Workshops are over and underused

Workshops can be breakthrough events or soul-sapping time-sucks. The best ones bring people together with different knowledge and perspectives in the cause of a common goal and hatch new understandings, ideas and plans. Winning workshops help teams take vital steps forward, which would take months to do through other means. We leave these workshops feeling enlightened, effective and energised. Conversely, we leave the workshops we’d rather forget, shaking our heads with frustration and regret over the valuable time and energy wasted.?

To increase the odds of your next workshop being fruitful, ask yourself whether it should even be a workshop. What is the goal? Is a workshop the best way to achieve it? Could it be achieved more quickly and cheaply?

The table below outlines some of the differences between workshops and other types of collaboration. A workshop is not a silver bullet for every tough problem, and to give it a good chance of succeeding, it needs careful planning, particularly on which activities are best done in the workshop and which by individuals or small groups before or after the workshop.

Brainstorming is broken

In design and innovation circles, workshops are often synonymous with brainstorming sessions. And while many enjoy getting together with colleagues to thrash out lots of ideas, the evidence of their effectiveness is shaky.

The most fundamental misconception is the ‘two heads are better than one’ fallacy. As the psychologist and creativity expert Dr. Keith Sawyer puts it, ‘Decades of research have consistently shown that brainstorming groups think of far fewer ideas than the same number of people who work alone and later pool their ideas.’

Then there’s the ‘there are no bad ideas’ fallacy’, where judgment is discouraged in the pursuit of lots of ideas. When research shows that debate and constructive dissent produce much better results. Indeed, this wonderful article makes a strong case that Wilbur and Orville Wright’s advanced abilities in arguing and listening gave them the edge over more experienced and educated competitors to achieve man’s oldest dream.

On top are the all-too-familiar personal and power dynamics, such as the boss and two extroverts dominating the airtime, while the introverts listen – and generate little. Then there is the tendency to rehash old or existing ideas, instead of generating new ones, or for the group to rally around an early idea in their desire for team harmony. For an entertaining and personal take on the pitfalls of brainstorming, see Russell Beard’s acerbic post here.

There are techniques to mitigate these issues, but workshops are often more effective before or after ideas have been generated by individuals or small groups to assess, refine, prioritise and select them.

This is not to say that generative workshops are not worth it; there can be good reasons to get people together, but if the quality of ideas is critical, I would complement the workshop with some individual concept generation.

Workshop purposes?

So, if workshops are overused for brainstorming, they are underused elsewhere in the innovation process. The graphic below outlines six different purposes of the workshops I lead. Sometimes, more than one purpose can be combined into one workshop, for example, Understand + Frame or Generate + Refine. Equally, some purposes may be worthy of several workshops.?

That said, it is often more effective to have a series of shorter workshops with a core group preparing inputs and synthesising outputs in between.

The different purposes drive different modes of workshop:

1. Understand

These aim to gather, consolidate, map and make sense of information, insights or feedback. The main challenge is how to make sense of a large and disparate range of input data. So, the emphasis is on preparing inputs around a common framework to aid rapid synthesis, with discussion focused on clarification and logging potential implications.

Example workshops:

• User insight workshop
• Customer feedback workshop

2. Frame

These workshops aim to scope the landscape, assess the situation and define the problem. The challenge is often how to make, align on and articulate decisions on scope, priorities and goals in a relatively short time frame. To streamline proceedings, it usually makes sense to draft options in advance, iterate in pairs or small groups, and focus the discussion on critical decisions.

Example workshops:

• Framing workshop

3. Anticipate

These workshops aim to identify and assess relevant trends and build a point of view on possible, plausible and probable futures. The challenge here is how to bring the trends to life quickly, have expansive discussions, and outline a point of view on the future in the time available. So, the emphasis is on preparing vivid inputs, group discussions and gathering a range of perspectives before pushing for alignment.

Example workshops:

• Foresight workshop
• Future scenarios workshop
• Foresight-driven opportunities workshop

4. Generate

These aim to create opportunity, vision, value proposition, and strategy ideas. The challenge is often balancing generative thinking with constructive discussion – while keeping it focused on the goal. The trick here is to provide plenty of structure, with a clear briefing on the goal and scope to keep ideation on track, inspirational inputs, idea templates, and discussion focused on idea iteration.

Example workshops:

• Opportunity workshop
• Envision workshop
• Value proposition workshop
• Positioning workshop

?

5. Formulate

The purpose of these workshops is to filter, assess, select, prioritise and structure ideas into concepts, strategies or plans. The challenge usually revolves around focusing the group on building high-calibre outputs while gaining alignment on the strategic direction. Preparing the input ideas to make them easy for the group to imbibe and iterate on is a critical success factor here, as well as splitting some of the ideas into optional variants.

Example workshops:

• Value proposition workshop
• Positioning workshop
• Design identity strategy workshop
• Road mapping workshop
• Team strategy workshop

6. Engage

These workshops aim to bring plans to life for a wider audience and gather their feedback. The challenge is often about telling a nuanced story in a compelling way, encouraging open debate, and airing any concerns. Here, the emphasis is on delivering the story with impact (eg. video and posters) and ensuring enough time for discussion and listening.

Example workshops:?

• Strategy feedback workshop
• New ways of working workshop
• New system workshop

When wielded wisely, workshops can be an incredibly powerful way to unlock collective insight, problem solving and planning. To help ensure yours hits the mark, it really helps to begin by clarifying its ultimate purpose. The rest should flow from there.

Assuming a workshop is the right way to tackle your challenge and you’re clear on its purpose, my next post will outline five workshop must-haves. In the meantime, let me know if you have a challenge that a workshop might unlock.