for solutions 4. Elect one person to come select a final piece of paper 5. Work to understand their user 6. Come up with ideas to solve their user’s problem 7. Present their idea and receive feedback

** This workshop was designed to mimic real-life challenges and establish some strategies for working through them.

Pre- & Post- Reflections

In a simple feedback exercise called “I Like, I Wish & I Wonder” participants are asked to share 3 pieces of information. I Like - something that has already happened I Wish - something you’d like to change I Wonder - something you’d like to aspire to Before beginning their group work, participants were asked to share their I Wonder statements with one another. This helps to frame the collaboration in a positive perspective and reminds participants of something they would like to bring to the collaboration. Following the task, participants were again asked for feedback, this time on the current collaboration. Then the participants were

Hive Toronto MeetUp - February 2015

given time to informally digest and talk amongst themselves as to find potential future connections. ** This is a great feedback tool to use for team debriefs or critics on presentations.

Themes from Feedback

Typically in Exhibit Change workshops, we focus on gathering feedback in 3 ways - Task, Team & Self. This gives us a way to separate the already complex dynamics of working with design thinking, groups and our own individual biases and assumptions in the process.

From the Pre-flection

I Like statements were all centered on Team & Self. For example:

● I like disagreements & arguments ● I like the way people inspire each other with ideas that

grow ● I like when you don't know who's idea it belongs to

because it was a group effort

I Wish statements were distributed, however more so on Team. For example:

● I wish for a collaborative experience where everyone feels inspired to share

● I wish people would listen, hear and understand at the same time

● I wish we could magically know which roles work best for the group members and spend more time on working & less on logistics

I Wonder statements were again distributed, however more so

around Team. For example:

● I wonder how to have an equally beneficial partnership ● I wonder what the best individual/ collaborative balance is ● I wonder how to surface and use people's strengths when

there are time constraints

Hive Toronto MeetUp - February 2015

From the Post-flection

I Like statements were all centered on Task & Team. For example:

● I like that we quickly identified shared frustrations ● I like the opportunity to work with new members - a

great way to break the ice. ● I like the kookiness of the project - at first there was

some confusion but I think it was a good group activity and bonding opportunity to work through them

I wish statements were evenly distributed between Task, Team & Self. For example:

● I wish we had more time to work on "real" (more applicable) problem solving

● I wish roles in a group dynamic could be explored & rotated (ie mediator/ spokesperson/organizer)

● I wish I were more of a natural leader

I wonder statements were evenly distributed between Task, Team & Self. For example:

● I wonder how we can apply this process more

Hive Toronto MeetUp - February 2015

● I wonder how the same group will/could work if meeting for a different project

● I wonder how to ask thought provoking questions to inspire resolutions

Wrap it up!

This workshop was quick-paced and the participants that will get the most out of it are the ones that will take the exercise as a way to think about future collaborations and will dive deeper into material about design thinking. We are all working in complex situations that can no longer be solved with the same solutions that got us here.

Resources

The best part about design thinking is that the library is always growing. At Exhibit Change, we share our living library through our website, facebook and twitter. Virtual Crash Course from d.school Educators’ Toolkit to Design Thinking Design Thinking for Libraries For more regularly updated resources spots check out our website, facebook and twitter.

Hive Toronto MeetUp - February 2015

Want to connect?

We love helping organizations work with their stakeholders earlier, longer and more often. Our expertise is in delivering design thinking workshops, supporting organizations to design new or refine existing programing and consult on how to think through problems differently. Contact Jenn at jennifer.chan@exhibit-change.com

More about Exhibit Change What makes us different.

We have a mission.

We are creating space for where school and community meet. We are focused on leading and provoking the conversation of rethinking how we do education. It is our intent to work with communities and schools that are eager to collaborate in order to make greater impact.

We co-design.

We purposefully engage stakeholders earlier, longer and more often in the design process. We believe this leads to creating meaningful and authentic solutions.

We experiment.

We are not afraid of a little messiness and uncertainty; in fact it is what we are here for. We favour projects that let us explore and emerge with new ideas and innovations.

Hive Toronto MeetUp - February 2015