My role at the Refuelling Workshop

My role at the Refuelling Workshop


Mentors' role at the Refuelling Workshop

Workshop Overview

The Refuelling workshop is a structured opportunity for the team to pause, reflect, pivot (if needed), and get re-energised. It is a chance to recommit to the 100-day goal and teammates. And if good progress is being made, it is a time to kick–off the thinking and the planning for sustaining the impact beyond the 100 days.

What success looks like at the end of the workshop

The team members are energised for the second part of the 100-Day Challenge, with fresh ideas, more confidence, and new insights on working together in the next 50 days. They also are beginning to think about the challenge of sustaining the gains that will have been made at the end of the 100 days.

Watch the video to see the essence of the Workshop.

Key outputs

  • Revised Work Plan.
  • Revised Team Operating Agreement.
  • A short note to Mentors outlining initial thoughts on sustaining the gains the team will make.

Remember the enabling environment we talked about earlier?  The Refuelling workshop is designed and facilitated with this enabling environment in mind.  

Lift-off Enabling Environment

                         

Learning and discovery through Rapid Experimentation are built into the 100-Day Challenge journey. The Refuelling Workshop is a structured opportunity to reflect on experiments, amplify some and abort others.  It is a chance to pivot and try new ideas and experiments. 

                    

Using performance data as the compass. The team uses their tracking chart to decide if they are on course and if they need to try new things or to shift course altogether. 

                            

Leveraging the power of peers to stimulate friendly competition, to inspire fresh thinking. This is why ideally, the Refuelling workshop will include 3 or 4 teams working side by side and sharing with each other throughout the Workshop. 

                           

Autonomy and agency: Based on the confidence levels team members have in achieving their goal, they negotiate and jointly decide whether the goal should be shifted up or down.

Prepare yourself before the workshop

You can do a briefing session with the Ambassadors just before the workshop or even after the you arrive and while the team is working on some of their sessions. 

Remember to be positive and encouraging, and to ask how you can help the team. By now, you would know if the team is likely to be in a good place or not, from the conversation with the team leader as well as by the way the workshop is progressing. Ask the Ambassadors to give you some highlights of what to expect. 

If there is bad news, such as the team needing to step their goal back a notch, it is important to hear that from the Ambassadors so you know in advance and to get some advice on how to react. Discuss with the Ambassadors where it is useful to push back, and where it is best to back off. 

And of course, if the team is in a good place, remember that this is the time to begin to think about sustainability, and to engage the team in thinking about this. Go over the design of the sessions on “thinking about sustainability” with the Ambassadors so you know what to expect. 

Next steps after the workshop

Set up a time to talk with the Ambassadors, debrief and discuss the way forward. Here are topics to cover during the debrief:

  • Impressions and takeaways from the workshop
  • Initial ideas related to sustainability, especially as they relate to things that can be done in the next 50 days
  • Steps to engage other leaders in preparing for sustainability
  • Key messages to communicate to other leaders, to brief them on the progress of the team, and work with the Ambassadors to start planning for sustainability.

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.