Module title: Evidence Planning

Activity 1

Divide into groups of five. Ask all of the groups to consider a project or piece of work they are involved in. (You might want to specify something that is familiar to everyone.) Depending on numbers, one (some) group(s) considers why the current approach is taken and why it should remain in place. The other group(s) consider whether this is the best approach, and if so, how it could be improved; if not, what might replace it. Ask the groups to come together in plenary to share their discussions.

Activity 2

Ask the group to break into pairs to work through the statements presented in the main text and then present and discuss their answers during plenary. If you want to spend more time on this activity, ask students to come up with their own statements to illustrate tacit assumption. It is likely that some of them won’t be quite right, so you’ll need to allow plenty of time for thinking, feedback and discussion.

Activity 3

In plenary, discuss the positives and negatives of conflict in groups and teams as a basis for using the Evidence Planning tool. Why is it important to be able to air conflict and explore contested evidence? How might conflict be negotiated and brokered in a setting like the Teemac case study? The discussion should be steered to demonstrate that conflict is normal and healthy, and for the Evidence Planning tool to be truly useful, it needs to be part of the process.

Activity 4

Working with a team or department, divide the group into four evenly sized smaller groups and ask them to complete one of the quadrants for their team or department on a flip chart page.

Bring the groups together and pin up the four flip chart pages in the order they are presented in the template. Ask the ‘replace’ group to comment on the ‘enhance’ group’s work, and vice versa. Ask the ‘reuse’ group to comment on the ‘limit’ group’s work, and vice versa. Make additions, amendments and annotations as necessary.

Activity 5

Allow 15 minutes for this activity. Working in the same groups as for Activity 4, allocate a task to each group as below:

• enhance group: how can you correct any mistakes?
• replace group: identify what you want to retain
• limit group: identify any evidence gaps and false assumptions
• reuse group: identify what is working well.

Ask each group to capture their ideas on a flip chart page.

Bring the groups together and pin up the flip chart pages. Ask the ‘replace’ group to comment on the ‘enhance’ group’s work, and vice versa. Ask the ‘reuse’ group to comment on the ‘limit’ group’s work, and vice versa. Make additions, amendments and annotations as necessary.