What to expect from a Common Understanding workshop
What is a Common Understanding workshop?
Common Understanding is a set of workshops that cascade from the leadership team. Every team discusses the same topics and answers the same questions about the strategy/transformation.
The idea is to create alignment and a deeper understanding of the strategy/transformation and what it means on a concrete level to every team and individual.
Each team discusses together what they think about the strategy/transformation, what concerns they might have and what may still need to be clarified.
Why am I being asked to attend a Common Understanding workshop?
- to understand the key messages about a new strategy/transformation.
- so everyone understands the new strategy/transformation and what it means for them.
- for everyone to have the chance to air concerns or ask any questions about the new strategy/transformation.
- for teams to discuss and prioritise what is essential for them about the new strategy/transformation.
- for teams to discuss how they best can contribute to the strategy/transformation.
- to see how onboarded and aligned teams are with the new transformation/strategy.
What happens during a workshop?
The Common Understanding workshops are run in a cascading manner from the leadership team. Your workshop is run by a manager or facilitator who has been a delegate in their own Common Understanding workshop further up in the cascading process.
The facilitator will share information about the new strategy/transformation and ask you to answer some questions. These questions are the same for every team that attends a workshop.
For you to get the most from the workshop, ask your facilitator questions so you fully understand what the strategy/transformation means for you and your team.
We know that for you to be fully onboard with the strategy/transformation you need to have had all your questions answered.
Discuss openly in the team if you have any concerns as well as what excites you about the changes that are happening.
The workshop is the place for you to be honest about the changes that are taking place, how you feel about the changes and how they will impact you and your colleagues.
After the discussion about the information and answering the questions, you will discuss together how to prioritise the answers and decide on your collective answers to the Common Understanding questions.
Together you will decide how aligned you are with the strategy/transformation as a team. You will be given three options:
- fully aligned
- partially aligned and need some questions answered.
- not aligned
What happens after the workshop?
Once the workshop has been completed your facilitator will update this information to the TG app.
In the TG App the facilitator will input:
- The team agreed answers to the specific workshop questions.
- How aligned the team is with the strategy/transformation.
If our team is fully aligned - what next?
No further action needs to happen right now. You can look in the App to see how other teams have responded to their workshops and how the transformation is looking across the whole organization.
What if our team isn’t aligned?
If your team have further questions which need answering, your facilitator has some actions to take away from the workshop. They will arrange another session with the team to come back and share the answers to those questions.
If your team decide they are not aligned, your facilitator will work with you to understand why. They may also choose to work with another colleague to help understand your reservations and concerns.