Using a Value Map to Guide Decision Making
Is this a good idea or not?
I was recently with a group of teachers who all worked in collaborative teaching spaces. One teacher asked an interesting question. “How do you manage all the good ideas when working with others?” I asked her to tell me more and she explained that
Education has never been short of good ideas but it has always been short of disciplined processes to test and validate ideas before implementing them.
Luckily, these teachers were part of a design thinking workshop and so we were able to investigate how to use the Weaving Future’s Value Map tool to test ideas before investing time implementing them.
A Value Map is a type of lean canvas and is designed to provide a quick way to assess the value of an idea. The Value Map asks you to make notes on the following:
“When three or four teachers all work together, new ideas come up daily and that it was really tricky knowing which ideas were worth pursuing.”
She also commented that if you are forever trying out new things then your current ideas never have a chance to embed before being overtaken by new ones. Other teachers in the conversation agreed and added that they wanted to remain open to new ideas so that their students had the best experience possible.
-Current Reality: How is this idea more valuable than the current reality?
-Five Whys: Note why this idea matters and then ask why that matters. Ask why that matters again. Keep going until you have drilled through five why layers. Note that each ‘why’ should unpack the ‘why’ above it!
-People Impact: Who is impacted by the idea? Will this be a positive or negative experience for them?
-Alternatives: What are the alternatives to this idea?
-What might happen if you don’t implement this idea?
-What gains are created by this idea?
-What pains does this idea relieve?
Finally, the value map asks you to assess each of the following on a scale of 1-5:
- How desirable is this idea?
- How viable is this idea? (i.e. How likely is this idea to work inyour current context?)
- How feasible is this idea? (i.e. How difficult will this idea beto implement?)
The perfect idea would score fives in each category and should therefore be implemented immediately! Sometimes, an idea might be highly desirable and feasible but unlikely to succeed in the current context, or an idea might be highly desirable and viable but really difficult to implement. An idea does not have to score fives in each category in order for you to implement it but how desirable, viable and feasible an idea is will give you a pretty good indication of whether the idea should be become your reality.
This new idea is it ‘On Top Of’ or ‘Instead Of’
So now you have an idea that is desirable, viable and feasible. Congratulations! Your next step is to decide whether this new idea is ‘on top of’ what you are already doing or, ‘instead of’ an existing practice.
Schools are busy places and teachers are busy people. We love giving students and their whanau great experiences, but unfortunately, this is to the detriment of our work-life balance.
The reason for this is that we add new ideas onto what we are already doing, rather than using the idea to replace an existing practice. In simple terms, this is adding a new idea ‘on top of’ what you are already doing rather than ‘instead of.’
There is a simple strategy you can use to help ensure that any new ideas you implement are ‘instead of’ rather than ‘on top of.’ The strategy is to appoint a member of your team to the position of ‘Replacement Officer.’ Their job is to leap to their feet (either physically or metaphorically) every time a new idea is being introduced and ask, “What is this replacing?” If they can do it with a bit of melodrama, it becomes a light-hearted way to remind people that whenever you add something new you should also be thinking about what you can now take away.
Fresh ideas keep schools and classrooms positive and invigorating places. At this time of great societal change, we need to be really careful and thoughtful about what new things we embrace and what past practices we assign to the history books.
If you’d like a copy of my Value Map feel free to email me at carolyn.stuart@weavingfutures.nz and I would be happy to send one to you.
