Human - or sociometric - mapping is a technique in group processes that invites participants to physically position themselves on imaginary spectrums, circles or clusters in relation to certain statements and questions. Read on to find out why we at collaboratio helvetica are using it so often, and how it can backfire. 

Collaboratio helvetica designed and facilitated an international and multilingual workshop for the Biodiversity Lab, a project by the Swiss association Brainforest.

Von September bis Oktober 2023 fand das Protein Lab statt, ein kollaboratives Projekt der drei Organisationen Sentience, der Berner Fachhochschule BFH und collaboratio helvetica. Die Workshopreihe zielte darauf ab, sektorübergreifende Lösungen für den Wandel des Ernährungssystems zu entwickeln.

Gesellschaftliche Herausforderungen sind komplex und anspruchsvoll. Oft scheint die Möglichkeit einer Verbesserung unerreichbar. In diesem Beitrag berichte ich darüber, wie mich die Methode der Stakeholder Interviews bei einer schwierigen Thematik weitergebracht hat. Es ist ein einfaches Mittel, um sich einen Überblick zu verschaffen und potenzielle Entwicklungsschritte zu erkennen.

In order to tackle the complex societal challenges we are facing, for instance around topics of climate change, migration, health etc., we need to come together across sectors and organisations and learn new ways of collaborating with each other, engage in meaningful conversations that go beyond polarization, learn from each other, and find new ways forward together. The challenges we are facing are too multilayered and complex to be addressed in a meaningful way just by one organisation or even one sector.

In multi-stakeholder workshops relevant stakeholders from a specific system (for example stakeholders linked to the healthcare system) come together around a specific calling question and topic to explore it in depth together, learn more about different perspectives and experiences, get a deeper understanding of the topic and identify leverage points for change. Ideally multi-stakeholder workshops take place as a series of events, where the same group comes together several times to explore relevant questions.

3D sculpting is an exercise that invites people to look at the reality of a system from different angles and perspectives with the aim to help identify the key strategic leverage points in changing the current system.

Stakeholder interviews are a tool that helps to sense, explore and gain a deeper understanding on different perspectives in a system. The tool has been developed by the Presencing Institute as part of the Theory U toolbox. Stakeholder interviews can be used at any stage of the U process and are a very useful tool to both sense into the system and get feedback on different aspects of your work. At collaboratio helvetica, we use this tool in most of our projects, for example in the Catalyst Lab, where participants do stakeholder interviews to explore the system and topic they are working on.

A Social Innovation Lab is first and foremost a way to address complex challenges, which cannot be solved by linear strategic planning.