Innovation Series - How to ensure everyone’s input is captured and heard by using a technique called “Together Alone”

As a facilitator, we have several tools in the toolkit to get the most out of a workshop, and one of those is to ensure that we capture the ideas and views throughout the group's time together.  You have to watch out for the quiet ones!

Background

I was recently facilitating a group to navigate a business strategy, and the feedback from the business sponsor articulated the value of centering everyone around a map, but ensuring that everyone had time to capture their thoughts before playing it back to the group. As there were key areas that he wouldn’t have considered if not for that approach. He was talking about “Together Alone”.

Setting the scene

I run a lot of workshops and work with business sponsors to plan around what we want to achieve and who we need to get us there. The challenge can be the dynamics that are created in a room.

I am sure we have all been in meetings where:

• Everyone is talking at once.

• The same person tends to be talking, and everyone else nods along.

• A few people have made little contribution to the session.

As a facilitator, you need to manage this and create an atmosphere where there are no passengers, and everyone’s point of view can be captured. Part of this is achieved at the beginning of your session when you share your Workshop Charter or Principles, which I will share in a later post; the other is how you plan the activities to get the team to collaborate.

I use Together Alone in ideation and even voting sessions.

Together Alone

This is where the team completes tasks in silence and without interaction. In doing so, you are creating the space for individuals to put their thoughts into action without discussion, interactioning, or critiquing.

I usually do this in ideation sessions while they capture and play back their ideas. During voting activities, it is post my direction as to the approach until the exercise is completed.

The setup

As a facilitator, you need to ensure that people are clear on the goal and the activity to ensure they feel comfortable in the task.

Using How Might We (HMW) to focus the team on the goal we are collaborating on and then articulating the approach for the activity.

If it is the first time you are using this technique, explain the “Why” and the importance of hearing from everyone and valuing their contributions, and then define the approach to complete the activity. 

A Consideration

You will have a lot of ideas being presented, so during their playback, suggest how they need to group them thematically. For example “If you have a similar idea, there is no need to read it out. Just place it near the one that is like yours.”  

This will help create a collection of like areas, build alignment and support the process of narrowing down the ideas by the team.

Conclusion and Next Steps

The Together Alone approach will enable you to uncover all the opportunities and input from the group, enabling them to collaborate and achieve the best out of bringing them all together.

Give it a try in your next workshop or meeting. If you need support in the running of your next workshop or could benefit from my services, please get in contact.