‘Stop’ and ‘I want to speak’ cards act as a facilitation aid for the group and facilitators by allowing everyone to hold up a ‘stop’ or ‘I want to speak’ card whenever they feel appropriate.
Give each member of the co-design team a red ‘stop’ card and a green ‘I want to speak’ card.
Encourage the group to use these throughout the co-design team workshops.
They aid:
- Equal participation by encouraging everyone to speak up
- Each person to monitor their air time
- Empowerment of quieter members of the group
Faciltators should use their own professional judgement as to when to use these cards. It has been suggested that some groups may find them patronising. In Pilotlight we introduced them at the first workshop in each co-design process and at the second workshop asked the co-design team whether or not they wished to continue to use them. Some teams chose to, others felt they did not need them. We did encourage use of the 'red card' for jargon.
Photographs rather than symbols maybe better for some groups.
Consider changing ‘I don’t understand’ to ‘What do you mean?’ on the red card when working with groups who may be reluctant to admit lack of understanding.
An additional card was designed and used during one of our co-design processes, 'I don't want to speak'. Individuals could use this card to indicate to the faciltator that they did not wish to share their own experiences or ideas in group discussions.
