Have you ever attended a kickoff or annual seminar where leaders present their strategic vision or yearly objectives? These events are often accompanied by workshops where teams must bring these objectives to life by establishing an action plan. This exercise is routine and rarely sparks much creativity. The risk is missing an opportunity to innovate or to identify potential risks. At one client’s seminar, we decided to test a different approach.
At the beginning of the fiscal year, all European teams gathered at one of the company’s research and development sites for a seminar. After presenting the multi-year vision, ongoing cross-functional projects, and key objectives, the teams were asked to prepare an action plan incorporating all these elements to achieve the vision.
Given the ambitious objectives and limited resources, we decided to introduce a creative workshop to encourage teams to think outside their usual patterns and generate fresh ideas.
Divided into sub-groups and using modeling clay and Legos, the teams had to build a bridge between today and the expected objectives. They then pitched their bridge and answered questions and feedback from other groups. Finally, they assembled all the bridges to create the department’s aqueduct.
This approach encouraged teams to think differently. Some represented dead ends to highlight mistakes they might make, others added a toll at the bridge entrance to illustrate potential costs of certain actions, and one team even included a magnificent pink crocodile symbolizing management in case of failure! The bridge’s pillars represented milestones, while different colors signified various workstreams.
The final action plan was richer than in previous years. It included more options, risk identification and mitigation plans, and facilitated better discussions with leadership, especially regarding their response in case of failure.
The brain is naturally lazy. When repeating the same tasks over and over, it stops looking for ways to improve or do things differently. Using tangible tools like Legos or modeling clay stimulates the brain, breaks habitual thought patterns, and reactivates creativity. Bringing in a facilitator to lead such seminars can help design a workshop that delivers maximum value!
