Perspective Carousel
What is Perspective Carousel about ?
Many ideation approaches are mainly cognitive and we easily disregard the silent voices of the heart and the foggy not-yets of something that is only about to emerge. This ideation approach invites us to deeply connect with different perspectives within and around us and generate ideas from those places. It allows us to step into different roles and to generate ideas from multiple perspectives we would not automatically include (like the future generations, a tree, a person we dislike, Buddha).
Audience
Audience description for Perspective Carousel
We used the method with groups of all ages and disciplines and it always worked well. If you work with a very conservative group or with people under high performance pressure, plan some extra focus to convince them that being playful does not mean being unproductive but on the contrary it is well invested time.
Requirements
Enough space so the subgroups of 3 have each their own space without hearing the talking of the neighbouring subgroup.
Run Through
• Adapt the list of perspectives (example list see below) to your target group, purpose and group size. There should be at least 2 or 3 more spaces than trios in your group.
• Arrange a space of about a square meter for each perspective from your list with a clear border (e.g. chalk circle or a rope) and name it. Make sure the spaces are wide apart from one another. Depending on the preferences of your group, you can put one chair inside the circle and two chairs outside the circle, or cushions to sit on the floor. If you want the exercise to be more dynamic, don't use chairs or cushions.
• Place two stacks of post-its and two pens next to each circle.
Online
Yes. The online version has advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantage is that online you don’t have the physical act of stepping in and out different spaces with different qualities in order to make clear the change of role. Instead you have the videofilters with the potential to disguise yourself very easily and make it visible to yourself as well as to the others that you are in a different role now. It is more visual and less physical, but it also works.
Online you can work with breakout groups in videoconferencing. Instead of stepping into circles your participants use video filters that transform the Channel or his/her surroundings and support his/her specific role. Make sure your videoconferencing tool offers this feature and check out which filter could represent which quality/person/being. You might need a bit of extra creativity to make the offered video filters fit to the roles you want to represent. We attached an example list of video filters from the video conferencing tool Zoom connected to specific roles to give you an idea of how you can use it, but it is worth checking out which filters fit to your group and your challenge and create a legend for your group.
Notetaking of the Scribe and the Developer can be done on a virtual whiteboard aside from your videoconference. If your whiteboard tool allows it, we recommend the post-it bulk mode or keyboard shortcuts, so you don’t need much time to open a new post-it and can concentrate on listening and watching the channel.
Clustering, rating, refining then can be done by altogether on the virtual whiteboard.
Material for
-For each perspective space, a paper or workshop card with the name of the space (Around 7 or 8)
-ropes, yarn or chalk to mark the border of a perspective space
-2 stacks of post-its and 2 felt-tip pens for each perspective space
-1 pinboard or pinboard paper or whiteboard for each 6 persons in the group
