A FacIlitated Workshop for The Met Office

Purpose of the Workshop:

As part of its long-term strategic planning, the Met Office wanted to explore potential future operating models and the impact these would have on the current organisation.  Treehouse were invited to design, develop and deliver a workshop with the senior team to deliver this objective.

What We Did:

Workshop Design and Development

The Treehouse team worked closely with the client to understand the background and context and get a sense of what a good outcome would be for the workshop.  As a first step in designing the workshop, we agreed with the client on a question that the workshop would answer.  This provides a focus for generating ideas.  The question agreed was “What would be a Met Office I would be proud of leading and handing over?”

We then developed a high-level overview of the day to identify the key activities we would need to facilitate to deliver the desired outcome.  This was split out into a detailed flow for the day which included:

• Creating a vision of success

• Identifying the implications the vision would have on the current operating model

• Using a range of tools to generate ideas for how to move closer to the vision

• Agreeing how the team needed to work together to take the ideas forward

Workshop Delivery

The team were divided into four smaller working groups.  Ahead of the workshop we agreed with the client who would work in which group to maximise participation.  The working sessions were designed to include a mix of individual reflection as well as teamwork to suit different working styles.  We checked in with the client throughout the session to ensure that they were happy with how the session was progressing.  As a result of this, we made a couple of changes to the flow “on the go” to make sure that we delivered the objectives, and importantly built in some fun activities!

Outcome

From the four future states initially identified, two were merged and a third was not taken further.  For the remaining two future states, the team took away from the workshop:

• A picture of the future vision with a 3-word description

• A list of implications this vision would have for the current operating model

• A list of actions of what the senior team would need to do differently to deliver the vision

Following the workshop, the client planned to develop more detail on the implications of the two future states to inform their long-term strategic planning

Feedback

Feedback on the workshops was very positive.  Participants found the different activities helpful to generate visions and ideas and found the sessions fun.

“It was really good to use drawings and different techniques to get to the vision”

“It was a really enjoyable and fun session”

“The workshop used a nice range of activities that facilitated creativity and challenged us”

Follow Up

The team wanted to be sure that they had considered a broad range of perspectives, so it was decided to run a similar session with the successors of the leaders, to answer the question “What would be a Met Office I would be proud of inheriting and leading?”

The outputs of the two sessions were very aligned although it was interesting to note that the senior team pushed the boundaries further in terms of their visions!