The 'go to' organisation for Local Government improvement in Scotland

Group Exercise

This follows on from the Identifying Themes exercise.

Working with the same group that identified themes, and using the same format - flipcharts and sticky notes to do this if you are in a physical setting, or a virtual board with sticky notes if running an online session.

The Task

Using the information from the previous exercise, which looked something like this:

We will work with one theme at a time, and the data that goes with it, so it will look like this:

The task is to write the insight, using the three sentence structure and populating the table below.

This is a group activity to continue to understand the data, which is an iterative process and not straightforward.  The three sentence structure should be a helpful way to work through it.

Do this as a group, deciding what words you want to use to describe your insight.

When you have done this, read through the completed insight. Do you have data to back up your statement? If you do great, you have completed this stage. If you don’t then maybe you need to review what you have written? Alternatively, maybe what you need to do is go back to the discover phase and get more data. Remember this is an iterative process, go back to the previous stage as and when you need to.

Things to consider

This is not always easy. Group discussion can be challenging if people have different ideas, a robust conversation to understand each other’s thinking can be helpful, as long as everyone remains respectful and is seeking to understand other views.

Remember the process is iterative, often we have to go back to the previous stage so be prepared and willing to do that if you think you need to.

Make sure the insight is grounded in data, that the data backs up the statement you have made. If you don’t have the data to back it up, you may need to go back to the previous stage and get it. Remember this is an iterative process.

It is critical to take the time here to get the insights you are happy with and identify the root causes. These insights form an important part of the next stage, the develop phase of the work.