Why workshops are often only the first step
The first step to making change in your self or your organisation is awareness. Without knowing where we are, and what we want to build or change, we can’t know what the next steps are to take. And this second part, this taking action, is a critical component of the process, but it’s a step that many forget to take!
In my work, I’m often asked to come into organisations for ad hoc workshops. We take the time beforehand to agree what the need is, and how I might deliver on addressing that need. We discuss the current context, why the need may have arisen in the first place, and who the audience is. I will take the time to design a bespoke workshop for each client engagement, and as a part of that process there may be some over and back before, during and after the workshop.
A feature of my delivery style in these workshops always involves communication and live interaction with the group. I also take a practical focus, encouraging the participants to take responsibility for their own development, and to spec out their next active steps. Where relevant and appropriate, I may facilitate the group to co-create a system of governance and follow up, a series of feedback loops and critical success factors.
And this is the key part. Without a commitment to movement after the workshop, the workshop itself can just feel a bit like “window dressing”. A box ticked, but no real commitment for change outside of that hour, or half day, or however long we have spent together. Although the workshop will of course raise that critical first step of awareness building, the second step must follow, like the other side of the same coin.
In my experience, whether or not this next stage happens is down to the culture of the Leadership team and their knowledge and experience on the topic. Of course, I’m often asked in to facilitate the key changes that have been identified as neceassary, but I’m only a temporary measure. The real change agents operate within the organisation itself, and the follow through and commitment rests with them.
We live in a world where change is one of our few certainties. The old guard simply doesn’t work, and the younger generations are voting with their feet. Wellbeing and positive work environments are no longer a nice to have. Mental health, sustainable productivity, and the responsibility and commitment for both, go hand in glove. Merely paying lip service to change in a workshop or similar, but not actively following up on the promises you make, will usually in fact make a bad situation worse.
So the next time you feel like inviting in a guest speaker to address a critical need within your business, I invite you to ask yourself whether the business has the commitment or the know how for the next steps for change? If not, my advice would be to wait. Wait to run the workshop until you have the capacity for follow up. If you focus simply on the first step of building awareness and problem stating, but don’t follow up with the solution and commitment for change, all you’ve actually done is to highlight to your employees that there is a key need within the business that you have no intention of addressing. And that will not serve to drive engagement.! Conceptualising awareness building and commitment to the solution as two sides of the same coin however, will do a lot more for the health and sustainable productivity of your workforce.
