Our Work Can Be Explained In Three Broad Parts
These parts are not linear or in any sense separate but they explain what's required.
ONE: What’s Involved In This First Phase:
Defining The Challenge - From the brief we would create and agree what we call the ‘exam question’. This is how we describe the statement that best describes the challenge and the work we will collaborate together.
Our Suggestion To Kick It Off - “How can we (xxx) optimise performance as a team and fully support the business in the achievement of its goals…?” - We will work together to get this correct.
Understanding The Situation - You will send us all/any relevant/related information. This will enable us to understand the scope, appreciate the language and gain sufficient situational context. This means we are better armed/immersed in the challenge to make better use of our time on the ground.
Framework & Structural Design - We will analyse the information you send and start designing the most appropriate framework(s). These are the core tools and methods that allow us to have the best conversations.
Setting The Team’s Expectations - We often prepare a short expectation document for those attending. This explains the approach and manages expectations so that everyone will be ready. We are not big fans of traditional agendas as they set up a structure that doesn’t allow for the right conversations. Our agenda is the series of discussions within the context of the frameworks we design.
Collaboration Throughout - We will have as many calls and conversations with you and key members of your team as is required as we get ready and we will share and questions raised by our interpretation of the preparation work with you as we go.
TWO: Explaining Our Time On The Ground
Getting Ready To Travel - We would confirm all of the arrangements for the travel, accommodation and in general our time on the ground and work with you to understand any venue security and access challenges.
The Critical Challenge Of The Venue - We will liaise with whoever we need to and is best placed from your side to identify and understand the implications of the room(s) available. We will liaise more closely on this part as the venue implicates the design accordingly. Take a look at this page to understand the vagaries of venues.
The Full Day Of Rigging - We will be on the ground - and in the venue - at least a full day ahead of the sessions themselves. This is because we will need to build the visual frameworks and complete the pre-population as required.
The Sessions With Team - The days themselves will see us facilitating the sequence of conversations. These are very focussed discussions which we design to answer the exam question. Our sessions are always highly engaging but (in a good way) can be hard work. We always emerge with a rich visual understanding of the direction - the requirements, the conclusions, the principles, the strategies, an agreed way of working and a clear picture of the future as expressed by the exam question.
Capturing The Sessions - Throughout the sessions we are capturing in a number of ways. Not verbatim capture as discussions are not what we need reminding of but the results of these discussions and the insights within them will be both captured visually within the framework on the walls and also in the written narratives that we will build.
After The Sessions - We will de-rig the venue - dismantling any walls we have built. We will make certain we have HD images captured in sufficient definition to recreate the images if we needed them. They will also be used in the deliverables that we describe next.
THREE: Creating The Memory And Sustaining The Results
Immediate Deliverables - Because the intervention is visual and developed in real time the frameworks themselves are immediate outputs. We then additionally suggest deliverables that we will agree in more detail in advance. Thats because there's a real spectrum of possibility here. We can create straightforward summaries right through to interactive online tools and animations.
The Basic Suggestion - We aim to create deliverables that give the team the ability to move on. This means summaries of their actions and key insights throughout the session. We will produce an online and printable version which includes the images themselves. In a similar form to this document.
The Visual Assets - We will develop a set of images of the frameworks and each module that makes it up so that you have a powerful record of the event.
ESTABLISHING A BUDGET
We have assumed the session will take place in (xxx). When it comes to agreeing a cost we point to the many variables associated with the approach. By way of example - variables would include the quality of the preparation materials we receive, the amount of further research (or gathering through calls) and the degree and type of deliverables, All of these things can have an effect on the costs.
Given equivalent types of work we would suggest a budget of xxxxx plus travel and accommodation (charged at cost) to cover the work involved above.
Thank You!
We look forward to getting this closer over the next few days and weeks.
The Above Represents The Task We’ve Discussed
What follows illustrates a few of the ways we help beyond this phase.
Ongoing Collaboration - As an option - we sometimes create a dedicated collaborative platform online - a space where it's possible to support progress and where we stay available to help/observe the progress post the event.
Exploiting The Many Channels - These days there’s many ways in which the results of strategic thinking and new visions, operating models, opportunities and transformation programs can be brought to life and to everyone’s attention. Because we work visually our results lends themselves rapidly to these techniques.
Creating Digital Presentation Tools - A big part of our work these days is taking the results of the sessions out into the enterprise. In the image below you can see images that are created as both flat versions and interactive display system. They are produced at scale - many metres wide and high - and act as powerful tools to engage and communicate the future to the entire enterprise.
