True Confessions and more
We haven’t been entirely honest with you. Its true and I, at least, feel badly about this. The truth is that doing VisualsSpeak exercises can be fun. A lot of fun. This is one of those family secrets we’ve been guarding. Quietly whispering to one another hoping that no one overhears.
The reason for the secrecy is because the messages out in the ‘real’ world are that businesses shouldn’t be fun. Business is, well, serious business. If we mention or god forbid say that one of the primary benefits of using our tools and processes is that they are fun, no one will want to do business with us. We’re not serious enough. We don’t get ‘it’. Anyone who values fun is not going to make it and shouldn’t be associated with.
Photograph © Tom Tiernan
Recently Christine and I have been doing some startegic visioning work using the VisualsSpeak ImageSet. Practice what you preach, right? One of the exercises we did was to ask ourselves “Where do we want VisualsSpeak to be in five years?”. Interestingly enough, a lot of the information that surfaced had to do with our core values. Remember we’ve been telling you that this is one of the benefits of using our tools. “But why would knowing your core values be important to a strategic plan?” I hear you ask. Ah, lean closer Little Grasshopper and I will expound on this most important concept.
Core values are the river that guide our lives. They are our compass, our map, our latitude and longitude. Our values are how we align ourselves every day of our lives. Yes, we can ignore them, ‘forget’ them or put them on hold if we choose. Surely we all know at least one person who is working in a job that they can’t stand. They show up, but their heart isn’t in it. They do what they have to to get by. They are not an asset to their organization in the sense that they give 100% or even close to it. Their core values are not in alignment with what they are doing. They’re not engaged. They don’t believe in the mission. Their talents aren’t being fully utilized. There is no room for growth or advancement. Can someone make money doing this? Sure but at what cost? Frustration, anxiety, ulcers, depression?
Photograph © Tom Tiernan
Back to VisualsSpeak. One of our core values is to have fun. We like to laugh and joke with each other. As strange as this may sound, we need to pay attention to this if we want to retain our passion for what we do. We have been downplaying this aspect of ourselves and our company for fear of not being accepted. We have been trying to be the square peg that so desperately wants to fit into the round hole. Can’t be done. Don’t want to do it.
So we are embracing one of our core values, FUN. We want you to know that this is one of the benefits you can expect from using our tools. Whoa! Wait a minute! Did you say benefit? Yes, fun is a benefit especially when working with adults. What was the thing you remember most from your last training, workshop, meeting, brainstorming session, etc? Was it the 50 Powerpoint slides crammed into an hour or the person reading their own slides? Or was it the enjoyable conversation during lunch or the presenter who didn’t take their self or their materials too seriously and interspersed a joke or fun exercise in amongst all the ‘serious’ learning?
My guess is most people retain far more if there is an element of fun involved in whatever they are doing. After all this is how we learned a lot about life when we were children. We played with other children and learned to socialize, to share, to empathize, fill in the blank. We learned how to conceive 3 dimensional objects with toys such as Leggos. (OK, I never got that lesson.) How many other things did we learn as children by having fun? The list is long.
Don’t get me wrong. We take our work and our commitment to our customers seriously, but we’re going to have fun doing it. So if you don’t believe that fun is an important element in adult learning, than you should probably move on to a different blog. You won’t like what we do at VisualsSpeak, because it involves an element of fun. And we won’t apologize for it or try to hide it any more. The secret’s out and can’t be stuffed back in the box. VisualsSpeak is fun. Seriously fun.
Photograph © Tom Tiernan
Have fun today. Life’s too short not to.
Tom Tiernan
