How do you make a strategy workshop ... Work?
It's for an internal client side meeting with mid-level business development people on deploying a new analytics-driven strategy.
Typing this out it already sounds boring af.
How do I get this group of 5-10 people to brainstorm, learn and develop some common ground? I have a strategic framework but I can't make up my mind if bringing lots of crayons and colorful paper is going to make this a cringefest or what the hell else I should do. I just don't want it to be another 2 hour meeting where we all watch this one loud office warrior dominate the discussion and shoot down everything with their negativity.
Any advice is welkom.
Posted Dec 9, 2021, 7:36 PM UTC
144
I recommend the book Gamestorming: A Playbook for Innovators, Rulebreakers, and Gamechangers. I love facilitating these workshops! I follow the game plans laid out in this book where there are ideas for breaking the ice, generating ideas, reaching consensus, making a plan, etc. Using these techniques, I can also ensure strong personalities don't dominate the conversation.
+1 for gamestorming. Also wanted to emphasize how important a design-thinking style warm up activity is to help stakeholders step out of their day to day role. It may seem cringey at first, but it’s surprisingly effective and you’ll start to see them thinking of things in new ways and perspectives.