Tool no.93 - The Walk & Talk experience

Simultaneous team experiences: walking as a team and listening as a team

When planning the Pines Calyx workshops of 2008 two sessions or 'shared experiences' had to get the participants quickly up to speed
1. on the idea of currency and
2. on the environment of Pines Calyx.
These sessions were given at the same time and repeated so that team 1 and team 2 did them in succession.
The idea emerged as a tool within the m21 team.

To steer groups towards a collective experience.
To encourage a collective experience at a practical level - experiencing the environment (walk) & quickly understanding important concepts (talk).
Requires other tools to develop this one tool no. 52. Collective story-telling
Very useful and important.

This tool was tested as a way of getting as a team participants to focus on a task in a more embodied way.

This tool can only work in tandem with other tools - this is not a stand-alone tool.
It is flexible and can be reconfigured to a variety of different contexts.
What would my client actually have to do in order to make this work? (e.g. list of instructions)
A specialist or specialists in the area or areas that is/are to be worked on by the developing team is/are brought in. i.e. at Pines Calyx the theme was currency, but also sustainability as well as flexible creative solutions to problems (thinking outside the box) and playfulness.
Added to this there was a general metaphor of 'seeding' and 'growth' that peppered the whole event.
It is best on the walk and talk to have more than one specialist.
The talk given by the specialist should be extremely informal.
The team can ask questions throughout the talk.

See our Pocket Synchronicity tool
Also our Tool number 52. Collective story-telling.
What other m21 tools have a family resemblance, or similar purpose?
More recent cognitive research (see Kline, Poggensee & Ferris, 2014) supports our 'walk & talk' approach.

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