In the change strategy class last week, we facilitated the group from AKL with their recruiting strategy. In the facilitator, four of us took turns to conduct the four phases of AI, which are Discovery, Dream, Design and Destiny. I was leading the last part, Destiny, which is about summarizing and implementing the ideas discussed in the early phases. Generally, I think we inspired the AKL members to think differently about the way they present themselves and the way they recruit. However, there are several things we could have done better.
First, the four members in AKL were engaged in the process. In each phase, there were learning tasks that they fulfilled individually or collectively. In Discovery, they answered same questions based on their own experience; in Dream, they worked together and created their jingle within a relatively shore time; in Design, they all participated in discussion about how to practice and display the value of their organization in recruitment; finally, in Destiny, they split into two groups and work out lists of things they could do to better recruit. Throughout the summit, the group members had multiple experience of working in dynamics and on different topics. I believe that it will be valuable learning experience for them.
Also, there are many "take-aways" besides they flip chart they physically took away with. The jingle they created in the second phase is a good example. They can really use it in marketing. They can further develop this idea and create an mtv. The creativity can also be adopted in other kinds of recruiting strategies. In the last stages, they listed practical things they could do to improve net-working. By creating the list taking the reality into consideration, they got something tangible to work on.
What I wish we could have done better is to engage the whole class into discussion. There were 8 people in the room besides the four facilitator. However, in the most time, only the four AKL members were in the discussion. The rest of the class were mostly observing the discussion, which could be boring. During the discussion, Lauren offered several valuable ideas. If we prepared more time for group discussion and engaged all the classmates, we might get more interesting ideas, and that is also one of the gist of AI. In Destiny, I tried to encourage the class the split and regroup with AKL members. I noticed and was glad about the lively discussion. I wish I could have divided the class more even so that it might be more engaging and inspiring.
To sum up, we did a good job in our first trial with AI and have learned a lot from the experience. When I do it next time, I would spend more time planning the process and think more about how each members will feel during the process.
