WHY integrate?

Running the Play

Step 1: Preparation (15 mins)

• Prepare the card deck on Miro or print outs of A5 cards with ‘why integrate?’ reasons, and make sure there are several cards for each reason and a few blank cards available. Note the reasons on the cards will be NRC reasons, and blank cards are available for colleagues to add any other reasons.

  NOTE:

  A team may have a range of reasons for integration according to their working context, and some benefits may be more applicable than others.

  • Lay the cards out at random

  • Bring postcards for the ‘postcard from the future exercise’ – template on the Miro or A5 size cards and set out coloured pens.

    Tip

  If you are pressed for time then consider running the first exercise of this play which will take about 30 minutes.

  Step 2: Set the stage

  Open the session and explain that this play will enable you to think about the benefits of integration and why it really matters for the organisation, the team and the people we serve.

  Virtual Tip

  If Miro is not a suitable platform for your context, then consider using a combination of another online Whiteboard and interactive tool such as Mentimeter

  Step 3: Exercise 1 (30 mins)

  1. Introduce the first ‘Why integrate?’ exercise and give a context (you might be reviewing an integrated programme, strategizing at country office level or preparing a grant).

  NOTE:

  Giving a particular context or situation will help colleagues identify the specific benefits or advantages of integration.

  2. Ask colleagues to think about the most important reasons for integration in this situation.

  3. Ask colleagues to choose 2 or 3 cards from the assortment of prepared and blank cards and to be ready to give an explanation/justification for their choice/s. (allow 5 mins for this). Note: Encourage colleagues to pick a balance of reasons why integration matters (to NRC, to the team, and to them personally). They can write their own reasons down on a blank card if they don’t see a good fit with available cards.

  4. Invite colleagues to share the single most compelling reason from their selection of 2 or 3 with the rest of the group. (10-15 mins)

  5. Invite colleagues to reflect on their conversations, identify the common ground or shared understanding and share any insights with the rest of the group (10 mins)

  Tip

  Ensure you have several copies of each pre-prepared card for part 1 as well as blank cards

  Step 4: Exercise 2 (30 mins)

  1. Introduce the second exercise – A postcard from the future.

  Tip

  The ‘postcard from the future’ encourages us to think about our work from the point of view of the people we serve.

  2. Brief the exercise: Ask colleagues to imagine themselves as a former service user or beneficiary of NRC programmes who is writing a ‘thank you’ postcard 5 years from now (i.e. into the future). The postcard will be addressed to an NRC staff member from a service user or someone who has benefitted from something specific that the NRC did through its programming. The postcard will be brief and the writer will thank the NRC for the difference the NRC’s integrated programmes made in their life 5 years ago. For example it might be a postcard from a young girl who benefited from several integrated services, now an independent young woman beginning a career, or from a mother of children who have now grown up and left home to a more healthy and secure future.

  3. Allow 15-20 minutes for colleagues to write their postcard and then display or share the postcards, allowing colleagues to read each others’. Those with an artistic flair may choose to create a picture on the blank side of the postcard, or you may be able to get hold of simple outline designed postcards with a picture on one side ready for colouring in.

  4. Reflect on the process and reiterate the importance of integration from a service user or beneficiary perspective, and how outcomes are what really matters. (5 mins)

  Virtual Tip

  For the Postcard from the future exercise, the postcards can be substituted with an email or plain text letter and the title of the exercise changed accordingly.

  Step 5: Conclude the session (5 mins)

  Bring the discussions to a close by reiterating the organisation’s commitment to transformational outcomes for those it serves, and why an integrated approach is central to achieving this, making reference to the reasons identified and discussed during the activities.

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  Follow-ups

  After a ‘why integrate?’ team discussion you might want to move onto a discussion about Ways of Working or Roles and Responsibilities. If the session has been ‘sticky’ or heavy-going you might want to jump straight to a play on Barriers to Integration to enable you to identify and discuss bottlenecks or obstacles or the reasons for hesitation / resistance.