Is your team about to embark on a challenge? Does it need to generate solutions or develop an action plan? Do you want to save time on long meetings and wearisome discussions? The Solutions Accelerator workshop may be just what you are looking for.
In the Solutions Accelerator workshop, the facilitator guides participants through a structured process to map out an issue (what needs to improve), generate a range of solutions and prioritise them for action. The technique taps into the collective intelligence of a team, teasing out unique insights and ideas from each member.
Crucially, it is designed to achieve concrete outcomes in a much shorter time than is usually possible through team meetings and allows a group to move forward swiftly, minimising frustrations and saving everyone’s energy.
As solutions are developed in a participatory way, it also creates a sense of ownership over the direction taken and enhances internal buy-in for the plans and actions that are subsequently developed.
The Solutions Accelerator method can be used to move a huge variety of issues forward, in various contexts and for different aims. Here are some examples:
For the Solutions Accelerator, the sky is the limit – if you are about to embark on a process that would start off with a couple of longer team meetings, to establish what needs to be done and develop an action plan, contact us to check if this methodology could be applied.
Useful for:
Generating effective solutions and developing action plans through team meetings can be difficult to do as smoothly as one would hope and contains potential traps. Here are some reasons why:
When one or more of these issues come up, the initial team’s enthusiasm may get drowned in process fatigue and frustration, and the momentum fades away. Team effectiveness and motivation suffer, and the use of time is suboptimal.
This is why the Solutions Accelerator methodology is so powerful: it is able to counteract these dynamics, making the process smoother, more complete and pleasant for everyone. The facilitation methods ensure everyone’s voice is heard and views are taken onboard, and produce concrete results in a relatively short time.
The workshop facilitator guides participants through a series of structured brainstorming exercises. Throughout, the participants work alongside each other to contribute to whiteboards and maps that are developed. These activities guide and frame time intervals for sharing views, insights and ideas in a structured way.
Through these interactive processes, the participants:
* in remote facilitation, workshops are usually divided into two parts
The workshop may also include an additional detailed action planning phase. It is a natural development from the results obtained but may require an allocation of additional time, especially for more complex problems.
Depending on the needs of a team or an organisation and the purpose of the process, the workshop can be offered as a stand-alone intervention, or as part of a larger package. For instance, mapping the issues and potential solutions may be followed by a results report with recommendations, facilitated discussions with key decision-makers to prioritise areas for action and/or long-term implementation planning. Once we are briefed on what the organisation is seeking to achieve, we can suggest a tailored solution to bring the desired effects.
Occasionally we run workshops that are open to individual participation, in an online version.
Register your interest here:
Strategy & planning