Leading a 100-Day Challenge team (Team leader)

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Leading a 100-Day Challenge Team
(Team Leader)

The purpose of this Learning Guide is to prepare you to lead a rapid (100-day) project team that aims to significantly improve a strategic issue that requires fresh thinking and collaboration across departments and/or organisations.

The approach you will learn about is called the 100-Day Challenge. Leaders in the private sector, government and non-profit organisations have used it to make breakthrough improvements on a multitude of issues and in dozens of countries around the world. So, you will join a community 100-Day Team Leaders who have achieved remarkable results for their organisations and communities. 

Below are some past testimonials about the experience of 100-Day Challenges. 

100-Day Challenges Experiences

Chief Prosecutor for the Polokwane Cluster, Octavia,  shares some insight into the impact of the End GBVF 100-Day Challenges in the courts and how the experience has influenced the way of working to improve the reporting and management of GBVF cases in courts.

The Managing Director of Newmont Australia (Mining Sector), Mia, uses 100-Day Challenges, which was called Rapid Results in the past, to enable the operations to utilise and harness the front-line teams’ capacities to implement and innovate.

Our own 100-Day Challenge Guru – Nadim (the younger version) – talking about doing 100-Day Challenges in different countries.  (100-Day Challenge used to be called Rapid Results Initiatives)

The 100-Day Challenge as a Relay Race

The 100-Day Challenge can be viewed as a relay race, with the baton getting passed back and forth between the different athletes. Unlike real relay races, when athletes pass on the baton they do not get out of the race. They continue running alongside the athlete with the baton, supporting and cheering them along.

In this graphic, you, the Team Leader, are in green. As you can see, you are handed the relay baton by the Team Coach (in red) at Day 0 (during the Start-Up Workshop). You will carry the baton during the 100-Day sprint, and then you will hand it over to the Challenge Strategist (in blue) at the end of the Scale-up Workshop (Day 100).  

 

Guidance on Leading the 100-Day Teams

As a Team Leader, you will coordinate the actions of Team members, keep them focused on the 100-Day Goal they set, and keep them motivated and working well together as a team. You will get guidance and support from the Team Coach, and you will keep the Challenge Strategist updated on progress of the team. 

In order to help you play it effectively, the World of Impact team will send you WhatsApp messages every week for the next 14 weeks.

Each weekly message will include specific tasks that you will need to follow up on, complete, or pay special attention to that week. We refer to these messages as Guidance Notes. They will include guidance on performing these tasks.

Most Guidance Notes will include links to more substantive information to prepare you to perform these tasks. We refer to these substantive information packets as Learning Deep Dives. We highly encourage you to go over these.

At the end of each Guidance Note, there will be an Assignment that you are expected to complete. It generally takes 5-15 minutes. It either refers back to the Learning Deep Dives of the week, or it includes information that was generated by you or others during the week. 

The World of Impact team will host a weekly one-hour “Ask a Guru” Zoom call. Please join these if you have questions after reviewing the Guidance Note and Learning Deep Dives of the week.   

Your first Guidance Note includes Learning Deep Dives on the topic of the 100-Day Challenge, to provide a strategic context and some useful background, before diving into the 100-Day Challenge process.

Please note that in line with the figures in the race diagram, throughout the programme, we will use the female pronouns for the Challenge Strategist and Team Leader and the male pronouns for the Team Coach.

Weekly Assignment

100-Day Challenge Team Leader Certification Track

North-West University Certification 

The North-West University has adopted this program as one of its “short courses” as part of the Faculty of Economic Management Science – the School of Industrial Psychology and Human Resource Management. You will be eligible to receive a certificate of participation from the University if you complete the assignments at the end of each Guidance Note. The short course certificate can be used for credit towards a further qualification in management from the University.  The exit-level outcomes are aligned with NQF level 5.

Enrolling in the certification program requires a registration fee of R250. There is no fee for the learning programme. The Ford Foundation covers this for all public service employees and staff of public benefit organisations as part of the Ending GBVF 100-Day Challenge Learning Programme. 

info@theworldofimpact.org if you’d like to enroll in the 100-Day Challenge Certification Programme.

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?
  • 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.