Setting the Context

Why?

We have facilitated many workshops. All were successful, some went more smoothly than others. One lesson that we have learned - the hard way - is that workshops must develop top-down or from the context in. Two workshops that we facilitated, we allowed the sponsor to drive the process. One, the project manager wanted the detailed data defined before building a data model. The second, the sponsors wanted the follow on actions defined before defining the group charter. In both cases, they had very good reasons for what they wanted. In both cases, We said, "Okay." Both workshops struggled as a result. Both groups lacked the context - the big picture.

Groups cannot build decisions from the bottom up. Groups don't think that way. They lack the context. In both workshops, the detailed work had to be revised once the context was set - not the smartest thing to do.

How to Set the Context

Most workshops are clear about the sequence. When not so clear, we do three things to help:

• Interview the participants
• Understand the building blocks
• Clearly define the deliverable

Interviewing the participants helps to understand how they think. This helps to ensure that you structure the process to support their thinking style.

Your workshop process must match their thinking style.

Understanding the building blocks helps know what comes first. Use "Building a Process" from "The FAST Newsletter", issue 24, to help. Test the sequence with the participants when you interview them (We test it numerous times with the participants, project manager, and sponsor).

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