The Refresh Workshop is a structured opportunity for the team to pause, reflect, recharge, and pivot (if needed). It is a chance for them to recommit to the 100-Day Goal. And if good progress is being made, it is time to kick off the thinking and planning to sustain the impact beyond the 100 days.
Podcast
Click here to listen to a Challenge Strategist and Coach discussing the Workshop preparations.
Three Tasks This Week
The Strategic Alignment Meeting
The first priority is a huddle with the Coach and the Team Leader to set the stage for a successful workshop.
Items for your Agenda:
Reality Check: How is the Team actually performing against the Goal and 100-day plan?
Culture Check: Is the Team agreement being respected, or do we need to address any emerging friction?
Leadership Expansion: Which other senior leaders should we reach out to help unblock the hurdles that have come up and which of them should be invited to the Workshop?
Logistics Lock-in: Finalise the exact timing and a venue that encourages creativity rather than “bureaucracy-as-usual”.
To be ready for this meeting, please go over the Learning Deep Dive: Overview of the Refresh Workshop
Send out Invitations
After the Meeting, send out invitations to the Team members and leaders you and the Coach and Team Leader decided should be invited.
An invite from you, rather than the coach, carries more weight.
Create a Save Space at the Workshop & respond to their Requests
Your role at the Workshop will be mostly to listen and to give advice, if and when asked. You will also need to react and give feedback to the Team during the last segment of the Workshop. In that segment, the Team will present on the following:
Looking back: They will share their (possibly) revised 100-Day Goal and highlights of their revised 100-Day Plan.
Looking “in the moment”: They will ask for the support they will need from you and other leadership stakeholders.
Looking ahead: They will share recommendations on risk mitigation and other steps related to sustaining the gains.
As always, it is important to remain positive, ask clarifying questions, and encourage the Team to continue being ambitious and bold.
In responding to the team’s requests, be as clear as possible.
Commit if possible.
If you cannot commit yet, then let them know when you will get back to them.
If you are not able to deliver on the “ask”, let them know this and explain why this is the case.
Jot down thoughts on these questions – to the extent they are relevant to your experience at the session:
When did the mood in the event shift from “why are we here?” to “this could be interesting – I am excited to be part of this.” What triggered this shift?
When did you have to go “off script” on the agenda or to change the agenda? What triggered this? What did you adjust? How did it go?
What was most surprising to you at the event?
What new insights did you gain about the issue at hand, and about the way leaders in the system interacted with each other?
Where did the conversation get stuck? What got it unstuck?
How would you characterise the level of trust among participants in the meeting? To what extent did this shift as the meeting progressed? To what do you attribute this shift, if indeed it happened?
Thought starter...
Reflection Questions
Jot down thoughts on these questions – to the extent they are relevant to your experience at the session:
When did the mood in the event shift from “why are we here?” to “this could be interesting – I am excited to be part of this.” What triggered this shift?
When did you have to go “off script” on the agenda or to change the agenda? What triggered this? What did you adjust? How did it go?
What was most surprising to you at the event?
What new insights did you gain about the issue at hand, and about the way leaders in the system interacted with each other?
Where did the conversation get stuck? What got it unstuck?
These are 100-Day Challenge Mentors.
They did some work before you received the Challenge Note. This included:
Writing the Challenge Note, and making sure that the leaders of all the organisations represented on the team are comfortable with it – and committed to supporting the work of the team
Helping the leaders of these organisation recruit you and your colleagues to the team
Gathering some baseline data and other information that will help you and your teammates set your 100-Day goal and develop your plan.
Making sure all the preparations are made for a successful Lift-Off workshop, when you and your teammates will meet and get your 100-Day Challenge started. This includes venue, facilitation support, food, swags, comms, travel arrangements and whatever else is needed.
Mentors will participate in all or part of the Lift-Off Workshop, mostly at the start to provide context and answer questions, and at the end to give you and your teammates feedback about the goal and plan you develop.
During the 100 days following the Lift-Off Workshop, here’s what the Mentors will do:
They will check in every two weeks with the team leaders to see how the team is doing and what support they and the team need.
They will keep other organisational leaders informed and engaged during the 100 days, and pull them in to help as needed.
They will participate in the last part of the Refuelling Workshop, halfway through the 100 days, to see what additional support the team needs, and to begin to plan with the team for sustainability and scale-up.
They will work with the team at the Sustainability Workshop to finalise recommendations on sustaining the results and building on the work of the team.
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