Co-creating the Future: Working with Groups to Assess, Plan, and Innovate

Smith, G. A. (2020, September). Co-creating the future: Working with groups to assess, plan, and innovate [Conference session]. Computers in Libraries & Internet Librarian Connect virtual event.

Title slide

Abstract

Evolving conditions require organizations to change. Organizational leaders must engage with stakeholders to co-create their shared future; in many cases, this involves working with groups of people. This presentation shares five techniques for facilitating effective group sessions. Techniques are based on personal experience and literature published in fields such as marketing research, design thinking, and organization development. The examples in the presentation come from a library setting, but the techniques are readily applicable to other contexts.

Below are the five techniques covered in this presentation:

  1. Establish and uphold rules of engagement.

  2. Ask specific, deliberate questions.

  3. Use constraints to unleash creativity.

  4. Use concrete resources to stimulate thinking.

  5. Sequence activities to achieve desired outcomes.

A supplementary bibliography recommends more than a dozen resources for further reading, organized under five headings:

  • community engagement

  • focus groups

  • design thinking

  • Appreciative Inquiry

  • process improvement & reengineering

Want to learn more about innovation and related topics?

Click the buttons below to see relevant entries in my bibliography, SmithFile.