Describe It For Me
Recently, I’ve been doing some program mapping with groups. Typically, these groups have many programs, projects and services to offer; however, each initiative is in a slightly different state of development. Some are fully functioning. Some are finding their footing. Some are legacy offerings. Some are growing like weeds.
On paper everything looks great. But the teams feel unsettled. They know they have too much on their plates. They have no room left to innovate. Where to cut? Where to refocus? Where to create space? Where to begin?
When you just you take an inventory of team activity, it can be hard to see the patterns. It works far better when you take the projects out of their spreadsheets and onto individual cards. It’s much easier to manipulate and move them around.
If this sounds familiar at all, then you can’t go wrong with the Ecocycle Planning tool from Liberating Structures. Ecocycle Planning recognizes that every project has a life cycle. Projects begin at birth, grow to maturity, eventually breakdown, before sowing seeds for new ideas. Typically, I ask teams to take their projects and plot them on the ecocycle. If you do the mapping up on a wall, the patterns become apparent.
Teams overloaded in the birth quadrant are exhausted trying to grow their ideas. Teams overloaded in the maturity quadrant tend to be stuck in their ways. Teams overloaded in the creative destruction quadrant tend to be critical of everything that has come before. Teams overloaded in gestation love ideas but tend to be slower to execute.
Healthy teams, have a balanced portfolio – spreading their time, treasure, and talent across the entire ecocycle.
Here’s one tip I’ve learned when using the ecocycle with team. Before you ask everyone to map their portfolio. Spend a few minutes asking the team to define each quadrant in their context. For example, what does tending to a new idea look like? (Birth quadrant)
Usually, I’m an outsider facilitating these conversations, so I can simply say: “Describe it to me.” Groups that define the quadrants for their context have more success when it comes to mapping.
Inspiration
Ecocycle Planning tool from Liberating Structures
Side note: if you want to get better at facilitating groups, Liberating Structures is a fantastic starting point.