From Regional Knowledge Resource Kit

Return to Stage 4 - sensemaking & action planning
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Background

After the sensemaking workshop, the region then moves to coming up with specific actions that will improve how knowledge is created, captured and shared in the region.

There are two types of actions that will be developed:

1. Projects that will require detailed planning, funding and implementation. This might include things like implementing an intranet or establishing communities of practice.
2. Small actions that anyone or group in the region can implement off their own bat to make an improvement. This might be something like organising lunch-time talks.

Facilitation level

Medium to advanced facilitation skills are required to help the group identify the actions and projects using the process and techniques described below.

Objectives

One of the main objectives is to get as many people as possible from the Region involved in the planning process to engender ownership of the end result. Typically organisations will identify a couple of people (or external consultants) to plan the initiatives but this approach often results in a report and little action. Here we are trying to get engagement from key people in understanding and implementing the group's decisions.

At the end of action planning workshop you should have:

1. Two or three key projects to plan and implement.
2. A dozen or so small actions that regional staff can readily implement.
3. A continuous improvement process that ensures the projects and small actions are implemented and new ones are identified and enacted.

Materials

• Outcomes of the How to explore the objectives activity that was conducted in the Stage 1 workshop.
• Butcher's paper template showing the design structure for the key projects.
• Blank butchers paper.
• Whiteboard.
• Copies of the continuous improvement process diagram (see below)for each participant.

Time

Half day.

Agenda

1. Opening and context setting (30 minutes)
2. Revisit objectives and identify key projects to work on (45 min)
3. Develop Projects (60 min)
4. Develop Implementation Process and plan small actions (30 min)

Directions

1. Introduction

1. Start with an introduction explaining to the participants that the aim of this workshop is to design some key projects, small actions and a continuous improvement process in order to implement the Regional Knowledge Strategy.
2. Mention that all the information produced in today's action planning workshop and yesterday's sensemaking workshop will be compiled into the Regional Knowledge Strategy and made available to everyone. The staff may also decide to submit the Regional Knowledge Strategy to the board for endorsement.

2. Review the outcomes of the sensemaking

1. Using the clustering wall, remind participants about which clusters from the sensemaking workshop they considered to have the highest priority.
2. Then have participants re-read aloud:
   • The story spine stories.
   • The illustrative anecdotes that have were associated with the story spine stories.

3. Revisit the objectives

1. Display the results of the How to explore the objectives activity that was conducted in the Stage 1 workshop. Read out to the group the top three ranked objectives that they had determined. These objectives will provide the underpinning of the framework for your Regional Knowledge Strategy.
2. Ask the group, based on the results of the sensemaking, to repeat the voting.
3. Give everyone 2 coloured dots (all the same colour) and ask them to spend a couple of minutes thinking about the objectives and then to put a sticky dot on what they currently think are their 2 highest priorities. They can put both dots on the same objective or put them on 2 different ones.
4. Tally up the votes and identify the three top priority objectives.
5. Ask participants if they agree with these objectives. If not, facilitate a discussion on the objectives until there is agreement on three top priority objectives.

4. Collect ideas

1. Divide a whiteboard into three columns, one for each of the three top objectives voted and agreed by the participants in the above step.
2. Ask the participants, based on what they have seen in the sensemaking and their own knowledge, what would be something the region could do to make progress on the objective.
3. Make some suggestions based on your knowledge of knowledge management initiatives. Take a look at this list of Potential KM Initiatives.
4. Write the possibilities up on the whiteboard as they are suggested.
5. Don't try and design the initiative or solve the problem at this time, just get agreement in the room about which initiatives could be useful.

5. Separate the projects and the small actions

1. Review the three columns of potential initiatives on the whiteboard. Discuss with participants which of the initiatives are projects and which are small actions.
   • Projects are larger activities that require detailed planning, funding and implementation e.g. setting up a region intranet or establishing communities of practice.
   • Small actions are initiatives that any staff member or group of staff members could implement off their own bat for improvement e.g. organising lunch-time talks.
2. As the discussion progresses, write P (for project) or S (for small action) next to each of the potential initiatives.
3. At the end of the discussion, leave the projects (marked with a P) in the top part of the whiteboard and transfer the small actions (marked with an S) to the lower part of the whiteboard, so that you end up with a row of projects and a row of small actions under each heading objective.

6. Decide up to three key projects

Now that the projects have been identified conduct a voting exercise to determine the top three priority projects to commence work on:

1. Hand a sheet of A4 paper to each participant and ask them to write down what they think are the top three projects that the region should start to be work on immediately.
2. Once the participants have written down their choices, step through each project on the white board and ask participants to put up their hand if they had that project as one of their top three. Tally the votes as you go.
3. Add up the votes and identify the top three choices by writing 1, 2 and 3 in large numbers in circles next to those choices,
4. Then facilitate a discussion aimed at ensuring that participants are in support of the top choices. Ask:
   • How does everyone feel about these projects as the immediate priority for our Regional Knowledge Strategy?
   • Can we handle all three projects at this time? Would just two projects (or even just one project) be more achievable?

7. Design the key projects

1. Divide the participants into three groups.
2. Hand out butchers paper and pens to each group.
3. Ask each group to pick one of the three priority projects from the whiteboard, in consultation with the other groups to avoid double-up.
4. Put up the project design template and ask each group to use it as a guide to prepare a plan for their priority project. The project design template is a sheet of butcher's paper divided into five parts with the following headings and questions as prompters or guides:
   • Purpose/Guiding Principles
     • Why is this being done? What are we trying to achieve with this project?
     • What are the key standards to hold in making decisions and acting on this project? What rules do we play by?
   • Successful Outcome
     • What would it be like if it were totally successful? How would I know?
     • What would that success look or feel like for the stakeholders?
   • Brainstorming
     • Conduct a mini brainstorming session with the group - capturing all ideas is the aim here.
     • What are all the things that occur to you about this? What is the current reality? What do I know? What do we not know? What ought we consider? What haven't we considered? etc.
     • Be complete, open, non-judgemental and resist critical judgement.
     • Wikipedia has a good entry on brainstorming.
   • Organising
     • Identify components (sub-projects), sequences, and/or priorities.
     • What needs to happen to make the whole thing happen?
     • Create outlines, bulleted lists, or organising charts, as needed for review and control
   • Next actions
     • Determine next actions. What should be done next, and who will do it?
     • If more planning is required, determine the next action to get that to happen.

8. Improve the project plans

When all the tables have created a first cut of their project plan, instruct them to appoint a table visitor who will take the group's project plan to the other tables in the room.

1. Send the visitors to the next table in a clockwise direction.
2. The visitor explains their group's project to the new table and requests feedback.
3. New ideas are added to the butcher's paper.
4. After about 15 minutes or when you can see all the feedback has been given, move the visitor to the next table.

This round-robin approach ensures everyone is aware of all the projects under design and has an opportunity to contribute their ideas.

9. Designing the continuous improvement implementation process

Continuous improvement process

When the Regional Knowledge Strategy is complete it's important that there is an ongoing process for everyone to get involved in improving how knowledge is used in the Region through working on the projects and actions identified.

This illustration shows the continuous improvement process. A senior member of staff works with the group acting as a friendly skeptic or mentor. This mentor's role is to ask questions, helping the group to stretch their plans or to reign in over-enthusiasm, and to make sure that the Region reviews progress every three months.

1. Hand out copies of the continuous improvement process diagram to all participants and then describe the key elements of the process: the mentor and their role and the three-monthly reviews.
2. Ask participants to identify a small group of managers and senior staff that will now plan the continuous improvement process (while this is happening the remaining participants will look at the small actions - see below).
3. Ask the continuous improvement group to decide:
   • Who will be the senior staff mentor?
   • Who will write up the Regional Knowledge Strategy (using the template, which is found in Stage 5)?
   • Should we seek Board approval?
   • When will we have the first three-monthly review?
4. Ask the continuous improvement group to record the remaining projects (not the small actions) that were identified on the whiteboard (i.e. the other projects that weren't in the top three). These projects will be considered in the three-monthly review.
5. At the end of this session, the continuous planning group presents their outcomes back to the main group (at the same time as the plans for the small actions are presented back to the group - see below).

10. Taking forward the small actions

This step is carried out at the same time as the Designing the continuous improvement implementation process step above.

1. Give the remaining tables in the room sheets of butchers paper.
2. Ask each group to progressively select each of the small actions from the whiteboard and spend a few minutes preparing a brief implementation plan for it. Each sheet of butchers paper is to have five columns with the following headings:
   • The action to be done.
   • Who is responsible for ensuring the action is completed.
   • The things they (not someone else) are going to do to help implement the action.
   • The date the action will be completed.
   • A description of how the group will know the action has been completed.
3. Each group will put a separate row on their butchers paper for each action they select.
4. Ask each group to tick each action they progressively select on the whiteboard so that the groups don't accidentally double-up.
5. At the end of this session, the small action planning group present their outcomes back to the main group (at the same time as the outcomes of the continuous improvement planning are presented back to the group - see above).

Return to Stage 4 - sensemaking & action planning
Return to "Developing a Regional Knowledge Strategy" Quick Links Page