Thoughts on CRS Start-up Workshop

Thoughts on CRS' Agency Start-up Workshop

ECB Phase II start-up at CRS HQ was exciting because of the very close alignment with organizational strategy and ongoing activities.  As a matter of fact, the group walked through an exercise to visually map the relationships and overlaps between ECB cross-cutting themes and strategic pillars for the agency.  This was very important for CRS.

The facilitator was super excellent!  She was organized, a good communicator, formal yet fluid, not pressing the group to produce an ‘output’.  She really wanted participants to understand the process and so walked them through logical steps.  There were also scheduled checkpoints to assess progress.  Having hardcopy handouts was very, very helpful so that participants could see the strategy and make notes as ideas came to mind.  Flipcharts were used throughout as reference points at various stages during the meeting.

There was sustained presence and input by non-emergency folks from other departments in CRS (e.g., HR, Program Quality and Support).  The ‘outside’ perspective they provided additional scope for agency-wide impact of proposed activities.  This was also an opportunity to learn about non-ECB/non-emergency tools and mechanisms available to support emergency capacity building.

Key lesson – select a strong facilitator who can connect the dots and who is keen on learning while doing.

 

Stuart