Prepare for the calls

Prepare for the calls



Prepare for the calls

Understanding the process and your role.

You were introduced to two local guides by email. And you set up a call with each of them. The purpose of the calls is to get their help in figuring out which leaders to invite to the Leadership Design Workshop, and also about who is in the best position to convene the workshop (it could be one of the two guides by the way).

What do we need to do in preparation to these calls?

  • Prepare a compelling 100-Day Challenge overview
  • Prepare a list of stakeholders and system map.

 

Compelling overview

Before the guides can help you, they will likely have questions about the workshop itself, about the broader process of the 100-Day Challenge, about your role, etc. So to prepare for the call, you need to be clear and articulate about the purpose and expected outcomes of the Leadership Design Workshop,  and also about how this fits in the broader 100-Day Challenge. We suggest that you review the two videos.

What is the Leadership Design Workshop all about?
What are 100-Day Challenges all about?

100-day Challenge >>

Be prepared to do a compelling overview, in your own words. (Complete the assignment at the end of the lesson). You can also send follow-up briefing document(s) to the guides and to other individuals you interview. Find more of these under the Landmark material. 

List of stakeholders and system map

The guides may also ask you about the types of organisations that should send senior leaders to the Leadership Design Workshop.  It would help to actually be ready before the call to create a document so you can capture to list of stakeholders. Here’s a SAMPLE you can copy, adapt, and use on your calls.

The system map is a sketch of the relationships between the stakeholders on the list. It may show relationships of power between them. Whether they play well together or not. How central they are to the Challenge. In the video is an outline of what this might look like. You can creatively sketch out your own version of this. 

Update the list a map during and after your calls to the guides.

You are prepared to have your call with the guides. 

Apart from getting a sense of the key actors that may be useful to invite to the System Leadership Design Workshop you will need to get a sense from your guide or guides about the leader in the system who is in the best position to convene all the other leaders. This could be for example someone the Mayor or someone in her office who is in charge of leading on gender-based violence or a related issue. So they could have positional authority. But more importantly, they need to be someone who other leaders trust and respect. We refer to this individual as the Convener. And they will become your primary partner in getting things off the ground. The system map may help you identify this individual: it is the one that most others are connected to! 

But it’ll be wise to focus the first call on getting the lay of the land in terms of who’s who in the system.  Now, with your preparation notes together, make the call to the guides.

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.