Facilitating the Workshop

Purpose: a facilitator’s role is to guide a group toward shared understanding, decision-making, or problem-solving.

Style of Delivery: facilitation is interactive, encouraging active participation, discussion, and group dynamics.

Content: in facilitation, the content often evolves based on group input and collaborative activities.

Tools and Techniques: facilitators use tools like brainstorming exercises, group activities, whiteboards, or even timeboxing techniques to keep participants engaged.

Role of the Audience: in facilitation, the audience plays an active role, engaging in discussions and shaping outcomes.

Outcome: facilitation is more about collaboration, achieve consensus, or making decisions as a group.

Duration

A few hours to a full day, depending on the number of stakeholders and the complexity of the tasks

Presenting the Process

1. Introduction
   1. What are Strategic Themes?
2. The Strategic Themes framework
   1. Theme components
   1. Theme criteria
   1. Theme template
3. Application
   1. Identifying strategic focus areas
   1. Aligning work to themes
4. Benefits
   1. Clearer strategic direction
   1. Improved portfolio prioritization
5. Example Scenarios
   1. Use real-world or hypothetical examples
6. Implementation Tips
   1. Tools or frameworks (like SAFe boards)
   1. Common challenges and how to overcome them
7. Q & A or Interactive Exercise

Example Board

Common Anti-Patterns

1. Vague or overly broad themes: Strategic Themes should be specific and actionable.
2. Too many themes: having more than 3-5 themes dilutes focus and makes it hard to prioritize investments.
3. No connection to business objectives: Strategic Themes must tie directly to measurable business goals.
4. Poor preparation: without pre-work (market analysis, customer feedback, etc.), discussions can be based on opinions rather than data.
5. Dominance by loud voices: if a few individuals dominate the conversation, it can prevent diverse perspectives and lead to biased outcomes.