CAST Weeknotes (22–26 February) — The importance of being curious
We’re all grateful for the sunny intervals this week — both literally and figuratively. There’s space to deliver a lot of good work (the present), space to revisit some of what’s happened (the past) and draw on all this good stuff to think about the future. Either way, staying curious was a bit of a theme this week…
“Hearing from others reminded me of the importance of being curious.”
We ran our first peer learning session with the 19 grantees taking part in the Development programme (more on that here). The above is a comment from one of the participants and it resonated with us. It highlighted in simple words the value of collaboration, open working and learning from others. We all need to be realistic about what can be achieved in a one-hour session together — this could just be a little prompt to do something differently the next day, reassurance that you’ve actually ‘got this!’ or just having that one meaningful conversation that sparks your curiosity!
We’re curious as a team about how to get the most value from peer learning sessions. In familiar reuse fashion, we’ve borrowed and adapted the current format from a previous CAST programme (thank you Charné!):
- We start with a quick check-in (this time using Mentimeter),
- Then we collectively develop the agenda and vote on up to 3 topics people would like to discuss
- We discuss the 3 top topics in rounds (in Zoom breakouts)
- We capture all the discussions and shared resources during the session in a collaborative google doc
- We reflect on the breakout discussions together (in Zoom gallery view)
- We do a bit of session feedback (this time using Mentimeter)
- We share with the cohort by email and through our programme handbook.
It’s basically an unconference format with a bit of world cafe thrown into the mix. We’ve also considered action learning sets and other formats. We’d like to build a ‘peer learning’ toolbox so we can bring out different tools and formats depending on the circumstances and needs of a group. What’s everyone else using? Do share! (yes, you reader(s)!)
“Chit chat is to humans what grooming is to chimps — don’t cross the line :-)”
Some of us supported Matt from Deepr run a workshop on Designing for Human Connection for a group of charities from one of our other programmes.
As Zoom fatigue (aka Zoom-gloom) kicks in, this workshop feels more timely than ever. By now, everyone knows the basic etiquette (mute yourselves etc). And it seems like people are now ready for better connection on Zoom — more human, lighter and even a bit fun. So we discussed together the 40 methods to support human connection in digital services. There’s some lovely stuff in there — take a look.
It was reassuring to see many of the methods we bring to our work backed up by Deepr’s research. I like the above quote taken from one of the method cards. Chit-chat doesn’t always come naturally in Zoom meetings (nor in-person for that matter). It needs some trust and some familiarity. “We’re all going to go in breakouts now and chit-chat” doesn’t always work or seem natural.
A lovely thing that has emerged from our weekly catch-up with the Communications team is how the ‘check-in’ has evolved into seamless chit-chat. We’ve even built in more time so we can chit-chat properly! At least enough to feel like we’ve all arrived and actually connected for a bit. There’s even a card for it in the Deepr deck (Card 40 ‘whole people’ ) — turns out it’s a method!
“Without music (life/)workshops would be a mistake.”
Not sure that’s what Nietzsche had in mind when he first said those words! But it’s definitely what I have in mind :)
One thing that wasn’t mentioned in the Deepr research was how music could be used to set the tone and ease connections. A carefully crafted playlist for in-person meetings was top of my workshop checklist pre-Covid (well, just under the ‘send invite’ item). So if in person, why not remotely?
I was delighted to find a similar appetite for ‘using music in work settings’ from some colleagues at CAST when I joined the team. We’ve been using playlists in our Zoom workshops and meetings as a bit of an icebreaker and to set the tone (at the start, during breaks, during group or solo work). There’s usually at least one participant who will comment on the music unprompted so it’s a nice way to connect for those first few awkward minutes before we begin!
On that note, I’m passing over the weeknotes baton to my good colleague Reem. I’m swapping Medium for Asana as I head off to do be ‘scrum master’ for a few weeks. We take turns for most things in our team. That’s what you get with a team of generalists— curious minds and lots of dabbling! Don’t worry, you can always find lots of specialists in the other teams ;)
