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Focus groups as learning interventions

Recently I have been conducting focus groups and 1:1 interviews for a new course that I’m designing. I struggled during the process of these interviews to remain impartial, not share my viewpoints excessively, ask probing questions to get at examples and underlying belief systems.

Was I wrong to remain impartial? Should I have taken this opportunity to engage the participants in a dialogue to both question their assumptions and deepen their understanding instead of treating it as fact finding mission? Or would that have come across as too didatic?

I’m reflecting back to a previous engagement that  I had where the interviews I conducted resulted in a mass of confusion, and a failed design — what could I have done differently in that instance? I’m not sure the dialogue would have revealed anything different (or maybe it would have), but what would have shifted is my understanding of the dialogue. If no one could agree on outcomes, how could a better design have helped?  The design should have shifted towards facilitating a dialogue, which is what was really needed.

Coming back to the present — I encouraged the participants to speak their viewpoint, and at the end, added in mine — and offered them resources and other items they could learn from. The scope of my mandate did not allow for much else. But what if I approached the focus group as a learning intervention for both of us? The realm of hermeneutics, or participatory research, you bring the unconscious forward to the conscious and together create a shared meaning — you learn from your participants and allow them to reshape your interpretations or frameworks. One might ask oneself — well, isn’t that what you’re suppose to do, learn from participants? The difference in this approach is consciousness around the creation of a shared meaning.

Taking it one step further into the obvious, focus groups can be instruments of change within an organization — a group of people coming together to express their perspectives and experiences, and then shifting into a group of people committed to making a change.

The challenge is in finding a way to make that shift.

 

Note: an interesting paper on use of hermeneutics by a Canadian I might add 🙂

 

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By Rani H. Gill – September 5, 2011

The Intervention Cycle

Intervention Cycle

Courtesy of Micheal Broom, Center for Human Systems

Learning design is all about interventions. We are intervening in existing human systems every time we design or present a course. This is not a radical concept, but the process of becoming clear on my own intention changes how I think about the interventions.

Take for example an onboarding program for new hires. How does thinking about my intentions for onboarding change my design process? What is different now?

Intention: My intention is to align internal resources and messaging to provide a positive onboarding experience for the new hires where they can access and use the tools, resources and people they need to get their jobs done. The new hires should be able to connect previous tools, resources, experiences to their new situations. The people delivering the onboarding experience should understand the messaging and experience they are creating for the interns, as should the people supporting the onboarding.

Connection: All the people involved in onboarding, from designers, to support staff, to facilitators should feel more connected to each other in this process. There is a huge diversity of experience and regional differences,  and we should learn from each other’s differences.

The Intervention: One or two day, in-person event, led by a range of individuals (with differing levels of experience), training them on the expectations, tools, and resources.

Remaining questions:

  • What was the impact of the learning intervention? All intervention generate useful information regardless of outcomes.
  • Feedback – compare the desired impact to the actual feedback. How sound and current is your data?
  • Ego Management – is the intervention based on the needs of the system as well as your own? What are the needs of your client? Don’t let ego issues distract from the goal of building relationships towards their critical mass.

Will this actually change the effectiveness my work as a learning designer? I think at the very least being aware of my ego issues and my intentions has already begun this change process. And thinking about all the human systems at play in this large complex project, of which I am just one piece.

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By Rani H. Gill – August 24, 2011

A new era – organizational development

The last few months inside a large, national financial services firm has been…enlightening. Working in a complex, matrixed organization, on projects across a series of national cross-functional teams has been a wild ride for me. The whole notion of intact teams doesn’t really exist in my world. Your role and value is negotiated on each engagement. The organization maintains flexibility but it’s challenging to feel like you belong when the people you work with are thousands of miles away (virtual teaming) and each engagement is a different dynamic and role.

At the same time I started a year-long workshop on the disciplines of Organizational Development, or OD. This has saved my life as it helps me understand the human / organizational systems in my workplace.

I’m restarting this blog to explore this brave new world. And take myself (and maybe you too) for another wild ride. And most of all, I need to start writing again.

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By Rani H. Gill – August 21, 2011