Enabling Environment (Bonus deep dive)

Enabling Environment (Bonus deep dive)

Enabling Environment

Now you have a better idea about what is involved in the 100-Day Challenges. These are not just about setting a goal, giving people deadlines, and so on. It is about working – and leading – in new ways. Creating an enabling environment.

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Having been in your shoes, we know this is not always easy. It is a personal journey, and it will be different for each one involved. Under each “decision point” below we offer guidance and ideas on how to work and lead in a new way, highlighting the enabling environment being created

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One of the decisions leaders need to make is the focus area of the 100-Day Challenge. This is primarily a strategic question:

  • Where can we create impact quickly that generates confidence and momentum?
  • Which focus area will enable us to learn about the underlying issues, and to chart a better way forward?

We tend to prioritise the urgent over the important. Even more troubling, we are motivated to act in response to a crisis or immediate gratification versus the prospect of long term gain. By selecting an important focus area you create urgency by challenging the team to deliver a real result in 100 days. This avoids “the operation was successful – but the patient died”.

      

It is important to also consider the “readiness” of leaders in choosing a focus area, especially in the early experiences with 100-Day Challenges. Here are some questions to think about and to discuss with other leaders to help converge on a focus area:

  • To what extent would I (or we) be comfortable ceding decision making in this focus area to a team of front line staff members, even for 100 days only?
  • To what extent do I (or we) genuinely believe that the people closer to the ground in this area know more about the issue and potential solutions that I (or we) do?
  • To what extent will I (or we) be willing to accept mistakes in this area as part of the learning process? What guardrails do we need to articulate in the Challenge Note to get more comfortable?
  • Are there other related areas where we would be more comfortable doing this, and that are equally attractive from a strategic perspective?

      

100-Day Teams are comprised of individuals who are close to the front lines of their organisations. They are in the best position to develop solutions for the problem. You create enabling conditions by letting the implementers of the project also plan it, they are not just consulted, but actually “own” the goals, solutions, and results. And ownership does not come without genuine voice, choice and self-determination.

    

Give careful consideration to ‘expert’ advice and ‘best practice’. These should be generally de-emphasised during the 100-day journey. Instead, facilitative support is provided with the aim of unleashing entrepreneurial ideas and helping team members tap into intrinsic knowledge, experience, and wisdom.

    

To set the stage for experiencing self-governance the team should elect their own team leader during the Lift-off workshop, and decide on the rules of engagement over the 100 days. They are forming their own entrepreneurial venture for 100 days. And this generates enthusiasm and ownership.

  

We found that the odds of success increase if several teams are running on the same track for 100 days

  • It creates a friendly competition between teams. We perform better, most of the time, when we are in a competition, it creates energy and motivation.
  • Teams support each other and keep each other on their toes, holding each other accountable
  • The network effect -one team breaking out causes all the others to sprint ahead. It is human nature.

        

The 100-day limited time frame makes the initial ‘permissioning’ both possible and credible. Let’s face it – very few leaders (or human beings) give up control (aka power) easily. We are wired not to. It is part of our survival kit. So giving up power for 100 days is an easier way to get started. And we’ll deal with the long term after we help people see what is possible.
100-days is just the beginning. But it is essential to end, pause, and start again rather than make this a never-ending process. It is discrete – not continuous. We often fool ourselves by making commitments so far into the future that they are not really commitments. 100-Day Challenges Challenge enable commitment and is not a temporary fix. Instead, it is designed to produce innovations and process changes that last beyond 100 days.

People often ignore red tape, try new things quickly, and work together in new ways in crisis situations. The 100 day time frame and the unreasonable goal creates a crisis-like context: “we cannot get this done in 100 days if we do not try new things…”

Setting a 100-day time frame creates critical constraints, which in turn stimulates innovation, it creates full cycles of learning and achievement in short time frames – Necessity is the mother of invention.

      

To help the team select a 100-Day goal during the lift-off, it is best if you as a leader can provide the team with baseline information
The team will be asked to set a goal that is hyper-ambitious compared to the baseline. If the team is not a little uncomfortable and anxious about the goal, it usually means it is not ambitious enough.
BUT it is important that the team set the goal without being too influenced by what you, the leaders want – otherwise they will not own it!

If no baseline info exists you could suggest that the team gather info after they start, and sometimes they have to estimate or use the first 30 days to create data which can then be used to see if they can improve, like in the Eritrea story you saw in the Orientation landmark.

        

A 100-Day Challenge is not a command to implement a solution or solve a problem. Instead, it is a challenge to create a glimpse of a better future, quickly. In this way, it leaves room for the team to decide what problems to focus on, what solutions to experiment with, and what actions to take. The Challenge Note is a brief compiled by the Mentors with support from the Ambassadors, based on the conversations among leaders during the Design Session. It is distributed to Team Members well in advance of the Lift-off Workshop.

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.