[notes about participatory methods in program design]
expand program design tools to incorporate community participation in the intervention planning process
reflect on which approaches will be most effective given your context and/or particular facilitation style
facilitation notes forthcoming
Improvisational Prototyping
In this activity, identify and act out solutions to chronic or daunting problems. Innovations represented in the Improv sketches are then assembled incrementally from pieces or chunks that can be used separately or together.
Three types of knowledge are harnessed by this activity:
Explicit knowledge (i.e., knowledge shared by participants directly),
Tacit knowledge (i.e., knowledge from observing each other's improv performances), and
Latent knowledge (i.e., ideas that emerge and are developed together).
This powerful combination can be the source of transformative experiences and, at the same time, it is seriously fun.
INSTRUCTIONS
Prepare the Activity
Separate the whole group into small groups of 3-5 people.
Ask the whole group to identify a frustrating challenge within the project that they want to solve.
Optional: Collect and share props that participants can use in their scenes.
Identify Challenges
Tell the whole group that, through the improv sketches their small groups will soon perform, they will playfully experiment, invent, and discover better ways to address the challenge by acting out the situation and possible solutions.
Ask each group to assign a Creative Director, who will start and stop the action on stage, replaying the scene (with a twist) as needed. The rest of the group will be players.
Have each group create a short, rough outline of how they will act out the challenge and their solution.
For each group's challenge, set the stage by selecting a place, players, and a single line they should deliver to start their improv sketch.
Take the Stage
Ask one of the groups that is confident in their sketch and solution to be the first to perform.
Remember: The sketch should aim to experiment, invent, and discover ways to address the challenge by acting out the situation and potential solutions.
The group gets up on stage, and their Creative Director says... "action!" Players begin improvising their challenge.
The sketch should last 3-5 minutes.
Rework Sketches and Rehearse Again
The other small "observer" groups discuss which parts of the scene they just observed "worked" and "didn't work."
Each observer group uses the chunks that "worked" to revise their sketch.
Ask which of the observer groups are confident in their sketch and invite them to come on stage next.
Repeat steps 3 and 4 until the whole group has crafted one or more prototypes for actions that are good enough to put into practice.
Adapted from Liberating Structures
Disruptive Brainstorming
Sometimes changes in who we're talking to or how we're talking can drastically change how we think. Disruptive Brainstorming is a fast-paced, high-energy activity that sparks creative thinking and generates fresh ideas by forcing changes in perspective.
In Disruptive Brainstorming, two groups each come up with ideas related to the given brainstorming theme over three rounds. After each round, each team silently removes ideas from the other's brainstorm, trades one member of their team to the other team, and selects a Disuption card that will guide their next round of brainstorming. By the end of the three rounds, only ideas worth pursuing should remain.
This activity creates a dynamic, fun environment for quick ideation, coupled with a mutual understanding that not every idea should be perfect. By getting as many ideas as possible on paper and constantly trimming those that won't work, your team will increase its odds of landing on ideas with real value.
INSTRUCTIONS
Prepare for the Activity
Prepare:
Two large writing surfaces (e.g., whiteboards or large pieces of paper).
A way for participants to add to that large writing surface (e.g., sticky notes and pens).
Define a Brainstorming Theme
Your theme can be broad or narrow — any problem that needs solving or process that needs improving is fair game.
Make sure the theme is stated precisely so everyone understands what they’ll brainstorm about.
Optional: Prepare a document with research and background information on your theme and share this document with group members a few days ahead of your meeting.
Introduce the Activity
Let the entire group know that they are here to produce as many ideas as possible. You want quantity — quality will come later.
It’s crucial to keep an open mind and remember everyone’s ideas are valid.
The goal of the meeting is to generate, not to judge. In the end, there will be a few good ideas for the team to take action on.
Trust the process!
Brainstorm
Break the entire group into two groups. Give each group a large writing surface.
Have each group assign a Scribe. The Scribe will add all ideas onto the large writing surface.
Ask each group to spend 10 minutes coming up with as many ideas as possible. Nothing is off the table — quantity over quality at this step!
Each idea should be briefly discussed among the team to see if anyone has anything to add or refine.
Trim the Idea Cloud
Bring the two groups back together.
Ask each group to silently remove ideas from the opposite group’s board. They should remove ideas that they think your group won’t be able to achieve, won’t have support, or don’t relate to the brainstorming theme.
Generous trimming is important to make room for new ideas.
Remember, no discussion during this phase!
Disrupt Your Ideation
Switch one team member from each group to the other group to shake up everyone's thinking.
Have each group pick a number from 1-33.
Based on the number each group picked, they will need to incorporate the corresponding Disruption in their next round of ideas.
Brainstorm Again
With new team members and Disruptions in play, have the two groups do another 10 minute round of brainstorming.
Trim the Idea Cloud (Again)
Again, bring the two groups back together and have each group remove ideas from the other's brainstorm board.
This should again be done without discussion.
Disrupt Your Ideation (Again)
Once again, have someone from each group switch sides.
And once again, select another Disruption to incorporate in the...
Final Round of Brainstorming
Set a timer for 10 minutes and have each group brainstorm one final time.
Final Trim of the Idea Cloud
Bring both groups together for the last silent cut of each other's ideas.
Make it the most significant cut yeat. The final ideas must be worth pursuing.
Follow-Up
After this activity, assign each remaining idea an owner who will see how the idea can be made into a reality.
Adapted from Atlassian
