[Free Activity] What's for dinner?

Activity: Build proactive plan for "What is for dinner?"

Some challenges are more common than others. What to eat for dinner or what to eat in general feels very loaded. This activity creates framework you can leverage to build your own proactive plan with visibility for others to engage with as you refine the process and scale your efforts! Cheers to load sharing 

Pro Tip: Aim for improvement in stages, rotate roles, and collect feedback/input from participants. Each person should be aware of the process and effort in the ask. Opportunity to sign up or volunteer should be available in shadowing or leading roles. 

Tool used:

• Friction, Flex, & Firm 
• Framework
  • Time: 7 days
  • Phases: Prep work (prepare/cook), Activity (eat), Reset (clean-up)
  • Who: [your answer here]
  • Special request/requirements

Collect Information Stage

• Who is involved, allergies & preferences, days & meals they will be involved (eating or cooking)
• What are the current friction points? (from all perspectives) [Challenge Intake]
  • Where does the schedule or meal need to be flexible or firm?
  • Are there specific times to avoid or aim for?
• Resources and location. What is needed and where will it take place?
• Current gaps and improvement schedule
• When do you want to start new routine?

Input Stage

Who is involved and what is their role? Check the boxes below in the chart so they are aware of when they need to engage and how. 

Define Stages (customize to fit your needs) & Roles [ (L)lead, (S) support, (G) guest-relax & enjoy]

• Prepare (gather ingredients, meal plan, cooking, meal prep, set up for eating, etc.)
• Activity (mealtime/eat)

• Reset (pick-up after mealtime and prep for next meal)

Who?	Prepare	Activity	Reset	Special Events	Notes
Person A	S	S	L	n/a	craving soups
Person B	L	L	S	game Thursday	extra carbs
Person C	G	G	G	no allergies	[date & time] like sweets

Main Weekly Meal Roles [Date-Date] 

When?	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Snacks	Special Events	Notes
Sunday	n/a	X	X	X	X	Brunch on Sunday
Monday	X	n/a	X	X	n/a	You're on your own for lunch M & W
Tuesday	X	X	X	X	n/a
Wednesday	X	n/a	X	X	n/a	Carb up for game
Thursday	X	X	n/a	n/a	X	Eat out after game
Friday	X	X	X	X	n/a
Saturday	X	X	X	X	n/a

Weekly Meal Opportunities by Day [Date-Date] 

Information Review Stage

• Are all of the meals covered in the way that works for the participants? 
• Are their owners to drive each task? 
• Does the preparation stage have prep work? If so, what does that look like? Do you need additional help or resources?
• Refine and publish. Make it visible for others to reference throughout the week to ensure they are aware of when they are to help and how. 

Finalize & Support Stage

• Start process in new plan to address what is for dinner
• Talk with other participants as you move through the first few rounds to refine and improve outcome and experience 
• Treat as a living document, that will grow and flex with needs of the participants. (use the friction, flex, and firm tool)

Conclusion

What to make for a meal is a great example of a complex situation that appears simple on the surface. To solve this reoccurring situation, we recommend coming up with a plan that improves visibility of what your specific needs are with framework with built in load sharing opportunities. Be creative when solving and growing with challenges. 

 

Tools 

Using the Friction, Flex, & Firm tool

1. Identify areas that may be competing for your time, energy, effort, resources, etc. (Friction Points) Track & address during updates.
2. Identify where it needs to be flexible? Where does it need to be firm? (example: flexible to cook big meal, need grab-n-go, schedule is busy/calm, food dates & time/effort to accomplish, etc.)
3. Is the schedule too flexible or firm? Is food or time wasted with this schedule? (use answer to refine)
4. Where? List the areas where it is too flexible or firm. Improve where you can and future proof it. 
5. Are there other participants, resources, information, actions needed to resolve?
6. List them out, set up plan to engage until resolved, and add as a task to track during update to check progress
7. If there is a long list, prioritize by potential date, starting with the closest and working to furthest away. (add as a task for updating to check list and progress)