tutorial 1: know your ‘why’

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WWF Future Cities Incubator

Tutorial 1:Know your ‘why’

“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. And what you do simply proves what you believe.”- Simon Sinek

WWF Future cities incubator | Tutorial 1 | Know your why

Questions to be asking yourself right now

• Why am I here? (Don’t let this trigger an existential crisis!)

• What does being here mean to me?

• Do I believe in myself and my team?

• Do I love the problem?

• How far am I willing to take this?


How today’s going to run

10:30 How today’s going to run

10:35 Defining our collective ‘why’

Why do we exist?

What are our aspirations?

What is our ‘light on the hill’?

11:05 A very human universe

Who are we serving?

What are their problems?

What are our hypotheses?

11:45 Bringing it all together

The lean startup validation board

11:50 Building a strong team

What skills and resources do we have ?

What’s missing?

Who does what?

How will we work together?

What happens is sh*t hits the fan?

12:00 Finish (not the language, but seriously... Get out!)


The Golden Circle

What

Every organisation can tell you what they do. These are the products they sell and the services they offer.

How

Some organisations can tell you how they do it. This is what makes them unique or gives them a competitive advantage over the competition.

Why

Few organisations can tell you why they do it. Why has nothing to do with market share, money or reputation. It has everything to do with your purpose, beliefs or cause. It is the sole reason your organisation exists.

Why

How

What

Start here


Defining our collective ‘why’

Session type: In your teams

Length: 30 minutes

Tools: Sharpies, post-it’s, butchers paper, or anything to scribble on

Instructions:

5min: Working individually (without talking), write down a vision statement which outlines your personal view of the teams ‘why’. Your vision statement should:

I. Be succinctII. Be memorableIII. Be unique to youIV. Be achievable V. Be aspirational

5min: Share your vision statement and stick it on the wall or on the table so everyone in the team can see it. Don’t discuss them until everyone has read theirs out.

10min. Discuss what you heard. What are the synergies? Is anything competing? What surprised you? What excites you?

10min. Write a collective statement that captures the teams shared vision for the future and reason for being.


A very human universe

You’re somewhere out here if you’re lucky!

Family & Friends

Work

Me!

Netflix and cat videos


Who are we serving and what are their problems?


Length: 20 minutes


Instructions:

1. Map out potential customers that you want to serve. Be specific and add context to who and where they are.

2. Map out their known and assumed problems, pain points and challenges that your team are attempting to address. The model on the right will help you frame the problems through different lenses.

Example:

Environment problem: Countries, businesses and people rely too heavily on fossil fuels for electricity.

Institution problem: As an energy provider, I am heavily reliant on government subsidies to make low-carbon energy generation affordable to our customers.

Community problem: There is a high degree of fear in Western Sydney about the affordability of electricity.

Human problem: I just received my quarterly bill for the power and I don’t know how I’m going to afford it.

Human Community Institution Environment


What are our hypotheses?


Length: 20 minutes


Instructions:

As a team develop solution hypotheses to the problem statements generated in the previous activity using the following template.

If [action] then [outcome] because [customer need/problem].

Learnings

Validated customer

hypothesis

Business need

Found problem

Solution hypothesis

Ship

Design


Source: lean startup machine

Bringing it all together - Validation board


Source: ThinkPlace design profiles. https://designprofile.org/#

Building strong teams


Length: 10 minutes


Instructions:

1. Collectively post it your skills, resources and capacity that are available to this project.

2. Discuss as a team and identify any skills gaps. Do you need to re-adjust expectations? Do you need to join forces with others? Can you lean on mentors for assistance?

3. Set roles for the team. Who does what?

4. Decide on how you will work and how often you’ll meet up face-to-face.


Next steps

Go make some cool sh*t and test the hell out of it!

tutorial 1: know your ‘why’

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