The one where IHP got together and built their perspectives on the future!
We believe that when you actively involve, connect, and engage every voice it drives greater commitment, motivation, and stickability. That’s why we were really excited to support International Health Partners (IHP) and design a full day workshop to help them gain insight, feedback, and ideas to help shape their future.
IHP was established in 2004 and is a global health non-government organisation (NGO) that supports people in disaster-hit and vulnerable communities to get vital medicines. The work they do is amazing, and the team are constantly striving for a world where suffering, due to lack of healthcare, is eradicated. IHP source medicines and supplies, ship them to where they are required most and, through partners on the ground, distribute them at no cost to people who need them. To date they have supported 74 countries. The operation is complex, having many parts, so the team must be coordinated and aligned in what they do and how they do it.
A few years ago, the leadership team crafted their strategy and worked hard to ensure stakeholder buy-in, with regular review. As per their business planning process, it was the right time to bring the whole organisation together, draw out insight and feedback on their work to date against the plan, then look to the future. Adele Paterson, CEO of IHP said, “I am really keen to ensure that everybody can participate and be confident in telling us what they think.”
We were asked to design a workshop that:
- helps the team get to know each other more (as some people had been recruited during the pandemic and started their IHP journey working remotely)
- provides the team with new skills and tools to use back in the day-to-day
- gives a platform to generate insight, feedback, and ideas to shape the future
The event was hosted at an external venue in a cool, creative space. Its rustic charm set the scene for a day full of laughter, togetherness, great discussion, and actions.
Prior to unleashing the LEGO® bricks, we wanted to focus everyone on the reason for this intentional collaboration and make connections. Impromptu networking is a good way to do this, whether it is a group of strangers or a team that have worked together for years. It puts emphasis on the objectives for the day ahead, aligning hearts and minds. It’s high energy too, breaking down any potential barriers.
Every LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® workshop starts with skills build. Although many can associate with LEGO®, and probably have played with it themselves or with children, the skills build gets people used to putting bricks together. We also share some unique ways in which bricks can be connected!
The team went on to build a model that represented the best parts of working at IHP. Many common themes emerged including things like team, purpose, faith and supporting people in need. The discussion was uplifting and helped connect all with why they do what they do.
Still focusing on the individual, they built a model that represented all the activities/initiatives/things that they were doing to grow as a person. A flag was placed on the model identifying the most important factor for them.
“Listening is an art that requires attention over talent, spirit over ego, others over self” Dean Jackson
The team then helped each other navigate the most important personal issue by getting together in groups of 3 and consulting. Using the Liberating Structure, Troika Consulting, provided a more intimate moment to advance trusting relationships and practically help people come up with clear action to move forward.
The LEGO® bricks were tidied away (only temporary but much to the disappointment of everyone!) and the group engaged in something called Ecocycle Planning. This exercise was an opportunity for the full team to highlight all the activity they are involved in and visualise it. The purpose was to generate discussion about the work, the capacity to do the work, and inform planning i.e., Should we continue doing some things? Do we need to invest energy in something new? It provides a platform for all team members to see the whole picture (the forest and the trees).
The outputs were fascinating, and it allowed for healthy conflict to surface, particularly when talking about CRM and the IT systems that support operations.
One of the team said “I need to do this exercise with my team but more focused on the work in our area of IHP. It has really made me think about what adds value.”
During lunch we encouraged all to look at the placement of the post-it’s to ensure consensus and then, as a full team, started an open discussion on the activities that may need to be creatively destroyed or started. Splitting up into smaller groups, a first step action was considered and shared – it’s all well and good having lots of conversation, but we like to push to action. This may be simply ‘do more research on x’.
And then the LEGO® bricks came back out again! We have noticed that never in our workshops comes the ‘after-lunch’ blues – maintaining energy and focus is something that the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® approach supports massively.
Our final builds reflected a) what the individual was going to do on the back of the day and b) what the person wanted IHP to do on the back of the day.
We grouped the results of these builds in to three broad themes - team, plan, mission. The leadership were then able to take away and consider about 20 different key points, generated from the team, surrounding next steps.
Following any session we facilitate, a Play Debrief is created and provided for the leadership team containing the outputs (visual and otherwise) surrounding the workshop.
Reflecting on the overall experience, Tina Grear, COO, said, “The morning was like therapy and really opened us up as a leveller, preparing us for an excellent afternoon where we learnt, shared, and got some key issues to follow up as we commence the business plan process for 2023. Very effective.”
Adele Paterson, CEO, said, “the team were extremely positive about the event, and we look forward to embedding the skills we learnt as a team and developing the ideas we released.”
IHP help the global community by responding when disasters strike, supporting with medicine and healthcare, equipping medical professionals on the ground, and speaking up to raise awareness. In this workshop, they built their thoughts and feelings surrounding how they can do more of this and how they can do it even better.
Visit www.prometheanplay.co.uk to see what this could mean for your organisation.
Promethean Play Ltd | Company registration no. 13687926 | VAT no. 437 3419 89
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