Create a clear path for focused innovation in 5 steps
Create a clear path for focused innovation in 5 steps
How to facilitate the 2DU Workshop: Step by Step
Goals and Boundaries
Having ambitious goals is like pumping adrenaline to the heart. It energizes you and gets you dreaming, thinking, and moving. Doesn’t it?
However, this same energy can lead to paralysis or even invite chaos into your plans. Allowing chaos to reign can result in a significant amount of time wasted on fruitless pursuits. Daydreaming is nice, and thinking outside the box is excellent, but they are like looking at the sky as our canvas- broad, vast, expansive.
There's also the risk of overlooking good ideas simply because they're not in your line of sight. The dreadful feeling of missing out can be pretty painful.
But, when we lack a clear definition of our objectives and limits, we are essentially operating without a strategy. This significantly reduces our chances of success and can lead to wasted time and energy.
To alleviate this tension, it's crucial to clearly define our playing field. In other words, what are we willing to consider, and what is entirely off the table?
A 'bullseye graph' is a simple yet powerful tool for visualizing your goals and boundaries. It allows you to clearly see what is desirable (what you want to achieve), what is discussible (what you are considering), and what is unthinkable (what is off-limits).
Here is how I would do it. (A rough prototype)
Step 1: Create the Bullseye Diagram
Draw Three Concentric Circles:
Title the inner circle "Desirable."
Title the middle circle "Discussible."
Title the outer circle "Unthinkable."
Divide the Bullseye into Ten Sections:
Draw ten straight lines from the center to the outer circle, dividing the bullseye into equal sections.
Label each section with the following categories:
Target Customer
Distribution Channel
Steady-State Revenue
Type of Offering
Brand
Revenue Source
Suppliers/Partners
Tactics
Go-to-Market
Other
Step 2: Set Up the Activity
Prepare the Sticky Notes:
Provide each participant with three different colored sticky notes (e.g., blue, yellow, and pink).
Assign each color to a circle:
Blue for "Desirable"
Yellow for "Discussible
Pink for "Unthinkable"
Define the Vision:
Write your ambition or vision statement on a whiteboard for everyone to see. This vision will guide the activity and keep everyone focused on the same goal.
Step 3: Facilitate the Brainstorming Session
Ask Guiding Questions:
Encourage participants to write one idea per sticky note in response to the following questions:
Suggested prompts:
Target Customer: Which customer group can we target? Can we switch from B2C to B2B or vice versa?
Distribution Channel: Which distribution channels can we use? Should we shift from retail to direct sales or explore a niche market?
Steady-State Revenue: What revenue targets should we aim for? $25,000? $1 million? $50 million?
Type of Offering: What will we provide? Should we consider offering services if we sell products, or vice versa?
Geographic Areas: What geographic areas should we target? Local? Regional? Global?
Brand: Which brand will we use? Should we consider creating a new brand?
Revenue Source: How will we generate revenue? What options are off the table?
Suppliers/Partners: Which suppliers or partners will we use? Should we consider outsourcing or bringing tasks in-house?
Tactics: What strategies will help us achieve our vision?
Go-to-Market: What approach will we use to enter the market?
Step 4: Voting and Prioritization
Distribute Voting Dots:
Give each participant 20 voting dots.
Instruct them to use their first 10 dots to vote on the most desirable ideas. They can place all 10 dots on one idea or distribute them across several.
Repeat for Discussible Ideas:
Ask participants to use their remaining 10 dots to vote on ideas in the "Discussible" category.
This step helps identify which discussible ideas may have the potential to move into the desirable category for experimentation.
Step 5: Analyze and Discuss
Review the Results:
After voting, analyze the distribution of dots to create a heat map of ideas.
Identify the "domains" with the highest innovation potential based on the participants' votes.
Group Discussion:
Facilitate a discussion around the ideas in the "Discussible" category.
Decide as a group whether any of these ideas should be moved into the "Desirable" category for further exploration and experimentation.
Facilitating a workshop to set boundaries within your organization’s strategy can be a powerful way to align priorities and innovate thoughtfully.
That’s how I would design the boundary workshop: to spark creativity and build consensus on the best way forward, making it easier to experiment and achieve your vision.
Since this is a thought exercise, I want to know: What do you see missing? How would you move it one level up?