COLLABORATIVE THINKING !STARTER KIT
A collection of very basic yet highly effective means to improve collective thinking put together by Anja Kantowsky !
About this document
>12 years experience facilitating meetings
>20 years meeting experience
Passionate
for people
& working
together
Bad meetings are a drag
Improving is easy and fun! Good
practice -> results -> ☺
Collection of practices for joint thinking
Complete Scientific
Someone opens a matter to think about
Some don’t answer !- maybe question is unclear, maybe they need more thinking time?
Some answer
Ad-hoc thinking setup in teams
What are we
thinking about?
Inputs might get lost
Difficult setup for introverts
Improved setup: !Write down the matter to think about
With a written topic or question everyone knows what to think about
Ways to do this: Just a topic !e.g. Sales situation Narrowing it down !e.g. Improving our sales situation A question!e.g. What can we do to spur sales?
Narrowed
down =
easy to com
e
with input
Standard for documenting inputs:!Taking notes on a flipchart
People utter their thinking
Someone is taking notes
“translation
” of
inputs might
cause irrita
tion
Linear setup = a lot of time for all inputs
Difficult setup for introverts
Improved setup for gathering of inputs:!Hand out sticky notes and pen
Handing sticky notes and pen to each person at the table helps to overcome all issues with linear documenting by someone. Extra Bonus: !Silences and opens up time to really think
Only one thought per sticky note
Descriptive & understandable
Setup without a person taking notes:!Put the matter to think about on the table
With a written subject in the middle of the table the thinking energy of the group stays focused.
Great to stop multitasking in a group!
The pro setup
Use graphical organizers to sort inputs right away. In such a setup, everyone is asked to locate her/his sticky notes in the overall picture.
Saves a lot of time when jointly exploring inputs
Explore the following topics if you’re up for more
Have fun!