Learning
Concrete activities
Difficult questions
What?
Through this activity, the groups seek to challenge the status quo, they are helped to face the difficult feelings and confront each other with what they are going through and are frustrated about.
Why?
There is a need to explore our differences.
How?
With the help of a facilitator, groups are encouraged to engage in dialogue with each other, where they are helped to set aside their own opinions and perspectives and instead listen to the others. The groups must explore their fundamental beliefs and ask the hard questions.
Who?
The activity can be done by everyone in a group (at all organizational levels), but requires a facilitator to support a good process.
Debriefing
What?
A facilitated process to reflect on collaboration retrospectively, i.e. after groups have interacted. An activity that provides room for organizational learning.
Why?
When there is a need to talk about an experience we have had together.
How?
Invite your own group and the group you have collaborated with to a retrospective learning dialogue. Discuss the following about the collaborative experience: What were your intentions? What actually happened there? What did you learn? What would you do differently?
Who?
The activity can be performed by everyone in a group (at all organizational levels).
Fishbowl
What?
A facilitated process that provides space to learn about each other's perspectives. The activity gives the groups involved new opportunities to feel listened to.
Why?
When we need to reflect together.
The activity provides a specific listening/reflective role, which is voluntary for the individual.
How?
Invite your own group and another group to a learning dialogue. Decide what theme the learning dialogue is about. Shuffle the groups and divide them. Set them up in an inner circle and an outer circle. Let the inner circle talk about the theme. Then have the outer circle discuss what they have heard. Evaluate the learning.
It can be an advantage to vote on which themes should be taken up, as this helps to create commitment. In LB, this could e.g. through dot voting.
Who?
The activity can be performed by everyone in a group (at all organizational levels).
In some circumstances, however, a facilitator may be needed.
Retrospective
What?
A concrete activity where you look back at what worked and what didn't work in a joint task.
Why?
There is a need to understand and learn from experiences from previous assignments.
How?
Try the "Stop, Start, Continue" exercise. You make three posters with the headings "Stop", "Start" and "Continue", then you ask your team or your teams to write a series of post-its with observations, behaviour, etc. that they think should either continue, stop or start. In this way, they give each other feedback on what they have observed in a collective space, and you have better prerequisites for the tasks ahead. The more specific they can be, the better.
Who?
The activity can be done by everyone in a group (at all organizational levels), but may require some training at the start.