Evolution Lines
What is Evolution Lines about ?
A team works together with clay and shows how the situation/team/company has developed by forming evolution lines showing ups and downs, aspects leading together and aspects that separate during the process of development up until now. The moments where something important has happened are labelled with little signs. The purpose of this method is to come to a deep (common) understanding of important milestones that led to the current situation. The assumption behind this approach is that you can influence future developments more smoothly from a point of understanding the past and present and from a point of view of processes and development flows instead of looking at a collection of single events. The common forming of the evolution lines also offers the opportunity to talk about different perceptions of the same situation. From that point of common understanding it is easier to agree on how to deal with that situation in future.This method presented here is slightly changed by Visionautics, the original was developed by Stephan Otto, Evoco GmbH.
Audience
Is participant experience relevant for Evolution Lines ?
Requirements
Not specifically
Run Through
Get clarity on how many teams/individual projects you will host. Prepare the material accordingly. Make sure things are prepared and set up nicely. This strengthens the participants' confidence in the process you are leading.
Get clarity about your own intention with this exercise: What do you want the group to take away/learn/experience? What will be the most important thing to keep an eye on in order to achieve this?
Material for
- A wooden board of about 1m length and at least 20cm width (We use wooden shelves which you can get cheaply in DIY shops.)
- A big lump of clay for each team/individual
- Little signs on a stick (We use skewers or dental sticks and glue little file cards to them. It is nice to have some signs prepared with symbols on them, e.g. a sun or a lightning bolt. Make sure you also prepare at least 10 signs per group with nothing written on them so they can write milestone events on them or draw their own symbols. If you do the outdoor version with sand we recommend using moderation cards on chopsticks (you can get cheap chopsticks in Asian takeaways restaurants.)
- Pens/Markers
- The original method uses sand in long boxes. We found it easier with clay: you just need a board to put the clay on instead of a big box; it is easier to transport; and you don't have the sand crumbling in the seminar space. But we also did this once with a team of kindergarden teachers in a big sandpit in the garden and once in winter with snow outdoors in the park. If you have any of those possibilities use them - it is great if your participants can expand and have a lot of space to make a full body experience out of this exercise.
ERASMUS +
Co-funded by the Erasmus+ Program of the European Union. Find more information about the program and its goals here: https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/.
Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
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