Design Playbook (Tools & Practices)

 

• LEGO® Serious Play → Build models of perspectives; every voice explains their build.

• Mixed-Materials Prototyping → Create together using paper, fabric, or recycled items — diversity mirrored in materials.

• Silent Story Build → Add pieces one by one to a shared model, then reflect on how differences shaped the whole.

• Six Thinking Hats (Edward de Bono): Encourage participants to think from multiple “angles” (logical, emotional, creative, critical, risk, optimistic).

 

Mindset (Reflection & Journaling)

 

• Do I seek comfort in sameness, or courage in difference?

• Who is missing from my design table — and why?

• When did someone’s different perspective help me see something new?

 

Provocation:

 

“Diversity is not a problem to be solved. It is the palette of colours with which we paint the future.”

 

Facilitation Principle

 

As a facilitator, your role is to protect and amplify difference. Diversity often brings tension, but your task is to frame that tension as productive rather than threatening. Ensure quieter voices are invited, dominant voices are balanced, and multiple perspectives are woven into the group’s output.

 

Facilitator’s Mantra: “Every difference is a doorway to new possibility.”

 

Facilitation Toolkit (Methods & Activities)

 

• Check-in Round: Begin by asking each participant to share a unique lens or experience they bring to the room.

• Fishbowl Conversations: Inner circle discusses while outer circle listens, then rotate — ensuring all perspectives surface.

• Diversity Matrix: Map perspectives by discipline, age, gender, culture, role, etc., to visualise variety.

• Story Exchange: Pair participants to share personal stories before rejoining the group. Builds Empathy across difference.

• Reverse Perspectives: Ask groups to argue from a viewpoint opposite to their own to stretch their thinking.