One card, one real situation, thirty minutes: the group leaves with an attempt to make and a date to look at it.
Preparing
Choose a fact the group can share: a handover that loses information, feedback that is hard to use, a request that keeps coming back. Choose one card that speaks to it.
Name a facilitator and someone who writes down what is decided. Send the card beforehand. Anyone can facilitate: it takes preparation, not seniority.
Four cards to start with
| The group’s question | Card to start from |
|---|---|
| How do we make a handover clearer? | You’re done when the result is checked |
| How do we try an idea fast? | Trying costs less than asking |
| What feedback would help us learn? | A review that only says yes teaches nothing |
| How do we give objections a follow-up? | ⇄ You cannot ask for candor and keep the last word |
A thirty-minute session
Five minutes: read. Read the card together, or check that everyone has read it.
Eight minutes: the case. “What do we know? What already works? What is still a guess?” Ask each trade in the room what it sees of the case.
Ten minutes: the options. Find one attempt small enough to run this week. Say its expected effect, its cost, and what cannot be undone.
Seven minutes: the decision. Who does what, by when, and when do we look at the result. If a decision belongs to someone outside the room, name who asks them and by when.
The facilitator’s sheet
- Purpose: we want to shed light on … from case … and card …
- Time: preparation … ; session … ; follow-up …
- What we can decide here: …
- What we have to ask someone else for: …
- Who facilitates, who writes: …
- Good outcome: an attempt this week, with an owner and a date.
Useful prompts: “What fact tells us that?”, “Who would live with this change?”, “What is the one-hour version?”
If the discussion turns into blaming someone, stop and come back to the case.
A short record
Fact: in the case examined, the file that went out had no explicit next step.
Attempt: add a line “next step and handover accepted by” on ordinary files for two weeks.
Owner: Jo prepares the line in twenty minutes and tries it on Monday.
What we look at: how many handovers need a clarification, before and after.
Review: in two weeks, fifteen minutes.
The log template lets you keep it.
The follow-up
At the agreed date, take fifteen minutes: the question, what was tried, what changed, and the decision. Keep, change or stop. Name who carries what next.
The case Six weeks to learn together shows a full cycle.
Adapting
Between peers. Rotate facilitation. Changing other people’s work needs them in the room, or a request to them.
Remote. Share a note, give everyone a day to answer in writing, and have one person pull the decisions together.
With a new team. Start with a constructed case. The first session can just be about understanding one card well.