Designing a wiser behaviour change campaign

We think identifying shared purpose among the groups we’re trying to influence is one of the most helpful ways to shape a powerful campaign.

By looking for shared purpose in the planning stage, we can:

– Challenge our assumptions

– Test our decisions about who we want to reach

– Unlock ideas for communications

– Design more effective, positive creative solutions

We’ve adapted an existing framework to help us.

Designing for wiser action

Designing for wiser action is a collaborative planning tool championed by the Art of Hosting community. It enables us to ask for help in creating a process for any collaborative project we might be working on.

It’s valuable for:

– Inviting others to help you understand your work better

– Breaking away from screens and text-heavy documents

– Identifying gaps and opportunities

– Exploring the relationship between different elements of a project

– Seeing the bigger picture

Project criteria

– More than just an idea – it can be big or small, but you should have a mandate and be planning to do it in the next twelve months

– Something you can be honest and open about – prepared to share what you know, and what you don’t

– A project you still have questions about, and that you’re interested in getting help from others to explore.

Materials

– Worksheet

– Post-its

– Pens

Process

Try allowing 3 – 4 hours – for complex or challenging projects you might want to invest more.

1) Each project holder forms a group with 2 or more people (‘peers’) who are new to the project, and willing to give it their attention.

2) Project holder introduces their project to the group – up to 30 minutes

3) The group works on the project design – peers ask questions and offer thoughts that relate to each of the areas on the worksheet (1.5 hours). Populate the areas as you go.

4) If there’s more than one group working in parallel on different projects, peers can now switch groups. The project holder takes 10 minutes to explain the project to their ‘guest’ peers, who then have a further 10 minutes to offer their perspective on what’s been designed so far.

5) The original group gets back together and integrates anything that feels useful from the previous step (another 30 minutes)

6) If you have had several groups working in parallel, this is a chance to all come together share what you’ve learned with everyone together.

By the end of the work, the project holder should have a clear sense of what matters about their project, and what the next wise steps will be to make it happen.

Tip: Using post-its throughout the process, rather than writing directly on the worksheet, enables facts, insights and ideas to be moved around the worksheet as the group works together.

This is adapted from the generous work of the Art of Hosting and Art of Participatory Leadership trainings.

Download the worksheet: Designing a wiser behaviour change campaign.