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Leading Workshops With Cross-Functional Teams—Kate Kaplan & Cait Vlastakis Smith
- 1. Leading User-Centered Workshops Kate Kaplan Caitlin Vlastakis Smith with Cross-Functional Stakeholders
- 3. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan fa·cil·i·ta·torfəˈsiləˌtādər/ n. a person or thing that makes an action or process easy or easier
- 4. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan Essential ingredients of a good facilitator: Listening Bravery1 2
- 5. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan Topics 1. Setting the Stage 2. Improvising and Guiding 3. Navigating Personalities 4. Maintaining Momentum
- 8. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan Defining Workshops vs. Meetings Things will get discussed Input and consensus from diverse groups A greater sense of ownership Meetings Workshops Things will get done Discussions and project updates Awareness conversations
- 9. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan Setting up Workshops for Success Where are we going? Group Purpose Group Culture How will we get there? Also called: Ground Rules
- 10. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan Groups that establish group culture and ground rules together are more productive in terms of both amount and quality of ideas generated. Use constraints!
- 11. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan “How do I create a group culture that people will actually respect?” @caitvsmith@katewkaplan
- 13. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan Your Toolbox: Creating Ground Rules ● Divide participants into groups around themes like Respect, Diversity, Collaboration, etc. ● Have each group create rules on flipchart paper and post it up in the room ● Ask participants if they can agree, and ask for edits/additions RESPECT Don’t speak over others. Check email on breaks. Hear out all ideas. Listen to others speaking.Be attentive .
- 14. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan Making the Purpose of your Workshop Clear ● Why am I here? ● What do you want from me? ● What do we need to do? ● How are we going to do it?
- 15. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan “How do I make sure everyone is on board with how we’ll be spending our time?” @caitvsmith@katewkaplan
- 16. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan Your building blocks: ● Goals: The high-level end result or outcome ● Questions: The information that needs to be gathered in order to reach the goal ● Processes: The activities the attendees will do Building a Purposeful Workshop @caitvsmith@katewkaplan See: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ux-workshop-agendas/
- 17. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan Your Toolbox: Workshop Design Canvas See: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ux-workshop-agendas/
- 18. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan Your Toolbox: Workshop Design Canvas See: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ux-workshop-agendas/
- 19. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan Your Toolbox: Workshop Design Canvas See: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ux-workshop-agendas/
- 20. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan Your Toolbox: Workshop Design Canvas Start here Share a working draft with stakeholders Distribute finalized version ahead of time to all participants See: https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ux-workshop-agendas/
- 21. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan Final Checklist: Setting the Stage Set the Tone Orient Participants Create a Safe Space Think ahead of time about materials and environment to create the right vibe Tell them who you are! Remind them of the group purpose Explain the schedule and breaks Provide ground rules Use a purposeful energizer to break down barriers
- 24. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan Your Mission Create alignment among different perspectives Promote Mutual Understanding Help Everyone Do Their Best Thinking Make sure everyone feels heard and valued How? How?
- 26. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan How do I get everyone talking and participating?
- 27. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan Your Toolbox: Getting People to Participate ● During introductions, include a starter question ● Encourage a “Yes, and…” mindset ● Small group activities, then sharebacks ● Ask open-ended questions that foster discussion and require multiple perspectives
- 28. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan Break into teams of 3 and answer the following questions. Your Toolbox: Group Prompts Persona Activity What keeps her up at night? What frustrates her most in her day-to-day? What would make her job easier? (One answer per sticky note.)
- 29. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan How do I build alignment and keep everyone moving in the same direction?
- 30. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan At the end of the day, we’ll know we’re successful when: Your Toolbox: Staying on Topic ● Consistently refer back to workshop purpose ● Don’t be afraid to ask: ○ “Do we need to cover this today?” ○ “Does this topic align with workshop goals?” ● Parking lot it when needed!
- 31. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan Your Toolbox: Mad Libs Complete the Problem Statement
- 32. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan ● During a post-up, find patterns in participant responses ● Categorize themes and call out discrepancies ○ Don’t do this on your own...ask the room for help! ● When useful, apply a voting technique Your Toolbox: Affinity Mapping PROMPT: What information is the most critical in order to do testing right? Account details Instructions Sample Amt. Repeatability
- 33. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan Your Toolbox: Success Frameworks
- 34. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan Final Checklist: Improvising & Guiding Be Flexible Be Real Be Brave Don’t be a slave to your agenda. Pivot and pause. Be rigorous about intent and purpose. Repeat back to the room what you hear; distill on the fly. Be corrected by the room; you’re not the expert! Embrace your inner Awkward Turtle! Confidence is admitting you don’t having all the answers.
- 37. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan “How do I deal with the dominator / skeptic / hater in the room?” @caitvsmith@katewkaplan
- 38. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan Your Toolbox: Dealing with the DOMINATOR When this person: Apply these tools: Silences others with their mere presence (e.g., HIPPO) Relentlessly speaks over others Switch to silent brainstorming techniques, such as brainwriting Try “alone-then group” ideation or use a round-robin approach Repeats the same thing over and over again Use a parking lot; Use the (pre- communicated) schedule as justification for moving on
- 39. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan Your Toolbox: Dealing with the SKEPTIC Challenges every point without valid basis When this person: Apply these tools: Doesn’t “see the point” of the activity Comes up with reasons why every idea won’t work Establish ground rules encouraging open-mindedness Check in with participants to make sure your purpose is clear Remind them of the “blue skies” nature of brainstorming
- 40. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan Your Toolbox: Dealing with the DISENGAGED When this person: Apply these tools: Doesn’t actively participate in activities Checks phone or email or engages in other tasks Check for understanding; Call for a break or use an energizer Be clear and upfront and breaks and allow time for check-in’s Gives you blank looks and doesn’t contribute to conversation Engage them proactively in an activity such as writing on the whiteboard
- 41. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan There’s no magic bullet for dealing with difficult personalities and conflict in a workshop. Try out different facilitation techniques to figure out what works for you. Practice!
- 42. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan Practice active listening Take everything as relevant and stay on your toes. Be yourself! People will model behavior after you. As you Navigate Personalities, Always...
- 45. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan ● Distill insights into next steps as you go ● Revisit workshop goals; “What requires follow-up discussion?” ● Recap action items and assign ownership ● Revisit the parking lot Your Toolbox: Maintaining Momentum During the Workshop
- 46. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan ● Create a Workshop Readout, distilling artifacts and actionable insights, not just summaries ● Schedule follow-up planning meetings with owners ● Send a participant survey ● Say thank you! Your Toolbox: Maintaining Momentum After the Workshop
- 47. @caitvsmith@katewkaplan Your Toolbox: Workshop Readout Sample Table of Contents
Editor's Notes
- KATE Welcome to Leading User-Centered Workshops! Quick show of hands: How many of you have ever been to a workshop that was a waste of your time? How many of you have ever led a workshop that didn't give you quite what you needed? Very common scenarios! During this talk, we’re going to cover some tips and practical tools that you can apply to plan and lead a successful workshop with cross-functional stakeholders...something we find ourselves as UX-er’s being tasked more and more with. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xciWNeSq56_vGwMT6PZp8YzaAGQ0b3aFRGfZIdcGpRw/edit
- KATE: UX consultant + lecturer for NN/g; I developed and teach a full-day seminar called Facilitating UX Workshops for NN/g’s UX Certification Former VP of Strategy at Centerline Digital here in Raleigh In fact, that’s where Cait and I first met and started working together...both there late one night, saw Cait working on a slide that was pretty much EXACTLY like a slide I was working on at the same time...started collaborating and sharing ideas and haven’t stopped since. Then Cait’s intro: Lead Service Design & Digital Strategy at Globant, formerly PointSource: We a services firm. We build software and lead transformation projects across the world. Formerly known as PointSource Globant is a sponsor! Please go chat with our awesome folks at the booth. Shameless plug: We are hiring out of our W-S office KATE: Now, at this point, you may be wondering why you’re staring at our middle school yearbook pictures We put these up here to make a point: We’re not extroverts. We both introverts with socially awkward tendencies. Never stopped us from stepping out on the limb to stand up in front of a group of peers or execs and lead workshops...because they are so valuable. Most of the topics we’re going to cover today are soft skills and practical methods that can be learned just like any other skill. It just takes practice!
- CAIT Your role we’re here to talk to you all about leading workshops, and that means serving the role of a facilitator The cool part is, many of this ingredients and tools that already use as a UXer are directly relatable to facilitation, especially when we’re talking about a group of cross-functional humans We’ve set this up in a way, we’ll talk about approaches, but we’ll be adding things to your toolbox.
- CAIT Today you’re going to see two intrinsic themes. We will be tying back to these. Listening: With your eyes, ears and intuition Bravery: Demonstrating confidence with little information. This means putting yourself out there and seeking clarity and consensus!
- KATE We’re going to cover 4 high-level topics today...
- 11.7.2018, Convo captured for important purposes HELLO LOVER!!!! I am drinking alone in an airport in Beunos Aires. I wish you were here with me. Everyone else is staying a day longer. I will drink a class for you. And please give Edison extra kisses for me since I cant kiss Everette. Please also nibble his feet if possile. YES YES THE EARS PLEASE. I don’t want to delete this convo ever. Ok I am leaving it. YES! Ok and I’m gonna date iit. YES. Ok, I love you. ANd I will see you soon. <3! HELLO :) As you SHOULD be. Drinking I mean. Not alone. MEE TOO! Please do. And then I will drink one and toast to you in the air when edison goes to sleep. AW I WILL. Yes. I promise to nibble him for you. Maybe also his ears. NO. It should stay here forever. Because it will probably make us laugh 5 years from now. Just put like a dozen enters. MUAH!!! Have a safe flight! Enjoy the wines. <3
- A workshop is like a sandwich. And like all good sandwiches, it has multiple layers that must be artfully prepared and considered to build on each other. Often, we’re so eager to jump into the MEAT of our workshop, that we skip over the first critical step: Setting the stage. So, let’s talk about laying the foundation with that first piece of bread with some best practices.
- Not every UX challenge warrants a workshop. So, it’s helpful to get your own head sorted out about where the line falls between a MEETING and a WORKSHOP. We could think about the breakdown logistically: We typically talk about meetings in terms of half-hours or hours (HOPEFULLY!), and workshops in terms of days and half-days The scope differs: Workshops enable deeper, more focused coverage of one issue; Meetings allow more shallow coverage of several issues This can be very helpful...in fact, Cait and I once had to block ourselves off in a conference room to define these very things when we found ourselves working with an account team very eager to “sell” workshops…(“We booked a 30-minute workshop for you tomorrow morning!”) It’s a valuable exercise to actually explicitly define what workshops mean for your organization/team. But here’s a very simple way to think about it…[read slide content]
- If you do find yourself with a UX challenge that warrants a workshop It’s best to start ANY workshop by establishing 2 things: Group purpose: This addresses the issue of where we are going. What’s our end goal? (We’ll talk about how to design a workshop that gets us there in a bit.) Group culture: This addresses the issue of how we’ll get there. AKA ground rules. These are basic rules for interacting with each other that we all agree to follow throughout the day. At the least, they should cover basic rules of respect such as being on time and being present.
- Group Purpose and Ground Rules are types of CONSTRAINTS - parameters to operate within. Been shown groups that establish these together are more productive in terms of both amount of ideas and quality of ideas generated.
- KATE You may be thinking, “Ahh. That sounds well and good. But I work with busy execs who will check their email no matter what, or a HIPPO who will shut down my design team out every time. How do I actually create a group culture and ground rules that will stick?”
- The short answer: Collaboration! You’re all familiar with the Ikea Effect: You [place more value] have more investment and buy-in for something you helped build. You can apply that concept to establishing a group culture.
- KATE Try this: At the beginning of your workshop, take a few minutes upfront to have the group co-create the ground rules for the day. [read slide content / explain directions] Participants are much more likely to abide by rules they themselves created, than rules that were dictated to them by you. Post them up for the duration of the workshop; it becomes a tool you can point back to as people veer off course. Example Group Activity: Steps for Establishing Ground Rules Divide the participants into four smaller groups to create a few rules around the following themes: Diversity, Respect, Confidentiality and Collaboration. (You can change these up to be more fitting for your particular culture or context.) Have each group write the rules they created on a piece of flipchart paper and hang it in the room so that participants can refer back to it. Review the workshop ground rules as a large group. Minimally, these should include expectations about promptness, turning off cell phones, and not interrupting when someone else is speaking. Ask participants if they can agree to respect these ground rules. Ask if anyone has any suggested additions or changes to the rules but do not add to or change the rules unless there is a consensus within the group to do so. Record any additions or changes on the flipchart paper.
- Equally as important as establishing ground rules is not only establishing a clear group purpose, but Making sure you have buy in for that purpose and the way you’ll spend your time in the workshop… Otherwise, you’ll have a room full of people staring at you, distracted, wondering…[slide content]
- You may be thinking, “an agenda!” Yes, of course. A agenda shared AHEAD of time does a lot of work for you, but not enough. There’s more to it than that. You need to make sure that every minute in that workshop is working for you, leading toward the information that you need to make decisions after the workshop is over. Avoid the temptation to start throwing together a list of activities: “We’ll make proto-personas for about 30 mins and then we’ll do some empathy maps for a half hour and finish up with a couple hours of working on ideal state journey maps!” That’s not your starting point.
- You have three building blocks for building a purposeful workshop, and activities are the last block on the stack. First are goals...questions...then finally processes... I started thinking about workshop design in this way because found myself in this situation over and over again: Weeks out, I’d be getting pressure from stakeholders to answer questions too quickly about specifics (activities, timelines, etc.) So I asked myself: What do they really want? Not a timeboxed list of activities. Assurance that the time spent in the workshop was going to be valuable. Here’s how you can use them to create a WORKSHOP DESIGN CANVAS that will calm stakeholder nerves PLUS help you design a purposeful use of time for your workshop
- Create a canvas with 3 rows: one for each of your building blocks First, brainstorm questions you need answered from/during the workshop. I like to do this with sticky notes, especially if I’m working with a couple other team members. Write one question per sticky note. Post up.
- Step back and do some affinity diagramming. As you do, goals become more evident. You might begin to cluster them and give them high-level goal labels.
- Now, you can ask yourself: How are we going to spend our time together to achieve these goals. Those are the activities you will do.
- One this is complete, clean it up and share a tidier version with your stakeholders, like the example you see in the middle here. This can become the basis for back-and-forth conversation and iterating on the workshop design. Once everyone feels comfortable, THEN you are ready to create a formalized agenda to share with the wider group.
- Here’s your final checklist for setting the stage. It’s really about creating a safe space for your participants within the boundaries of your workshop...because alignment cannot happen without a safe space! Don’t jump into the meat yet...
- 11.7.2018, Convo captured for important purposes HELLO LOVER!!!! I am drinking alone in an airport in Beunos Aires. I wish you were here with me. Everyone else is staying a day longer. I will drink a class for you. And please give Edison extra kisses for me since I cant kiss Everette. Please also nibble his feet if possile. YES YES THE EARS PLEASE. I don’t want to delete this convo ever. Ok I am leaving it. YES! Ok and I’m gonna date iit. YES. Ok, I love you. ANd I will see you soon. <3! HELLO :) As you SHOULD be. Drinking I mean. Not alone. MEE TOO! Please do. And then I will drink one and toast to you in the air when edison goes to sleep. AW I WILL. Yes. I promise to nibble him for you. Maybe also his ears. NO. It should stay here forever. Because it will probably make us laugh 5 years from now. Just put like a dozen enters. MUAH!!! Have a safe flight! Enjoy the wines. <3
- CAIT Now that you’ve set the stage, both in your planning prior to the workshop and at the beginning of the workshop, let’s talk about how to guide a group toward the shared group purpose and group goal. First, the hardest thing to remember as a professional who is trained and excels at designing solutions, is that solutioning is NOT your job today. It is to facilitate a group of humans to co-create a solution. You are the guide. The information sherpa. The conduit.
- CAIT In the simplest form, your job is to promote mutual understanding and support others to do their best thinking. But HOW do you actually do that? Let’s look at some specific things in your toolbox to help create alignment and ensure all voices are heard
- CAIT First, let’s talk about the turtle in the room Improvising. If the word improv makes you nervous like it once did for me, we’re going to help break down some of those mental barriers today. When I first started planning and leading workshops, I would conjure up “What if…” scenarios to the point of working myself into a rabbit hole. Planning is CRITICAL to a successful workshop, but equally as important is your ability to improvise. And that requires some confidence in yourself. It’s OK if you feel like an awkward turtle in your daily life, you can do this. It’s all about being FLEXIBLE and proper PLANNING.
- CAIT
- CAIT So here’s a WIDE vareity of things to try Make your intros fun; break down barriers beyond job titles Remember, they are all HUMANS, just like you Encourage “Yes and…” when it comes to ideas...allow for risk taking! This is all part of the ground rules you set earlier. Small group activities create safer spaces to people to start opening up, especially early in the workshop.
- CAIT So here’s an example: If you’re in a group with business stakeholders and aren’t familiar with the tools that we use, here’s one example of how to break down that barrier and get them participating. This is just one example activity that is useful to get people talking and participating. Using open-ended questions that require further expansion, and this capitalizes on having multiple points of view and perspectives in the room. This is good to get people talking to those outside their comfort zone, especially with a mixed group. Start to generate shared knowledge and opportunities for alignment.
- CAIT
- CAIT There will always be tangents, but make sure they’re good ones! Don’t be afraid to interrupt and ask the room if we need to continue, and if this aligns with your workshop purpose. Everyone should be able to complete that statement to the right, that will help you stay on topic There’s always the parking lot
- CAIT This is an example that we like to use a lot to build alignment around the problem we’re solving. It’s a play on Mad Libs. I prefer to do these individually, then do sharebacks. But you can also do a small group. Surfaces alignment issues very quickly, and it helps you as the facilitator get a better understanding of where people are coming from and what kind of knowledge they hold.
- CAIT Another way great way to build alignment is when you do a post-up activity: whether that’s around ideation, brainstorming, planning releases, or prioritizing content or features. During those post-ups start clustering Post-Its and look for patterns and themes This helps the whole room see where there’s more focus, more alignment or conflicting information.
- CAIT A more tactical way to build alignment around the success of your project or engagement is to work together create a success framework. We use this a lot at Globant to build alignment with our clients and cross-functional stakeholders to make sure we’re always moving together in the same direction. This is a valuable exercise to do at the kickoff of a project, or any sort of internal initiative where you want to build alignment. Oftentimes people agree on a mission or purpose, but when it comes to TRULY measuring success, you may find mixed opinions. This opens pathways to healthy discussion and will be useful for your project team as you make decisions later in the project.
- Let’s just acknowledge that sometimes, regardless of how much you plan ahead, are ready to improvise, have created alignment...you’ll still at times find yourself standing in front one or more participants giving you this face... 11.7.2018, Convo captured for important purposes HELLO LOVER!!!! I am drinking alone in an airport in Beunos Aires. I wish you were here with me. Everyone else is staying a day longer. I will drink a class for you. And please give Edison extra kisses for me since I cant kiss Everette. Please also nibble his feet if possile. YES YES THE EARS PLEASE. I don’t want to delete this convo ever. Ok I am leaving it. YES! Ok and I’m gonna date iit. YES. Ok, I love you. ANd I will see you soon. <3! HELLO :) As you SHOULD be. Drinking I mean. Not alone. MEE TOO! Please do. And then I will drink one and toast to you in the air when edison goes to sleep. AW I WILL. Yes. I promise to nibble him for you. Maybe also his ears. NO. It should stay here forever. Because it will probably make us laugh 5 years from now. Just put like a dozen enters. MUAH!!! Have a safe flight! Enjoy the wines. <3
- Now, maybe it’s because we haven’t set our foundation by making the day’s purpose clear, or maybe we haven’t done our best at guiding the group to mutual understanding…and we should check for that. But sometimes, you’re just going to encounter difficult personalities.
- So what do you do? We’re going to look at three common behavior types and some quick tactics you might try to overcome these situations.
- You have many tools at your disposal...your facilitation techniques, your ability to improvise with activities, the fact that you are standing in the front of the room in a position of authority and YOU are the one wielding the white board marker… Asses these things and how they might work for you… Consider the DOMINATOR… If you have someone who...
- Another common behavior type is the SKEPTIC.
- When you see a person or a group of people acting DISENGAGED… Maybe they are...
- 11.7.2018, Convo captured for important purposes HELLO LOVER!!!! I am drinking alone in an airport in Beunos Aires. I wish you were here with me. Everyone else is staying a day longer. I will drink a class for you. And please give Edison extra kisses for me since I cant kiss Everette. Please also nibble his feet if possile. YES YES THE EARS PLEASE. I don’t want to delete this convo ever. Ok I am leaving it. YES! Ok and I’m gonna date iit. YES. Ok, I love you. ANd I will see you soon. <3! HELLO :) As you SHOULD be. Drinking I mean. Not alone. MEE TOO! Please do. And then I will drink one and toast to you in the air when edison goes to sleep. AW I WILL. Yes. I promise to nibble him for you. Maybe also his ears. NO. It should stay here forever. Because it will probably make us laugh 5 years from now. Just put like a dozen enters. MUAH!!! Have a safe flight! Enjoy the wines. <3
- CAIT Workshop cost money. All those people in one room! We want to make sure you maintain momentum beyond the workshop
- CAIT So when you think about maintaining momentum post-workshop, there are things you can be doing as you GO, and then there are things you can be doing afterwards
- CAIT Last toolbox addition for the day
- Hopefully, you have some sparks for how to apply some of these tools and tactics we’ve covered. More and more, it’s falling on UX professionals to practice the art of facilitation. In our work, we regularly have to lead teams through critical activities: brainstorming ideas for a new feature, critiquing a design, sharing our research with clients or other departments. A great facilitator is indispensable to a team, helping them move closer to success with every get together. PRACTICE! It will make us better UXers...and our lives easier!
- THANKS! / Questions We have __ minutes left. So we have time for a couple of questions. Then we’ll be up here afterwards for a bit to chat and answer questions, also.