Wot the Dickens

What is ‘Wot the Dickens?’
Part pub-quiz, part environmental scan, part innovation jam, ‘Wot the Dickens?’is an innovative and enjoyable way to build shared understanding of the past and current context and to anticipate the challenges and opportunities ahead for your team or organization. Run in quiz team format over three rounds, it explores past, present and future and provides so much hilarity that participants won’t realize till afterwards that they now have a deeper and richer understanding of the environment and a stack of innovative ideas for future services or products. Taking approximately four hours, ‘Wot the Dickens’ is an ideal component of any strategic planning process (or the even precursor to the staff Christmas party!)

Why play ‘Wot the Dickens?’
Thinking smartly about your forward path requires everyone to be on the same page in terms of their understanding of what’s happening now and how we’ve arrived here – but so often environmental scanning and strategic planning events start off with an avalanche of data that quickly generates fact-fatigue and glazed looks in all but the most dedicated data nerd. It doesn’t have to be like this.
‘Wot the Dickens?’ makes sure you build shared understandings in a way that engages and energizes people and sets them up well for thinking creatively about the forward path for their team or organisation.

What happens in ‘Wot the Dickens?’

Round 1: ‘What’s my line’ – Understanding the Past
Using historical data, in this round teams compete to continue a line on a graph in the right direction and shape. Each question has a graph of a past trend.
Teams who draw in the line closest to the actual graph win the most points. Graphs will cover data relevant to the major trends and drivers that have shaped the current context for New Zealand. (Additional points may be awarded for a good rationale but bad drawing.) (6-10 questions)

Round 2: ‘Where in the world is New Zealand?’ – Taking stock of the present
In this round, using current data, teams locate where New Zealand sits, relative to other countries, on a whole range of measures that are important to our current situation. Using a ‘spot the ball’ approach, teams who position their ‘NZ: We are here’ sticker on each scatter graph closest to the real location win the most points. (6-10 questions)

Each of the questions in Rounds 1 and 2 have a quick, accessible introductions for the data-nervous and when answers are revealed, they come with a brief explanation of the underlying facts.

Round 3: Future Jam
In this round, following a 5 minute, whistle-stop, stand-up comedy style tour around change already here at the margins, each team kicks off from three instances of the future here today to imagine a service, product or business innovation that would meet the needs of tomorrow. Scoring at the end of this round is by voting (teams can vote for any of the innovations but their own).

What outcomes should I expect from ‘Wot the Dickens’?

At the end of a ‘Wot the Dickens’ session, participants will have:
• increased their understanding of historical trends and data about the current environment (not only from the information supplied in the process, but fromthe discussions in the quiz teams as they determine the answers).
• decreased fears about dealing with data
• looked back in order to look forward
• developed a richer understanding of the current context
• become more aware of change at the margins
• created a range of possible futures
• imagined their business or service in those futures
• innovated in response to future opportunities and challenges
• had fun
• generated more shared understanding and insights than from traditional scanning and planning processes

Who should give ‘Wot the Dickens’ a go?

‘Wot the Dickens’ is ideal for organisations that:
• recognize same-old isn’t enough any longer
• are up for the challenge of doing things differently
• want ways to involve all staff in thinking about the future of theorganisation
• want to model a culture of fun and innovation as well as having the rhetoric.

How many people can play at any one time?

‘Wot the Dickens’ can be run for 12 to 100 players. Group sizes and thenumber of questions can be adjusted to give the best fit for the size of thegroup and the time available.

Can a whole division or organization play?

Yes, ‘Wot the Dickens?’ works fabulously with mixed teams across a whole division or organisation.

Can different organisations play ‘Wot the Dickens?’ together?

Yes, it’s a great way for organisations who need to work closely together to build shared understanding and closer relationships. It’s also great for helping newly merged organisations and business units to find common ground and shared aspirations, or build connections with key stakeholders.


Can the content be customized to my organisation’s sector or industry?

Yes! There are currently three version of ‘Wot the Dickens?’
• Standard Fabulous – covers the bases on the vital context and drivers of change
• Semi-customised Fabulous – integrates some industry and sector relevant information into each round’s question
• Fully-customised Fabulous – tailors each round around the content critical to your sector

Facilitators

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