Effectuation Workshop (for non enterprise students) (QAA1234) #FEEUK

Objective: 

• To explore limiting paradigms that form a barrier to self-effectuation.
• To introduce an enterprising mindset and heuristic methods for value creation using their existing knowledge and skills
• To evidence the power of developing a network / ‘patchwork quilt’ (Sarasvathy) in value creation through a playful group task

Overview:

This is a good workshop to introduce non-enterprise students to the idea of starting their own business.

The focus of this task will be applying three of the Effectuation principles (Sarasvathy 2022) methodology to ideation; Bird in the Hand, Pathwork Quilt and Affordable Loss. In pairs, learners will firstly identify ‘who they are, what they know and who they know’. They will then be asked to create an enterprise based on those ‘means’ that would enable then to earn at least £100 in one week. In fours, they learn to build stakeholder relationships through communicating their ideas and giving and accepting feedback.

Activity:

Length – 3 hours

This workshop is a heuristic approach to Sarasvathy’s Effectuation principles, working in individually, in pairs and in small groups, learners will test out three of basic principles and be introduced to all five.

Check-In / Warm Up – 10 mins

Section One – 20mins

Section Two – 50 mins

Break – 10mins

Section Three – 40 mins

Section Four – 30 mins

Plenary / Checkout – 20 mins

Extensions  

- Use the outcome of this workshop to invite learners to make a business plan using the Business Model Canvasand then a subsequent Value Proposition Design workshop or project task.

- Prepare for this workshop by using SCAMPER methodology to keep ideas flexible and playfully explored.

Check In / Warm Up (10mins) – If there is space, this can be done as a ‘line up’. Imagine a line across the room acting as a volume control, if you strongly agree with a statement you can stand on the far end of the line, if you strongly disagree you stand at the start of the line, if you have no strong opinion, you can stand in the middle.

Facilitators Note - The statements can help thinking about risk, tastes and learning styles and help the group see that everyone is different and yet may also share similar approaches. Depending on how well the group know each other, the more specific the statements could be. Examples of statements:

‘when catching a train or flight, I always leave lots of time’

‘charging for my work is easy’

‘I know what I want to be doing in five years’

Small room option / Smaller group – standing in a circle, step forward if you agree, step back if you disagree

Plenary – This first section is about noticing, first your own response and then of others.  Everyone has different mindsets, understanding that helps us think about how we communicate, leads us to Section One.

Section One – Invitation to Notice your Mindset (20mins) 

Ask everyone to think individually, silently of ‘one unexpected event that has had a positive impact on your life?’ (5 minutes) Invite Responses - this facilitates a discussion around managing change, dealing with what you have, agility, openness etc.

Invite the group to notice what you learnt from that. Connect to the theory that we’ll encounter later that argues ‘The future is not predictable but is made through human interactions’

Ask the group to think about mindset, connect to recent discussions around unconscious bias and the way in which our mind has learnt to take short cuts. Introduce Dwek’s Growth Mindset  stress that this is not about good or bad, but important that you notice.

If we experiment with thinking about learning being infinite.. what could we do?

Section Two – ‘Bird in the Hand – Starting with your existing means’ (50 mins) 

-  Individually, fold an A4 sheet of paper into thirds. On the first third, write a list of ‘who you are’ – eg: ‘pronouns, 20, sister, artist, etc’

on the next third, write a list of all the things you know something about – eg ‘theatre, artists, fixing cars, languages’, on the final third, who is in your circle of contacts – eg: who could you call for help / advice? Work / Education / Family / Other (10mins)

-  Task in Threes (best if the threes don’t know each other well) – Being as crazy as you like, think of as many ideas as possible of how you could legally make £100 by the end of next week, using your combined skills, knowledge and contacts. Emphasise quantity not quality – this will help with selfcensoring and perfectionist tendencies. (15 mins) Ask for a notetaker to list the ideas - Select the one idea that you feel most excited by as group (5 mins)

-  Plenary – How did you find that task?  You are not asking them to share their ideas, they will do that in the next step, at this stage you are just finding out numbers of ideas. Relate this back to the unexpected events responses. (10mins)

Facilitator note - If you prefer using a template, this network mapping exercise is a workable model for this exercise.

Break for 10mins – in this break they will probably share ideas… if they do that will be useful in the next step!

Section Three – Patchwork Quilt (40mins) 

With the whole group, ask if anyone shared their ideas over the break, did they get any suggestions or interest from others? Explain that’s how simple building stakeholder commitments can be and the range of forms that this can take that can be helpful to the development of your idea. Each group of three identifies an ambassador, they travel to the next group

- The two remaining people now act as potential stakeholders

In the newly formed group of three, introduce active listening and then ask them to:

- Exercise active listening to hear the ambassador’s ideas (3mins)

- The stakeholder pair then can ask questions, but they only start with  ‘what if?....or ‘Yes and…..” ( 10 mins)

- The ambassador can respond to these questions, but if you are short for time you can arrange it so that the ambassador can only note the question and say ‘Thank-you’

The ambassador then returns to the original group and feeds back the questions and their thoughts. The two that stayed feedback what came up in their meetings and any ideas or approaches that might be useful to feed into the development of the groups business idea.

Back in the Group of Three

- Decide how you act on feedback to pivot your idea (10 mins)

Plenary - Facilitator note – make clear that stakeholder commitments are not always about money. They can offer support, endorsement, in kind can be equally useful. Note the importance of being prepared for your stakeholder meetings, make sure that you are listening actively to their replies. Students will at this stage be able to see more clearly how they can connect with the ‘who do I know’ in their network.

Section Four – Affordable Loss and Action (40 mins) 

Facilitator asks - How was that? Gather reflections on the process first… then ask if any one would like to share.

Facilitator with the Whole Group – Outline the effectuation process using the summary on the Effectuation 3 Pager.(15 mins), this will show them that they have tried and tested at least two of the stages, Bird in the Hand and  Patchwork Quilt. The future is not predictable but is made through human interactions. Note that we are now moving to act on their ideas. Introduce the idea of Minimum Viable Product. (20mins) Then back in their group of 3 to consider:

- what their affordable loss might be (5 mins) 
- organisations who might be able to offer in kind support (5mins) 
- what would be the MVP? (5 mins)
- what one commitment could they offer to test out the viability of the ideas (5mins)

Plenary (20 mins) 

- Re-cap on what we’ve covered, in just under 3 hours you’ve created X business ideas based on the means that you already have. You don’t need to wait for permission from anyone to start, you have the power to start right now

- Re-cap on mindset, notice what yours is …. Start with giving yourself permission to think differently. Embrace‘yes and’ to build and develop ideas and the MVP to test them, lemonade process to learn from them.

- Remind that we’ve covered

Check out 

Depending on the size of the learner group, you could invite all the groups to share, but invite the learners to respond to this question: ‘what one thing will you do differently after today? Be as specific as you can’

“It is easier to act yourself into a new way of thinking, than it is to think yourself into a new way of acting.” Millard Fuller – Leader and Pioneer in

Affordable Housing Movement

*You can adapt this section to ask them to meet a specific brief, ie: ideas should grow out of their hobbies not their perceived strong skills, that is a great way of pushing out of their comfort zone and works with interdisciplinary groups.

Skill Development:

Challenging limiting paradigms and opening up an enterprise mindset, through - Active listening, in pairs and small groups -  Teamwork, developing and building on ideas.

      -     Ideation and selecting based on group criteria

Feedback from participants from a non-enterprise background

‘Prompting self-reflection on skills, connections and identity’

‘This was great, an open workshop with space for personal expression, interactive with reflection’

‘was a great place to switch our brains into start evaluating and thinking, the circle worked well and no powerpoint is good! I was fully engaged and felt very open, comfortable, and valued’

Resources:  

• One A4 paper per person
• Post-its or similar sticky pads
• Pens

Links / Web -sites –  above.

https://www.skilla.com/en/heutagogy-developing-agile-reflective-lifelong-learners/

References:

Key authors 

Dr Saras Sarasvathy

Effectuation Handout 

https://www.effectuation.org/sites/default/files/documents/effectuation-3-pager.pdf