Thought Exchange
What is ThoughtExchange?
ThoughtExchange provides a unique two-way process to bring people together on important topics, which replaces the methods used in traditional surveys with a naturally collaborative platform. It can turn everyday challenges into opportunities for engagement and growth. Participants are asked to confidentially share their ideas in response to an open-ended question. Unlike a traditional, “submit-it-and-forget-it” solution, participants are encouraged to keep coming back to share additional thoughts, read and rate what others think, and view direct responses to their thoughts from the exchange leader.
Why do we do it this way? Great ideas don’t hit all at once, and they’re often a collaborative effort. An exchange helps people learn from one another, discover important insights, and make decisions quickly and effectively – all this with fewer meetings and better information.
FDP’s Vision and Use of ThoughtExchange
A key goal of the FDP Phase VII Strategic Plan is to “Activity engage community partners-administrators, faculty, and federal representatives.” The result is that “Administrators, faculty and federal representatives all believe their “voice” is heard by the FDP organization as a whole, and their contribution is valued and makes a difference to reducing administrative burden.”
One method for increasing community input and informing decision-making throughout the FDP is to implement and fully utilize a tool for everyone to participate in FDP dialogues in an anonymous, unbiased, and equitable way throughout the FDP. It is FDP’s vision that access and broad use of the tool ThoughtExchange will help FDP members who attend meetings, serve on committees/subcommittees/working groups, and are listserv participants provide their thoughts and ideas via ThoughtExchange. We hope this tool will help members become more actively engaged beyond the historically used tools such as surveys, questionnaires, Zoom chat, and meeting Q&A.
What is the FDP participants’ experience?
Participants are asked to share their thoughts in response to an open-ended question. All thoughts are shared confidentially (click here for more information on privacy and confidentiality). Once participants have shared their own thoughts, they are asked to rate the thoughts that others have provided on a scale of one to five stars based on how much they agree with the thought or how important they think it is. In the final step, participants can view how the thoughts in the exchange have been rated by the group. See here for a Quick Guide on the 3 steps to participate in an exchange.
Thoughts and ratings are public, but as to whose thoughts and ratings are whose? That remains confidential, even in the Exchange leader view
Who at the FDP can use ThoughtExchange?
The FDP has six (6) leaders who are trained in helping any FDP Committee, Subcommittee, or Working Group develop, launch, and analyze an exchange. If you are interested, we request that one of your Co-Chairs please submit your interest here.
Resources
Participant Resources
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Basics of ThoughtExchange (video tutorial of basic functions)
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Testing a ThoughtExchange (video tutorial to experience a test exchange)
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Setting up a free ThoughtExchange Account (not required for participation)
Committee, Subcommittee, Working Group Co-Chair Resources
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Discover ThoughtExchange (video tutorial of aspects and features)
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How to create an Exchange (step-by-step guide on how to create an exchange)
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Survey Questions (article on how to create survey questions that best suit your goals)
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Dashboard (different tabs/features in the discover dashboard)
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Analyzing the Data (best ways to analyze and display your results)