Notícias
Adaptive Planning in 3 Steps: The LA-BORA!gov Model
Step 1: Look at People
Before talking about work, look at the team: how do people see their past and project the future of their lives? This helps create empathy and connection within the team.
The proposal here is to dedicate some time for the team to look at themselves — asynchronously. Here are three activity suggestions for Step 1:
Suggestion 1
Create a virtual space (such as a board in Miro, Google Docs, Jamboard, etc.) and encourage the team to reflect on the following questions:
Look at your past. If you could go back 10 or 20 years (you may choose), what advice would you give yourself?
Look at your future. In 10 or 20 years (you may choose), where do you want to be? What transformation do you want to accomplish?
Now complete the STARFISH TEMPLATE to plan and achieve your goals. The template consists of a starfish-shaped figure with five arms, each containing one question to be answered. The questions may be answered on a blank sheet of paper:
- Start doing or being
- Stop doing or being
- Do or be more
- Do or be less
- Continue doing or being
Suggestion 2
This is a guided dynamic for New Year’s resolutions — a kind of self-planning exercise. Each person individually and asynchronously reflects on what they did last year and what they plan for the current year.
The step-by-step process is available in this video. The video is fully narrated and therefore accessible to people with visual disabilities.
Suggestion 3
This suggestion is based on an illustration of several pets: one is serious, another laughing, another playing, another apprehensive. Look at the pet illustration or reflect on how you feel and answer the question:
“Who am I in 202xx?”
This is a light and engaging way for the team to reflect on their expectations for the year.
We suggest that these personal reflections be shared in Step 3.
If you feel the team is not ready to discuss personal topics, that’s okay — you may move directly to Step 2. At LA-BORA!gov this works very well — it builds trust and engagement. It’s worth trying!
Step 2: Look at the Work
Recall the institution’s mission and values. Review last year’s achievements and begin planning the future — still asynchronously.
- Create a virtual space (Miro, Google Docs, Jamboard, etc.) where the team will record information. In LA-BORA!gov we use Miro, a digital whiteboard tool where colored sticky notes and diagrams can be inserted. As a brief audio description: the boards display the planning steps visually organized in frames, reflecting each stage of this adaptive planning process.
- Invite the team to review government guidelines, then the institution’s plan, followed by the Secretariat/Directorate plan, until reaching the team’s specific area. This ensures strategic alignment.
- Review last year’s planning board and register:
- What surprised you most?
- What was the greatest lesson learned?
- What was the most important project and why?
- Each project leader records a one-minute WhatsApp audio pitch so new members can become familiar with the project. Assign someone to organize and share these pitches. The referenced video takes place inside an elevator and includes captions.
- If the team has a new project idea aligned with the organization, insert it in the virtual space under “New Year, New Idea” and record a one-minute pitch.
- Everyone listens to the pitches and prepares questions for the synchronous meeting. Then, team members place their names on the projects they are most interested in. Skills can be developed — what matters is finding meaning in the project.
In the next step, the team will meet to discuss the results of Steps 1 and 2.
Step 3: Bring the Team Together and Press Play
Share asynchronous outcomes, define leaders and project teams. Allow people to choose themes that interest them most.
For more details, watch or listen to this video: Take planning off paper! How we plan and manage projects in a simple and agile way
Synchronous Group Activity
- 25 minutes — Each person has up to 2 minutes to share reflections from Step 1.
- 15 minutes — Each person has 1 minute to discuss Step 2 insights.
- 20 minutes — Share questions and answers about projects.
- 10 minutes — Each person has 2 votes for new project ideas.
- 30 minutes — Align interest with organizational needs and adjust team allocation.
Then define leaders and co-leaders. All projects must have both.
Leaders schedule meetings, choose management tools (Canvas, Trello, Asana, Miro, Planner, etc.), create delivery timelines, and update project status regularly.
Why Use This Model?
If the world changes constantly, why plan? Precisely because of that. As Peter Drucker said:
“The best way to predict the future is to create it.”
- Adaptable and flexible
- Shared leadership reduces risk of abandoned projects
- Visual historical repository of goals and deliveries
- Clear risk visibility
- Facilitates onboarding of new members
- Encourages self-responsibility
- Reduces rework and overlaps
- Visual monitoring for leaders
- Builds trust and engagement
“If you want to encourage someone to do something, make it simple.” — Richard Thaler