When the challenges are the best that has happened?
Reading lengths: 15min;
Method: Sailboat;
Content: Usage example; Profesional case
Complexity: Moderate
Keywords: #ideas generation; #known and unknown; #work and fun; #team engagement; #solution ideas
Let's assume you have your personal goal or team goal that you have been going
after already for a while. There might be specific achievements already, yet
you are not really satisfied with the achieved result. And it's somewhat hard
to move forward. Something is not happening as smoothly as expected. For something
you might have lost the trust, why is it needed after all. Sounds familiar? I
know these types of situations happens quite often since it occurs to me as well.
The first step towards changing something is to acknowledge and admit – yes,
this is happening right now. Only when you have acknowledged it's happening,
you have a chance to change something. You could, of course, decide to stubbornly
continue in the same manner and try to pull the baggage with all the strengths
you can assemble. Or you could choose to help yourself by changing something.
You could stop to think and rethink, understand what you need to change, and
then continue the path with the enhanced version of your baggage and strengths.
This article will describe how we used the sailboat method with my team in such
a situation.
Why are we struggling so much?
This is a brilliant question. If we would always have a proper answer to that, there might be no struggle for us at all, wouldn't it? However, more often, we don't know the correct answer to this question.
We didn't have the correct answer also in the situation that I'm describing in this article. Or, more precisely – the answer most probably was hidden in multiple known and yet unknown obstacles. For the background – my team and I had a set goal that seemed achievable. We had done our analysis on what our strengths are and what we still need to improve. We had our strategy clear and did know the small milestones we had to achieve on the go. All was alright with the roles, knowledge, tools, and resources we needed for our goal achievement. Yet after a while, we realized that efforts were not paying off. Instead of first gains, we saw we were way much behind where we planned to be.
There was no other way than to conclude that we were missing something. Maybe we were missing team inner belief in the goal, strengths and energy, and time. Yet perhaps we were missing some of the external factors influencing our goal achievement. It was the right time to start asking the questions since they are the first push to step outside the box. If we succeed in seeing the bigger picture of our situation, we might discover something new that would change the whole game.
What don't we yet know?
The sailboat is a perfect fit method for such situations since it will allow tapping into all aspects essential to us. First of all, we will be able to structure know and discover the unknown at once. Stepping outside of the day-to-day routine and looking at the situation from the helicopter view always gives a chance to see a broader picture. Observing outside of the box is inalienable for any design thinking method, including this one. Second of all, as I've mentioned already in the article describing sailboat method {link} when playing this game right, it is an excellent booster for the team to rebuild trust in goal achievement. For me personally, this might have been the most important since I'm a firm believer in the unbeatable strength of a motivated and enthusiastic team.
So we have a willingness to do this, and we also find a time. Further in the article, I'll describe what we did in each of the steps. In this article cover photo, however, you can see a visual representation of the result. I know that most of the details in the picture are blurry, and that's on purpose. Not because I am ashamed of the ideas we have discovered. Since the case represents the professional world, I can't reveal concrete details about the goal and ideas. Yet, I believe this is an excellent illustrative example anyway. The core of this article is about the approach, not the ideas.
Method usage
Preparation
People. The first and essential decision to be made during preparation is people's participation in the game (the method execution). Of course, the team has to consist of the people primarily involved in the goal achievement. But not only. To have a holistic view, we needed to invite more people in. At a minimum those, who are somewhat impacted by goal achievement. Remember, a more diverse group will have more varied ideas. So invited other affected colleagues and made a group out of nine people.
The tools. Since we played the game at the highest point of digitalization and working from home, we also used digital tools. In the pre-Covid world, we for sure would have met face to face and used the paper, the post-it's and markers to play the game. Yet the world has changed, we couldn't wait, and the comfort level with the online event has also increased significantly. Thus we met in MSTeam virtual room; we all had a Miro board in front of us with the prepared template and all resources we needed.
Time. Since I focused on team engagement and spirit, I didn't want to rush this through at any cost. We must have had a space for discussions, jokes, and fun. So I've reserved 90 minutes of our time.
The island + The boat
The goal wasn't new for us. We knew what we wanted to achieve, and we didn't change that. We also had clarity about the boat – it was the team involved in the new service creation and delivery. However, we did discuss both the island and the boat in the beginning to be sure we were on the same page. And we were.
Sales
We didn't include the sails this time in the game. We have worked on the team strengths and advantages before already using other methods. So we felt we were clear about them. We didn't expect any changes there and didn't want to invest more time in that. Other aspects of the game seemed much more significant.
Anchors
But we did focus on anchors. At first, we spent 10minutes individually thinking about what was holding us back, and everyone wrote down their ideas. Then we shared the ideas with others, and here we started to get engaged in very interesting and valuable discussions and perspectives. I was glad about the ideas and arguments that we had, and it all summed up in a couple of observations:
- There are a couple of themes that almost all of the participants did mention in their individual perspectives. It means that these themes seem to be the top priorities and have the most significant impact. That is obvious.
- Some of the ideas that popped up weren't on our radar before. So they are the new discoveries, and it is excellent that we have picked them up now. Even if not all game members agreed with these observations initially, there certainly is something to dig deeper into.
- And I'll mention as well that we had some of the quite funny ideas and nice visualizations entering our workboard. We did include, for example, snail in our map, representing the influence of the slowness, as well as hidden treasures box representing untapped potential. These are important since there is more than just ideas behind them. It also means that team is relaxed and positively energized, which is vital for the game.
The scissors and the buoys
This is probably my favorite part of the game since we can fully dive into discoveries in these steps. We can tune in our hidden creativity and surprise ourselves and others with the ideas crossing our minds. We spent here again 10 minutes to discover the scissors and 10 minutes to discover the buoys. After each of the 10 minutes rounds, we presented and discussed the ideas with others.
I will not relist all of the ideas we came up with, but I can assure you there were many exciting, promising, and funny ones. Only two anchors didn't get any attention– there were no ideas of the scissors or the buoys for them. Yet, it tells me that these are the least priority and impact issues for the team. However, the rest of the anchors received loads of attention, ideas, and potential solutions that might turn out to be game-changer. Many of these ideas, by the way, we for sure wouldn't have come up with if not this activity we did. So I'm glad we did.
Results we achieved
Without any doubt, I am satisfied with the output we have created. We fulfilled the content goal, and we fulfilled the emotional goal. We see there is no need for desperation, and we are not stuck. There are many different ways out of the situation.
To summarize all essential gains from the game, I've come up with five things:
- We refreshed the navigation map, where we are and where we want to get to
- We have multiple great ideas that can help us on the go
- We have discovered some new themes, some of them indeed very inspiring
- We have regained the trust and believe we can achieve the target
- We recharged with positivity and engagement in goal achievement
Conclusions
When we are stuck, the best we can do is to step back and observe the situation from a different angle. The sailboat method is one of those methods that will help in doing precisely that. Plus, strive for diversity of ideas through inviting a diverse group of people to play the game. People plus the proper framework multiplied by positive energy for sure will help you in achieving the refresh.
However, the method and people are not the silver bullet, and you know that, right? The achievement of the goal at the end of the day is only dependant on what you will do with the generated ideas after the session. If you do nothing, nothing will also happen. A method is only a tool that can help you with direction, ideas, and execution potential. But somebody will still need to invest time and energy to turn the ideas into reality. Ideally, there are low-hanging fruits in the generated ideas pool that you can quickly implement and get quick wins. But most probably, most of the ideas will require further analysis, creativity, and implementation. And maybe you will decide not to implement all of them, so you will need to prioritize. For that, there are other better fit methods. But I'll speak about them later and in further articles.
Did you like this method and the description of it?
Do give me a note about it.
I will appreciate it if you include in your message what you did like, what you think should be improved, and of course, any other ideas that would be worth experimenting with.
Maybe you want to join me in some of the method experiments?
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I would love to hear your example. Let me know.