Hopes and Concerns

Hopes concerns icon - orb with a diagram showing post-it notes for hopes and concerns

A simple way to draw out and manage hidden agendas

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –
Hopes & Concerns is a tool which enables groups to outline and share their positive and negative feelings about an event from the outset.

How does it work

Using this tool at the beginning of an event (meeting, presentation, workshop) draws out hidden agendas and puts everyone on an even footing.
Voicing concerns enables the participants to relax the feeling of responsibility that they may have for them, and to concentrate positively on moving forward; and seeing the ‘hopes’ allows the event leader to adjust their objectives or to manage expectations.

Simple steps

  1. To use the tool, simply ask the meeting/event participants to identify their one or two key hopes for how the event will work or what will be delivered, and one or two key concerns about what might (or might not) transpire.
  2. For physical meetings, these can either be written to the iFrame template (or simply a headed flipchart) by the facilitator, or they can be added as post-it notes by the attendees. In virtual meetings, simply click on the template below, share the URL with your meeting, and invite attendees to type their hopes and concerns succinctly into the space provided.
  3. Review the list that emerges, and manage any expectations that need to be managed.
The Hopes & Concerns tool is useful to create a common starting base, and address any false assumptions.
Clicking the instant template below will open up as a live interactive tool in your browser. Simply copy its URL from the address bar on the page that opens and share it through your meeting chat with your team. They will instantly be able to participate with you by: adding their thoughts via sticky notes; seeing all that’s going on, and moving things around. For more on instant templates, click here.
 
 
 
 

Track your progress to ensure the efficacy of this strategy.