Case Clinic
Case Clinic - overcome all obstacles
Since the first lockdown in March 2020 I was struggling with a challenge: how to transfer my activities into the digital world so I can continue to develop Let’s Talk Waste. Let’s Talk Waste is an entrepreneurial project I created in 2018 to cut plastic pollution at its roots. I offer team building activities to my clients who want to promote better team cohesion while creating a culture of caring for the planet and the environment. One of the tools I developed consists of two card games aimed at triggering discussions on the impact of littering and on challenging the relevance of recycling to promote sustainable behaviors. I tested a few ideas on digital team building, and was disappointed with the outcome. They didn’t meet my main goal which is to create more team cohesion. This is the case I brought to the Case Clinic hosted by collaboratio helvetica during the first module of the second Catalyst Lab, which I am part of.
The tool in brief
The Case Clinic uses the power of the collective at the service of your project or your challenge. You gather a small group of people that is willing to have an open mind to dive into your project for approximately one hour. The goal is to help you out with a problem you have been toying with without much success.
The process is actually very detailed but it starts by spending some time understanding the Case Giver’s challenge and then listening to reactions from each member of the group. This first step is intuitive, no brains and logic involved at this point. We then move into a Generative Dialogue where the members of the group offer their perspective to the Case Giver. Everyone is invited to be in the state of deep listening, building on what is being shared in the group.
Finally, it is the turn of the Case Giver to share what s.he learned and how s.he will move forward from there.
My case
Here is how it played out for me. I was gifted with the willing brains of 4 people who had no knowledge of my project and who had never experienced my activities. They listened carefully even though I struggled to explain clearly how my activities unfold when I meet my clients’ teams in person. They were extremely patient and asked clarifying questions to be sure they fully understood what was at stake.
We then got into a Generative Dialogue. That was beyond anything I could have imagined. Ideas were coming from all directions and while some were not applicable or already tried, most were new, completely relevant and highly promising. It came clear to me that I had been looking at the issue the wrong way and that there were many things I had not considered yet
What came out of it
The Case Clinic closed with a moment of individual journaling which is key to keep a memory of the ideas that were offered to me. I left this experience with a handful of new ideas to test and a conviction that there is no challenge, no obstacles that cannot be overcome by the collective intelligence. In my case specifically, I left with a new conviction that, instead of trying to translate the card games digitally at all cost, I could try something completely new using the videos from the Sensing journeys I will be doing for my project as part of the Catalyst Lab: Waste Dialogues.
Stay tuned!
Read more
Detailed description of the tool by collaboratio helvetica : https://www.collaboratiohelvetica.ch/en/blog/2017/11/20/mmrb05mfc3nlnxfqw2r9pcq26ietjp
Presencing Institute description of the tool in video : https://www.presencing.org/resource/tools/case-clinic-desc
Presencing Institute toolbox in PDF : https://www.presencing.org/files/tools/PI_Tool_CaseClinic.pdf
Original Theory U article : C. Otto Scharmer, (2009) Theory U: Learning from the Future as it Emerges. Berrett- Koehler: San Francisco.
Blogpost by Julia Bodin, Catalyst Lab 2
Julia Bodin is an environmental engineer and a changemaker. She founded Let’s Talk Waste in 2018 with no small mission : to cut plastic pollution at its root for a plastic-free Switzerland. She is a Catalyst on the 2020-2021 edition and is looking to create spaces for dialogues about Circular Economy in Romandie inviting all the stakeholders of the waste creation ecosystem at the table, from innovation to final disposal via production, consumption, elimination and waste treatment.