Head office and the field together to rethink life in the residences
Habitat CorolleInvented name
A social housing provider wanted to bring its head office and field teams closer, and to generate concrete ideas. About a hundred staff spent the day in a green setting, alternating between an ideas workshop and an on-site activity. The ideas produced really helped the company move forward.
- Sector
- Social housing, residences
- Size
- A few hundred staff, at head office and in the field
- Format
- One day
- In the room
- About a hundred staff from head office and the residences, many of whom had never met.
Context
- Field teams spread across many residences, a head office that rarely sees them.
- Varied residents: social housing, students, families.
- Two topics on the table: friendliness between colleagues, and opening up the residences’ shared spaces.
The challenge
Generate as many concrete ideas as possible on two topics, with about a hundred people, in a day that is also enjoyable. And ideas precise enough to be taken up.
The design
Key ideas
Double-coded badges
The badge colour gives the working group. The time slot gives the on-site activity. Half the room does the workshop in the morning and the activity in the afternoon, the other half the reverse. Groups stay small and nobody waits.
Connect before producing
Everyone recalls a strong moment at the company and tells it in pairs to someone they barely know. Head office and the field start by listening to each other.
From sticky note to sheet
An hour of work per group: sharing, individual ideas, sticky notes clustered by two “writers”. Then, in groups of four, each chosen idea becomes a sheet: what makes it appealing, what actually happens, for whom, under what conditions.
Coloured walls
Each group puts its sheets on a wall in its colour. At the end of the day, everyone sees everything that was produced.
How the time was used
- Open
- Explore
- Decide
- Celebrate
MorningOpen
Welcome
A double-coded badge: one group, one time slot.
Open
Connect
A strong moment at the company, told in pairs.
Explore
The ideas workshop
Individual ideas, sticky notes, clustering.
Decide
The sheets
In groups of four: appeal, practicalities, audiences, conditions.
Decide
The wall
Sheets posted on the wall in one’s colour.
NoonCelebrate
Lunch
Together, before swapping roles.
AfternoonCelebrate
The activity
An activity on site, while the other half does the workshop.
Celebrate
Close
Everyone in front of the walls.
The seminar in miniature
The double-coded badge
At the welcome desk, everyone gets a double-coded badge. The colour gives the working group, the time slot gives the on-site activity. Half the room starts with the workshop, the other half with the activity: groups stay small and nobody waits around.
Connecting
Everyone recalls a strong moment they lived at the company, then tells it in pairs to someone they barely know. Many had never met: head office and the field start by listening to each other, before producing anything.
The ideas workshop
One room per colour, an hour of work on two topics: friendliness between colleagues and opening up the residences’ shared spaces. After a round of sharing, everyone jots down ideas alone, then two “writers” cluster the sticky notes.
The sheets
In groups of four, each idea kept becomes a sheet. It says what makes it appealing, what happens in practice, who it is for and what it needs to work. An idea becomes useful when it is precise enough to be picked up as it is.
What makes it appealing: …
In practice, what happens?
Who is it for?
What does it need to work?
Lunch
Everyone meets up in the foyer for lunch together, head office and field side by side. It is also the day’s turning point: those who were in the workshop head off to the activity, and the other way round. A break that also leaves time to get acquainted.
The activity
One half enjoys an activity in the grounds while the other does the workshop, then they swap. This alternation keeps groups a human size and the day light, so it stays a pleasant time too. Everyone does both, without ever waiting their turn.
Coloured walls
Each group puts its sheets up on the wall in its colour. Ideas build up slot after slot, until several dozen sheets cover the walls. Sorted by colour, they read as each group’s body of work.
Close
At the end of the day, everyone walks along the walls and sees everything that was produced. These ideas, such as handing residents the running of the common room with a charter and a contact person, then fed into the company’s projects.
The materials, redrawn
The double-coded badge
First name
MorningFirst name
AfternoonMy colour = my group
My slot = my activity
| Morning | Afternoon | |
|---|---|---|
| A | Workshop | On-site activity |
| B | On-site activity | Workshop |
The idea sheet and the group’s wall
Name of the idea
What makes it appealing
In practice, what happens?
Who is it for?
What does it need to work?
The group’s wall
Deliverables and follow-up
- Several dozen idea sheets, concrete enough to be taken up as they stood. For example: asking residents which activities would help them break out of isolation, or handing them the running of the common room with a charter and a contact person.
- Ideas that fed the company’s projects on internal friendliness and on opening up the residences.
What we take away
- With about a hundred people, alternating workshop and activity keeps groups human-sized and the day light.
- An idea becomes useful when it says for whom and under what conditions. The sheet does that work on the spot.
- Starting with a memory shared between head office and the field changes the quality of the ideas that follow.
Working on something similar?
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