Motivating others to ideate in creative workshops
You probably know the scenario: you’re a designer (or another creative role) facilitating a workshop with project managers, leadership or other stakeholders. Try as you might to encourage participants to ideate around user journeys, the room pivots to discussions on technical hurdles or focuses on individual silos instead of an end-to-end product vision. You may have even heard “I can’t draw” at least once during the workshop. The truth is that motivation to ideate creatively doesn’t come as easily to some as it does to others, and encouraging others to ideate has as much to do with setting as it has to do with facilitation. Here are a few ways in which you can plan and run your workshops in order to enable participants - even the most conservative ones - to try their hand at creative thinking.
I love facilitating design workshops. They allow organizations to align on design strategy, provide space for everyone to think creatively with few restrictions and excite participants about design-based problem-solving methodologies that they can learn and use in their day-to-day work. There’s also an element of team building and many participants are genuinely excited to try something new with their colleagues. Enabling this creative space is often a challenge - especially in traditional industries or when working with stakeholders who may not be familiar with user-centric design. Over many years I’ve tried different approaches to motivating participants to ideate, in different settings and different contexts, and have found a few practices that make a consistent difference. I hope even the seasoned workshop facilitators among you find something useful here, and look forward to hear about your experiences motivating workshop participants to ideate on Twitter or LinkedIn.
Choose the right setting
If you’re able to run the workshop in person (more on remote workshops later), try to find a space which is different from your participants’ day-to-day setting and, ideally, is large enough to allow you to hang materials, sketches and post-its on the walls. Your conference room will do in a pinch, but feel free to look outside - co-working spaces often have bookable workshop rooms and some businesses rent out unconventional creative spaces. One of my best design workshops was conducted in a converted old warehouse in an industrial zone, another favorite space was on one of the top floors of a high-rise building with a stunning panoramic view of the city skyline.
Get to know your participants and their motivations
Before your workshop, go through the participant list and consider how participants’ day-to-day roles might affect their willingness to experiment with user-centric problem solving and ideation. If possible, seat participants in technology-driven roles next to client-facing roles (for example, a backend developer with a customer support specialist); this prevents participants from staying within their own “bubble” and promotes empathy by encouraging them to consider problems through the eyes of their workshop partner. You can also pair participants together small groups by seniority; depending on the company culture, this may make is more comfortable for junior colleagues to speak freely.
Outline your expectations
Your introduction should include your expectations alongside design principles. This should ideally include mention of the workshop space as a room for experimentation and an “all ideas are good ideas” approach. If your workshop includes sketching (of wireframes, stick figures or whatever else may be relevant to the topic you’re looking to explore), show physical examples of what these could look like and lower the barrier by explaining that ideation on paper is no different from napkin sketches at a restaurant. Use a napkin for emphasis if you’re feeling bold!
Present the workshop in the context of the broader project
Your participants, especially project managers and other stakeholders, want to understand how the results of the workshop fit into the broader project and timeline. This is doubly true for workshops that explore greenfield ideation, unencumbered by existing product features or legacy technology. Make sure to include an outline of next steps in your introduction, so that participants understand concretely how the insights generated in the workshop will be used to further the overall project. If they understand how these insights connect to the success of the project, they will be more inclined to participate in ideation.
Set clear ground rules for the room
I often put a coat rack by the door and ask participants to “park” their ties for the duration of the workshop. For those in corporate environments, changing up small things that reduce the level of formality in the room helps encourage creative thinking. Ask participants to stow laptops in a bag on the side of the room and consider removing mobile phones if possible. This reduces the risk of participants checking emails or messages, disrupting the flow of the workshop. They are also less likely to start rummaging through their documents as reference. I once conducted a creative workshop in which a participant used their laptop to bring up databases and referenced these when checking the viability of potential solutions before putting pen to paper even once. I gently asked them to put the laptop away and reminded them that we would test viability after the fact with a fit-gap analysis. This is at your discretion; some ideation sessions may benefit from reference material. Try to determine this ahead of time.
Bring materials for ideation
It might be tempting to use whichever office supplies you have hanging around, such as yellow post-it-notes and ball-point pens with standard blue ink, but if you can, try to find colored post-its and colorful markers. You may find that participants use post-its of varying sizes and colors to synthesize their thoughts, or different colored markers to indicate stages of a user journey, different personas, or even various interactive elements in a user interface. Working in color and with variety allows participants to think “outside of the box” and provides them with new ways to group and structure their ideas. I once brought a 12-pack of neon gel pens to a workshop - by the time the workshop was over, they’d been almost totally used up!
Timebox, but not aggressively
Timeboxing forces participants to focus on the task and prevents them veering off into other topics. This is useful for ideation; it prevents lengthy “what if” discussions and, given a limited amount of time, participants will be more inclined lower their barrier and put pen to paper sooner than they otherwise might. Have an agenda in advance and timebox ideation by reminding participants when they have 10, 5 and 1 minute left to wrap up their work. Don’t aggressively stick to your agenda - keep your ear to the ground and try to notice when the entire room needs a bit more time.
Coach participants actively
While participants are working on their own or within their groups, try to roam the workshop space and observe their work or listen in on conversations. Coach participants by offering alternative perspectives or helping them frame their discussion without dictating specific ideas. Sometimes a discussion in a group may go on for longer than it should without anyone in the group taking pen to paper. In these cases ask participants to visualize the discussion concretely, or even take the first step by noting down what you hear onto a post-it and sticking it on the board. The group will likely follow suit.
When all else fails: When to throw in the towel
Once in a while you may come across a participant who finds the methodology to be a bigger hurdle than others, despite active coaching. That’s alright. We are all different and express ourselves in varying ways. Try to identify these participants early and explore their ideas, thoughts and concerns along with them. If necessary, ask them to support ideation in another way, such as outlining a current user journey, mapping out use cases, or another task that is closer to their day-to-day role. In this way, they can contribute to the workshop in a capacity that is more comfortable for them without frustration.
What about remote workshops?
Remote creative workshops pose a unique challenge; while online platforms like Miro make it possible to facilitate and timebox workshops with great flexibility, individual and group coaching are not as straightforward. Discussions in groups may be limited to breakout rooms in Zoom, requiring you to hop from room to room, and it may be harder to find those few participants who are struggling with ideation. Plan for remote workshops to be at least 50% longer than an equivalent in-person workshop, to allow more time for discussion and analysis, and for longer, or more frequent breaks. You can also make yourself available for follow-up sessions with individual participants if they need more help after the workshop itself.
Happy ideation!