Start, Stop, Continue Sessions

As a manager, you have a lot of good ideas, or so you think. Sometimes as leaders, we get trapped into thinking that just because a few plans worked out, that everything else we do, does as well. Since managers hold tremendous power, employees might be hesitant to speak up about concerns as well. Depending on the level of trust that you have with your team, you need to foster an open environment where ideas and feedback can flow. To help do so, while improving employee engagement, try facilitating Start, Stop, Continue sessions with your team.

What is a Start, Stop, Continue Session?

These sessions are focus groups where you pull a team together to discuss areas for improvement. These sessions could be used to discuss ways to improve employee engagement, process changes, brainstorm new projects, or perform a retrospective on a topic. The goal of these sessions is to understand what activities the group would like to see started, which items should be stopped, and what things are so important that they need to be continued

Best Way to Facilitate

The recommended number of participants: 4-12 max. Any more than 12 people, it becomes challenging for the facilitator.

Required time: Minimum of 1-2 hours. It’s essential to set a time limit, as some team members may start slow, and you will want enough time to debrief as a larger group.

Supplies needed: Depending on your method, you may require any of the following:

• Minimum of three extra-large pieces of paper than can either stick on the wall or rest on an easel.
• Sharpies or whiteboard markers (either one per person or group of three people).
• A room with ample space, walls, or large whiteboards.

Facilitation Instructions

Step #1

If participants are using the extra-large pieces of paper or the whiteboard approach, the facilitator should write the words Stop, Start, Continue at the top of each page, or board before the team arrives.

Step #2

Gather the team in the room to discuss the session’s purpose.

Step #3

If the group is 4 or fewer people, everyone will work individually, initially. If there are more than 4 people in the session, break everyone into teams, so they can collaborate on improvement ideas.

Step #4

Determine a time limit for the activity that’s no less than 45 minutes.

Step #5

Ask the team to think about the topic at hand, recalling opportunities to START doing things differently, what needs to STOP, and what is vital to CONTINUE.

Step #6

Ask the team to concisely write each thought down under the specific category it applies to: Start, Stop, or Continue. If using sticky notes for the exercise, ask the team to write everything down first. After the brainstorming activity is complete, they can put the sticky notes on the wall or board under the correct category.

Step #7

Encourage everyone to write down as many ideas as possible. There’s no such thing as a bad idea, too. Ensure the team can collaborate throughout this, also, as one idea shared could lead to another.

Step #8

Once the time limit is finished, ask that participants review and share their ideas with the broader team. As the facilitator, highlight common themes across participants that are shared. During the debrief, the facilitator should ask the individuals or group for their top 3 priority items that they have shared.

Step #9

Armed with priority items noted, the facilitator thanks the participants for their contributions and discusses the next steps. All notes and ideas should be gathered and documented for the next phase of the process – prioritizing and taking action by bucketing feedback.

NOTE:

Depending on how open you feel team members might be, you could either facilitate the session yourself, have a 3rd party do it, or for the courageous ones out there, let the team do the exercise solo! There may be a need to do multiple sessions depending on the size of the group, too.

Benefits of the Activity

Some of the immediate benefits of holding these Start, Stop, Continue sessions are that you are:

1. Capturing and soliciting team member feedback.
2. You are building up a list of possible roadmap ideas for improvement.
3. If acting on them, stopping activities that are deemed to impact engagement negatively.
4. Ensuring that items that are important to the team are not inadvertently stopped when they should continue to exist.
5. Creating an environment where ideas are encouraged, people are listened to, and that is seen as collaborative.

If you are new to using the Start, Stop, Continue method, give it a try. If you need help or tips or want to share how it went, feel free to reach out. For a regular dose of advice, tips, and tricks from Evolving Management, follow us on our company LinkedIn page. You can also follow me or my podcast, The Chris Hanna Show on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn or visit chrishanna.ca for more solutions. Let’s connect.