Workshops can be a powerful way to generate ideas, solve problems, and build consensus in a team. But how do you make sure that everyone is on the same page after the workshop is over? How do you avoid misunderstandings, confusion, or conflicts that can derail your progress? Here are some tips to help you ensure alignment after a workshop.
Before you end the workshop, make sure that you have clearly defined the outcomes of the session. What are the key takeaways, decisions, or actions that resulted from the workshop? How will they be communicated, documented, or followed up on? Who is responsible for what? How will you measure the impact or success of the outcomes? Having a clear and shared understanding of the outcomes will help you align your expectations and goals.
It is even more helpful to define some goals and outcomes of the workshop before starting it. It allows members to prepare for what they will be learning and figure out if there are any unanswered questions. Then doing this at the end of the workshop again, will bring it together and immediately answer whether the purpose of the workshop was served.
Don't use the word 'ensure' for a start. Meaningless jargon seems to avoid the real action required. At the end of every workshop have all present commit to an activity that furthers the agreed outcomes. In that way you can see who you chose to attend that validated their participation. When calling a meeting only invite those who can act with due authority.
Another way to ensure alignment is to summarize and reflect on what happened during the workshop. What were the main insights, learnings, or challenges that emerged from the workshop? How did the participants feel about the process, the content, and the results? What did they like, dislike, or find surprising? What questions or concerns do they still have? Summarizing and reflecting will help you capture the essence and the emotions of the workshop, as well as identify any gaps or issues that need to be addressed.
A workshop is not complete without asking for feedback from the participants. Feedback is essential to understand how the workshop went, what worked well, and what can be improved. Feedback can also help you gauge the level of satisfaction, engagement, and alignment of the participants. You can ask for feedback in different ways, such as surveys, polls, interviews, or group discussions. The key is to ask open-ended, specific, and constructive questions that elicit honest and useful responses.
One of the most important steps to ensure alignment after a workshop is to share the results with the relevant stakeholders. Sharing the results means not only presenting the outcomes, but also explaining the context, the rationale, and the implications of the outcomes. Sharing the results will help you inform, persuade, and inspire others to support your vision and goals. It will also help you create a sense of ownership, accountability, and commitment among the participants and the stakeholders.
Finally, to ensure alignment after a workshop, you need to follow up and monitor the progress and the impact of the outcomes. Following up means checking in with the participants and the stakeholders regularly, providing updates, feedback, and support, and resolving any issues or conflicts that may arise. Monitoring means tracking and measuring the results, evaluating the outcomes, and celebrating the achievements. Following up and monitoring will help you sustain the momentum, the motivation, and the alignment of your team.
In my experience, when the audience does not have a defined set of outcomes from a particular workshop, it makes it much harder to focus on it. Because they don’t know what to expect. Just stating two or three take outcomes that they will take home with them after the workshop, aligns everyone’s focus toward the common goal.