When it comes to training in agile methodologies, one of the most pressing questions I often encounter is: how do we effectively transfer our training experiences into our day-to-day jobs? The answer lies in experimentation. I always encourage participants to try things out, to take the tools and techniques we discuss in class and apply them in their own environments.
The Importance of Context
The way I run my classes can vary significantly depending on the group dynamics. If I’m working with a cohort of practitioners, Scrum Masters, and facilitators who are eager to dive deeper, I’ll spend more time exploring the nuances of these tools. It’s essential to tailor the experience to the audience, ensuring that everyone walks away with practical insights they can implement.
One of the foundational tools I often introduce is the “One, Two, Four, All” technique from Liberating Structures. This method is particularly effective in larger groups, where it can be challenging to ensure everyone’s voice is heard. Here’s a quick breakdown of how it works:
- One Minute Alone: Participants spend a minute reflecting on a topic individually, jotting down their thoughts.
- Two Minutes in Pairs: They then pair up to discuss their ideas, fostering a sense of collaboration.
- Four Minutes in Groups of Four: Next, pairs merge into groups of four to expand on their discussions.
- All Together: Finally, we reconvene as a larger group to share the insights generated.
This structure not only encourages participation but also helps to mitigate the common pitfalls of group discussions, such as the dominance of a single voice or the reluctance of quieter members to contribute.
Creating a Safe Space for Sharing
As someone who identifies as an introvert, I understand the challenges of speaking up in larger groups. The smaller pair discussions allow for a more comfortable environment where ideas can be shared without the fear of judgement. This approach ensures that everyone feels involved and valued, leading to richer conversations and more diverse ideas.
From Ideas to Action
Once we’ve gathered insights using these tools, the next step is to consider how to move from brainstorming to actionable outcomes. It’s crucial to help participants understand how to navigate the growing zone of collaboration and consensus-building. This is where the real magic happens—transforming a collection of ideas into a coherent plan of action.
Adapting to the Virtual World
In today’s hybrid and virtual work environments, it’s vital that training reflects the realities of how teams operate. I focus on teaching these techniques in a virtual context, using platforms like Mural and Microsoft Teams. This ensures that participants can immediately apply what they’ve learned, regardless of whether they’re in a fully remote or hybrid setting.
One of the most rewarding aspects of my classes is the additional layer of learning that occurs. Participants don’t just absorb content; they also learn how to facilitate discussions and engage their teams effectively. This meta learning is invaluable as it equips them with the skills to implement these techniques back in their workplaces.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the tools we use in training are only as effective as the willingness of participants to experiment and adapt them in their own contexts. By fostering an environment of collaboration and encouraging the sharing of stories, we can create a culture of engagement that transcends the classroom.
If you found this discussion helpful, I invite you to like, follow, and subscribe for more insights. I’m always open to conversations about agile, Scrum, or DevOps, so feel free to book a coffee chat with me through Naked Agility. Let’s continue to explore how we can make our work environments more engaging and effective together!
Well, the question is the tools you use to train are awesome. How do people transfer their training experience with these tools into their job? They need to try stuff. That’s the thing that I kind of try and encourage people to do, and it’s one of the particular reasons that I talk about how I run different segments of the class. That met a conversation about how I run different segments of the class with them as well as actually running the class. I guess it depends on the group as well, right? If you’ve got a bunch of practitioners and scrum masters and facilitators who are interested in that stuff, I maybe spent more time on it than other classes.
But those tools, like the different flavours of liberating structures for the virtual world, are things that they can take away and use in their own organisation to help them make their environments a little bit better, to help people engage and tell stories a little bit better inside of their organisation. Because that’s really how humans connect information to the real world is through stories. And how do you tell your stories in a way that helps other people inside of your organisation understand them?
So some examples of tools. One of the key, and it’s one of the foundational tools in liberating structures, is called a one two four all. It’s a great tool where you do one minute on your own, two minutes in pairs, four minutes in two pairs, and then bringing everybody back. The core goal is always I’ve got a group of people. They’re not a tiny group of people; there may be a bigger group of people, and I want them to engage on a particular topic and come up with ideas.
But I don’t want to just ask the room. Let’s say you’ve got 20 people in the room. I don’t want to just ask the room, “What do you think about this topic?” Because you know already before you ask the question that either nobody’s going to say anything and it’s going to be tumbleweeds going past, or you’ve got that one person who you know is the loudest person in the room. They’re going to be the only one that speaks, or the hippo in the room, right? The highest paid person is going to be the one that talks, and everybody else can be like, “I don’t want to say anything in case I get in trouble.”
So how do you create an environment where everybody’s voice is equally contributing to the story and enable all of them, even if it’s just they feel like they’re involved in the conversation, that they’re getting their stories across? So one minute on your own, right? Is everybody heads down, write some ideas on your own, and then you go into pairs. This is my interpretation of this based on my personality, right? But I feel like I’m an introvert. Maybe it doesn’t seem that way, but I am.
I’m an introvert, and having one person to go speak to and express my ideas to is great, right? Because I’m not talking to a big room of people. I don’t feel like I’m going to be ashamed by people in the room who don’t like my idea, but I can share it in this small group. And then we shared our ideas; we’ve collaborated on our ideas. It’s only two minutes, right? But you get that feeling, and then you go into two pairs. So that’s two friends, right? People who have made friends and collaborated on their ideas coming together to expand those ideas and make them bigger.
And then when you bring it back to the rest of the room, you’ve maybe only got three, four, or five groups of people to hear from, and you’re hearing collaboratively created ideas. So it’s okay to have a spokesperson in that group, and everybody else doesn’t feel like they’re not being heard, right? Because they’ve already had those conversations and built up to that story. And that’s just one of the tools in liberating structures.
And you can also take what do we do with the output of that? Well, maybe we feed it into something else that we use to, you know, we’ve created a whole list of ideas, and perhaps we want to figure out how do we get through that growing zone in the middle of collaboration and coming to consensus towards having that back consensus and single idea, like what is it we’re going to do next?
So helping people understand how those tools work in their world, they can experience using some of those tools in the class, and then hopefully they can see how they function so that they can then take them and use them in their own facilitation techniques as well. Because I feel like I specialise in the virtual space, I feel like most people are in either hybrid or all virtual environments today.
And there’s no point. I feel there’s less value in you coming to an in-person class and me teaching you how to run all these liberating structures or using them, you seeing those liberating structures being used in the physical space, and then you go back to work and there’s three people online and two people in the office, and you’re like, “Well, I can’t use that thing that Martin used because it doesn’t fit the space that I’m in just now.”
Whereas if you come to a virtual class, you’re going to learn how to do that in the virtual space. And we’ve all seen if you’re in the hybrid world, it’s really the same as the virtual world, except a few people are in the office and they go sit at their desk, and everybody has their own camera. So you can do the breakout rooms; you can use those tools. And that’s also partly, you know, using the technologies as well that we use in the class. We use Mural in my classes; we use Mural and Microsoft Teams.
Enable people to then go back to the office and use similar techniques again, additional meta learning from the class where they’re able to learn more than the content that we’re actually teaching them because they’re learning how to actually do those things through experience. Thanks for watching the video. If you enjoyed it, please like, follow, and subscribe. I always reply to comments, and if you want to have a chat about this or anything else agile, scrum, or DevOps, then please book a coffee with me through Naked Agility.
