Just finished leading a Lightning Decision Jam in my non-profit org. It was with some leaders in the Fund Development department. We started with a how might we question we came to in a previous workshop, "How might we add value to leadership?" Their main problem is that the leadership doesn't seem to value their opinions and makes decisions that affect their teams without consulting with them. The four gentlemen in the workshop have been facing this problem for years and years. There are some bright spots for sure, but overall the executive leadership likely needs some paradigm shifts. There were a few crucial moments in the workshop where I'm wondering if I let them talk too much. I could sense the need they felt to get clearer on a problem so they could better use their votes. When we were moving to the How Might We question I could tell they weren't quite ready to land that plane and needed more discussion as they searched for the root causes. Anyway, I allowed more talking because it felt complex and crucial to get them aligned to a proposed solution experiment. Here are the questions bouncing around in my head: - Are LDJ's not as useful for complex and challenging problems? - Should I have reiterated "trust the process" more and emphasized the best insights won't come from our discussions, but our experiments with solutions? - Was the talking good for this process? I notice I feel deflated somewhat and I think it's related to the fact that I'm just unsure how to think about this workshop. I welcome any feedback. No matter what, I'm going to learn from this experience and sharpen my skills.

Hello fellow facilitators! I'm trying to sell the idea of an LDJ to another department in my organization. How would you summarize the top five selling points? Generalized will work just fine. Thanks!

Hi all, I thought i'd share an interesting workshop I ran recently - hopefully it's helpful for someone else who has a similar challenge or brief! The client is a large charity and this was their brief: Produce a short vision statement for our future digital fundraising and engagement and the required transformation over our strategy period (they obviously shared context of their org strategy etc). I split this up into two stages: 1) Vision & 2) Required Transformation. Here are the exercises I ran: 1️⃣ Vision ➡️ Lightning Demos (this helped us focus on the market and the team created some really great How Might Wes). We clustered these to use as stimulus for the next exercise. ➡️ Vision Statement Drawing. People drew their vision statement and presented back to the group. I was mindful that if we asked people to write them they would get caught up in the language rather than the overall concepts. We asked them to share their vision and gathered the main themes. 2️⃣ Required Transformation ➡️ We then essentially did a Lightning Decision Jam which I don't need to explain! This was a fun one to run but I was very worried about timings, we did get everything done on time though which was a relief! I was constantly talking about pace and how it's going to feel like everything is going WAY too fast before and during the workshop and I think that helped a lot! They just could not get people together for longer but all worked out ok! I've had some really positive feedback from the client and recently ran a training session for them too so hoping to run more sessions with them next year 😁 Shout if you have any questions! 😀

Hi all. I would love your advice.. I hate kicking off workshops, because I typically get the most nervous right at the beginning. It’s when all eyes are on me, I tend to get a little breathless, and my voice gets shaky. Once I have some interaction from the team, all that goes away. I’m looking for a fool proof way to kick off a workshop that immediately engages an audience without me having to say more than a few words. I’ve tried so many things to reduce those jitters the first few minutes, but I have not been successful. I welcome any creative suggestions or helpful tips. Thank you! Jennie

Currently, I’m trying to build experience with workshops in my organization. I first ran the LDJ with my team, then my supervisor volunteered me to run one for our entire HR department and one of the senior HR partners just recommended me to the director of our fund development team (for a large non profit). I’m going to lead a workshop in January for them over two days, 1.5 hours each day. They were really excited as we talked about how it would play out. I’m loving the ability to provide great solutions for teams! Also some fun impact from doing this - my boss loved it so much he ran a 30 minute LDJ with his son’s robotic team 😂. Love the intangibles as much as the measurable results! Facilitating is so powerful👊🏼👊🏼👊🏼