Two days to turn a network of managers into a community
ArvelInvented name
A public-interest organisation’s strategic plan was shaking up the role of its managers. Over two days, leadership acknowledged their workload, listened to them on the challenges of the job, then spoke using their words. A quiet ritual, the guardian angel, ran through the whole seminar.
- Sector
- Public-interest organisation
- Size
- A community of several dozen managers
- Format
- Two days
- In the room
- The community of managers and the executive committee: several dozen people.
Context
- The strategic plan collides with the managers’ role.
- Leadership wants to acknowledge their workload, bring out the challenges of the role and set up community rituals.
- The challenges were identified beforehand, through a questionnaire.
The challenge
Recognise the managers’ work through actions rather than speeches. And have them leave with concrete commitments, for themselves, their team and the community.
The design
Key ideas
The guardian angel
On arrival, each person receives their badge from a member of the executive committee, along with a pocket journal and the name of the colleague they will look after until the next day. The rule: nothing you can buy, only attention. The reveal comes on the morning of day two.
The triangle of fundamentals
The management framework on three large posters. Everyone places six dots: three where they feel at ease, three where it costs them. The room then reads together where the dots cluster.
Proud moments
Each person writes down a difficulty they overcame, tells it in a group of five without comment, then sticks it on the fundamental it serves. The framework gets covered in proof.
A leader who speaks after listening
At the opening, the director says he will come back to speak after listening. He does, without slides, quoting two or three proud moments in the participants’ own words.
Role plays
Situations drawn at random on an app, with a QR code in each room. Teams of four: two actors, two observers. One minute to prepare, five minutes to play, under ten minutes of debrief. Meanwhile, the executive committee watches and prepares what it will say.
A room that changes
A terrace serves as the rotation space. The plenary set-up is taken down and rebuilt during breakouts to make room for the posters. A wall of badges doubles as a photo spot.
How the time was used
- Open
- Explore
- Decide
- Celebrate
Day 1
Open
Welcome
Badge handed over by an executive, pocket journal, name of the colleague to look after.
Open
Who is here
Three rounds of standing trios, outside your own department. You hand your badge to your neighbour, who introduces you to the third person.
Explore
Triangle of fundamentals
Six dots each, then a group reading.
Explore
Proud moments
A difficulty overcome, told in a group of five, stuck on the framework.
Decide
The director speaks
No slides, in the participants’ own words.
AfternoonCelebrate
Rock-paper-scissors
A tournament to lift the energy.
Explore
The manager’s challenges
One wall per challenge, self-selected. Round 1: the issue, with facts. Round 2: the answers people know how to put in place.
Day 2
Celebrate
Guardian angels revealed
Three questions by show of hands, then photos of the pairs.
Explore
A leader who made me grow
What combined high standards and care.
Explore
Role plays
Drawn at random, played in fours, debriefed.
Decide
Community rituals
Plenary.
Decide
Energiser
Three zones on the floor: never tried, tried and dropped, tried and it holds.
Decide
Three commitments
Written, entered in an app, projected and discussed.
The seminar in miniature
Welcome and guardian angel
Each person receives their badge from a member of the executive committee, with a pocket journal and the name of the colleague they will look after until the next day. The rule: nothing you can buy, only attention. A quiet ritual that runs through both days.
Who is here
On the terrace, three rounds of standing trios, always with people from another department. You hand your badge to your neighbour, who introduces you to the third person. Being introduced by someone else breaks the ice, and everyone comes away with new faces.
The triangle of fundamentals
The management framework is displayed on three large posters. Everyone places six dots: three where they feel at ease, three where it costs them. Then the room reads together where the dots cluster. Within minutes, people see they are not the only ones struggling in the same place.
Proud moments, then the director
Each person writes down a difficulty they overcame, tells it in a group of five without comment, then sticks it on the fundamental it serves: the framework gets covered in proof. The director, who had said he would speak after listening, then takes the floor without slides, quoting proud moments in the participants’ own words.
Rock-paper-scissors
The afternoon starts with a rock-paper-scissors tournament. A game everyone knows, which brings back movement and energy before tackling the challenges of the role. Over lunch, an AI synthesis of the practices people chose was prepared: it stays on display as a running thread.
The manager’s challenges
The challenges of the role were identified beforehand, through a questionnaire. One wall per challenge, and everyone signs up where they want to contribute. Round one: the issue, backed by facts. Round two: the answers people know how to put in place. From lived experience to what can actually be done.
Role plays
On the morning of day two, the guardian angels have been revealed. Then situations are drawn at random on an app, through a QR code in each room. In fours: two actors, two observers. One minute to prepare, five to play, under ten to debrief. Meanwhile, the executive committee watches and prepares what it will say.
Energiser and commitments
Three zones on the floor: never tried, tried and dropped, tried and it holds. Everyone stands according to their own experience, and the room sees at a glance what really takes hold. Then three commitments, written, entered in an app, projected and discussed together: for yourself as a manager, for your team, for the community.
For me, as a manager: …
For my team: …
For the community: …
The materials, redrawn
The triangle of fundamentals
- I’m at ease × 3
- It costs me × 3
Commitments
Three zones on the floor
- Never tried
- Tried and dropped
- Tried, and it holds
My three commitments
- 1
As a manager
If…then…
- 2
A ritual for my team
- 3
To the community
Deliverables and follow-up
- An AI synthesis of the practices people chose, shown as a running thread in the afternoon.
- A wall of commitments that people can come back to.
AI and digital tools
An app to draw role-play situations and collect commitments. An AI synthesis produced over lunch. Commitments projected on screen so the room could discuss them.
What we take away
- The guardian angel is a quiet ritual that runs through both days and is revealed on the morning of the second.
- The leader speaks after listening, in the participants’ own words and without slides.
- Each of the three commitments has its own recipient: yourself as a manager, your team, the community.
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