HCT Stepping Stones
Spaces to connect
and reflect
Back to all
Tools for collective
spaces
10 Min Read
5 Min Read
10 Min Read
10 Min Read
3 Min Read
Spaces to connect differently have been at the core of rethinking how we work together. Being non-agenda-driven and light on structure have been important principles. But sometimes we need tools to set the tone, help manage tricky dynamics, or invite more people in.
Here are a few of the low tech, high engagement tools that have been useful to us at different scales. We have strongly resisted buying in to any single methodology, preferring to mix and match, and find our own way. As with all the learning we’re sharing, we encourage you to find things that resonate, take what you need and make it your own.
Check-in
Check-in is a small but powerful practice for better collaborative working in meetings. It’s quite different to introducing yourself by sharing your name and the organisation you work for.
It’s about setting up the space for a good conversation. It allows people to have a voice straightaway, can balance the mood, and can help to set aside power dynamics or hierarchies.
It can take a bit of getting used to, especially if you usually crack on with the task in hand. However, it’s worth it if you want to focus on building strong, resilient relationships over time.
A good check-in question will depend on how well you know each other and what you want to do with your time. It should be something everyone can answer easily, especially if you don’t know each other well or there are strong or quiet voices in the room. It should create the conditions for good conversation, build common ground, and not reinforce division
An easy question for a new group might be ‘what is your favourite weather?’ While a group that has built trust and is happy to share a bit more might respond well to ‘what is your best learning from a mistake this year?’
Check-in is complemented with other tools for convening like re-storying, which you can find out about in the Convening and Learning section. There are lots of great resources for check-ins online, and you can find some of our favourite questions on the check-in page.
Polarity Mapping
It’s easy to say that complexity requires both/and instead of either/or thinking, but it can be really hard to do that in practice. Instead of choosing one horizon, how do you hold both and live in the territory between them? Toby Lindsay at The King’s Fund introduced us to Polarity Mapping, a process that any individual, team or group can use to work on unsolvable problems, name the dynamics that are in tension with each other, and come up with a plan to create equilibrium between them.
For us that included:
| There is value in the current system AND things need to change |
| Relationships/learning AND building/doing |
| Prevention AND cure |
| Guardrails (safety, governance) AND piracy (enquiry, open learning, working outside the system) |
We used Polarity Mapping to develop a new way of thinking about governance for the HCT Co-Lab, and also arranged an open workshop where people could try it out with their own challenges.
There are some great explainer articles online, but a Polarity Map looks like this.
You start by naming the outcome you want (at the top) and what you don’t want (at the bottom) - say healthier communities versus a health crisis. You name the two opposing dynamics in tension with each other, make one the left pole (say preventative care) and the other the right pole (say curative or reactive care). For each of those poles, you work out the benefits of focusing on it, and the unintended consequences of over-focusing on it at the exclusion of the other pole. This puts you in a different frame of mind than thinking about ‘pros and cons’. Then you can add in action steps you’ll take to get or maintain the benefits, and early warning signs of a pull too far in one direction.
You could do this on a piece of paper, but we found that creating a map on the floor and getting people to inhabit each of those spaces and work out what it felt like to them was an effective way to develop more understanding of each other’s points of view.
Open Space
When we started using Open Space at our bigger gatherings very few attendees had experienced it before. It’s now a much more commonly used tool across Gloucestershire, but the words ‘Open Space’ can be used to mean different things. This is what it means to us.
Open Space meetings are interactive and inclusive events where participants set the agenda. Creating parallel working sessions around a central theme, people work through complex issues and often arrive at practical solutions. The real opportunity of Open Space is that everyone who comes takes responsibility for making the solutions happen. So one important thing to remember is you can’t control the outcome.
Open Space works best when:
| There is a real, complex and urgent issue to be explored |
| There are diverse people and points of view |
| People really care and are invested in the conversation, which leads to real responsibility |
To create an Open Space gathering you need:
| A diverse group of people |
| A space big enough to hold multiple conversations at the same time |
| A compelling question or theme that people will want to explore |
| Someone to introduce how it works and lead on gathering questions/topics |
| A way of gathering questions/topics so people can see when and where conversations will take place |
| A copy of the Open Space principles |
| Time - usually between 3 hours and 1–2 days, though you could use the principles for a shorter meeting |
How it works
Once you have gathered people around a central theme, invite them to come up with their own related questions they would like to explore. These questions become the agenda for the day, with those people hosting conversations around them. People choose when and where those conversations will take place, and find a way of sharing that information - usually by sticking their questions to a wall with the time and place written on them. There can be several conversations taking place at the same time. Everyone is free to move around those conversations, following the Open Space principles and law:
| Whoever comes are the right people |
| Whenever it starts is the right time |
| When it’s over it’s over |
| Whatever happens is the only thing that can happen |
| The Law of Mobility – if people find themselves in a situation where they aren’t learning or contributing, it is time for them to move on |
Everyone is in charge of their own time, and their own learning. Ideally there should be a way of recording any key ideas or action points at each conversation. At the end of the gathering it’s a good idea to bring everyone together and offer the opportunity to share a closing word. That’s it! It’s a great way of generating energy, ideas and ownership of an issue. Be prepared to think about where that momentum goes afterwards.
Open Space Technology was created by Harrison Owen. You can find resources and guides at openspaceworld.org
