Clarifying Challenge

What is this technique about?

The Clarify the Challenge method is used to reach and document a common understanding about the central topic or challenge. This is done primarily in the beginning of the engineering process. Facilitators use simple “W” questions that relate to the topic and ask participants to write down their understanding about what would be an answer to these questions in a common document. The documents visualize and collect previous knowledge and ideas that participants already had before the workshop.

Only thereafter, participants can let their old ideas go and start to develop fresh new and creative ideas.  Additionally, the clarifying challenge method can also eliminate insecurities of participants as it allows them to commonly define limitation of the chosen topic.

There are different software solutions that can be used to facilitate the clarifying challenge online and their selection is dependent on the engineering teachers’ preferences. Because this method is important but quite simple, the duration can be kept relatively short (e.g., up to 20 minutes) and can be implemented as a group activity of 1-100 participants.

Where does it come from? 

“Successful leadership depends on the quality of attention and intention that the leader brings to any situation.” (Doig, 2016)

That is what Otto Scharmer states when he refers to the most important aspect of “Theory U” that was developed in 2006 (Doig, 2016). The theory describes five stages that support a set of principles and practices that help humans to grasp what might emerge in the future. The ability to presence as an individual or a group allows to bring the highest future potential into the present. It also allows them to access their intellectual, emotional, mental, and spiritual capabilities. Additionally, the theory U takes the participants through a journey of three levels of intelligence. The first one is the intellectual intelligence that should open the mind, the emotional intelligence that seeks to open the heart and the spiritual intelligence as the last level that should truly open the participants’ will (Scharmer, 2016). 

Theory U assumes that one can only arrive at the deepest level of knowing and creating something truly new after letting go all the thoughts that one has had at the level of intellectual intelligence. Thus, the clarifying challenge and uploading exercise is an important exercise to prepare for moving down the U cycle and being truly creative.

For which purposes it is used (why in your engineering teaching)

As mentioned above, the clarify challenge is an ideal online method for especially three things: 

The first advantage is that it helps the engineering teacher to make sure that all the participants have the same starting point before going further into development of the topic. 

The second advantage is that it guides them in documenting and putting aside already existing ideas to develop truly new ideas.

The third important aspect of the method is that it gives the participants the opportunity to start reflecting on what related topics might be considered later during the design process. Based on this, participants can use some of the answers written down in this exercise to think in different directions. 

How to use it

When teachers want to implement the clarify challenge method in their online teaching, they can do it in different ways based on what is preferred. As an online method, it is recommended to use a software tool that all participants have access to, know how to use and that can show the real-time editing – such as Microsoft PowerPoint shared through MS Teams. Here, the facilitator or the teacher would add the necessary number of slides, each with only one W-question. 

The participants should be split into groups and write their answers to the question in shorter sentences or bullet points in a preset amount of time (e.g., one minute) in each slide. Once every question on each slide was answered, then the facilitator or teacher and the participants would want to gain a better overview over what has been written, especially considering a high number of participants. Therefore, in a second round, participants in the same groups get the same amount of time to cluster the answers on one dedicated slide into general thematic clusters (they need to be sent into sub-groups if you want them to communicate, but they can also do it in silence). As the last step in this method, one participant per slide chosen by the teacher should explain the written answers in each slide to enhance the overall understanding of the group.