Setting the stage – Version 1 material

Setting the Stage

The key event in the Design Landmark is the Design Workshop.  Setting the stage for the Design Workshop include finding the stakeholders who will be convening and attending the workshop.  The activities during setting the stage will be explained through a scenario, revealing information as you progress through the story.

We’ll try to break things down into concrete and actionable steps. There will be links and references that you can use if you have time and interest in digging deeper and getting more immersed in the 100-Day Challenge philosophy and work. And we’ll point you in the direction of tools you can use along the way.  

The Scenario

You are part of the National Forum on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide. And you volunteered to become the 100-Day Challenge Ambassador in one of the districts. Your role is to help local leaders organise a 100-Day Challenge focused on response time and service integration in the district. You have 60 days to get the 100-Day Team started on their work: to the Lift-Off Workshop. You will worry about supporting this team later. For now, you just need to figure out how to get the ball rolling in the district.

You do not know the actors in the district. You are just beginning to learn about the 100-Day Challenge work and how it is different. You are anxious. Maybe you are beginning to regret having volunteered to play this role…

First things first. We’ll focus on the first milestone in the journey: convening a group of local leaders who in turn have the gravitas and “pull” to convene a 100-day team and challenge them to make significant progress on this issue in 100 days.

In the sections that follow you will unpack the story of how to get to the Leadership Design Workshop and finally you can deep dive into how the enabling conditions are put into practice and brush up on your facilitation skills.  To complete the lesson submit the assignments as you complete the practical work.

Overview of concrete steps –  more detail in each lessons…

Finding the leaders
Who and from where are the leaders?

Where to start and how to prepare for the first call to the local "guides".  The is also the start of unpacking the relationships between local leaders.

Prepare for the calls
Understanding the process and your role

To prepare for the call, you need to be clear and articulate about the purpose and expected outcomes of the Leadership Design Workshop.

Calling the convener
What to get out of a good call...

You call the Conveners to enlist their support and build out the list of leaders to invite to the  Leadership Design Workshop.

Stakeholder interviews
Building relationship with more leaders

Expanding your understanding of the challenge,  and building relationship, you interview a handful of leaders in the area.

Final preparations
Getting ready for the Workshop

You are ready to make the final preparations for the Leadership Design Workshop.  Time for ticking the checklist

Diving Deep - Bonus material

We talked in the Orientation about the Enabling Environment. And there is a reference in the slides about the enabling environment. If you’d like to go deeper into this topic and see how this enabling environment translates into specific practices in the 100-Day Challenge, there is a deep dive section on this topic.

If you’d like to brush up on your facilitation skills in preparation for the leadership design workshop, we suggest you do a deep dive on the topic in the bonus section.

After completing the lessons, submit your assignments in the Assignment folder.

Assignments are information, notes and slides that you will use in the practical implementation of a 100-Day Challenge.  After each Section, upload the key documents.  If you would like our input and feedback before you use the documents, please provide 2 days for feedback.

  • 100-Day Challenge overview for stakeholder interviews: A compelling overview, in your own words of the 100-Day Challenge process and why it will be used for the initiative. Max 2 paragraphs or a 2 min video
  • List of stakeholders (Name and organisation) invited to the Leadership Design Workshop.
  • Leadership Design Workshop slides – Two to three Slides summarising the context and background as gathered during the convener and stakeholder interviews.  An additional slide on your ideas for the Challenge focus areas.
Upload 3 files in the Assignments folder (see side menu) to completed Setting the Stage.
 

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.