A Visual Approach to Surfacing Strategic Insights – Part 1

This is Part 1 of an overview of my presentation at the NASAGA 2008 conference in Indianapolis.

Looking beyond the same old, same old

Visuals can help us reach beyond the ideas that we get stuck in, and inspire us to new insights. Especially if we can engage with others and remain open and curious about how they see the world. When we start a conversation with visuals, different kinds of insight emerge. Seeing how a range of people select images in response to the same question, the patterns between them and the unique ideas can merge to form a new collective story.

A formula for finding new ways of thinking/ seeing/ doing

Creativity and innovation involve an iterative process of divergence and convergence. Successful outcomes require managing the movement of ideas from one phase to the next. Many processes move from brainstorming or some other divergent technique right into converging, which often results in identifying a solution that is watered-down . If you are looking for a different outcome, or strategic insight, moving through process in a different manner will yield better results.

What follows is the base structure VisualsSpeak uses to guide a process. This post focuses on an overview of our approach. The next one will show an example of how we used it in my breakout session at the NASAGA conference.

Question

Developing the right question to achieve the desired outcome is the first challenge.  The formula above starts with two circles that represent the audience and the outcome. The framing question acts as a bridge between the two. Open ended questions work better. As I talk with facilitators who are developing questions for their VisualsSpeak sessions, this is the part that is most challenging

As facilitators we are charged with the responsibility of helping groups achieve their desired outcomes. It is easy to think that we can increase the likelihood of success if we guide the group in the direction we believe is correct for them. When we are invited into a strategy session, the challenge we are working with is usually difficult, messy, and often without clear answers. Instead of guding the group to THE answer, It serves everyone better by providing a container that is as flexible as possible and that offers the possibility of new ways of thinking.

For example, if we are charged with guiding an executive team to develop new performance measures, we could ask the question:

What are five best performance indicators for our organization?

From this question, you would probably generate conversation around

• Why five?
• What does best mean?
• What is a performance indicator?
• Who says we need indicators?

If instead we ask:

What does success look like for our team?

With the second question, you would most likely generate conversations around the values people hold about performance. This helps us to uncover what is important to them. There will be similarities and differences to explore, which will lead to a very rich conversation.

Both questions are valid. It’s just that most organizations have the first kind of conversation all the time. In meeting after meeting. By starting with the question ‘What does success look like for our team?’, we drill down into their individual and collective values to uncover the essence of what is important to them. This approach also helps with buy-in of the performance measures, because everyone has participated from the point of view of this is how I think, feel, etc.

Diverge

I use images in the diverge stage because they help generate huge amounts of information very quickly. The types of insights and conversations that emerge using photos tend to be much deeper and more productive than if you just use words alone. When we are engaged in strategic interventions, we are looking for new insights beyond the same old conversations we have every day. Visuals help break these entrenched patterns.

I also use images to make sure everyone has the opportunity to literally put their stories on the table. Verbal processes favor those who are more vocal, those who are native speakers of the dominant language, and those who are quick thinkers. Including more people by giving them multiple ways of communicating and letting them structure their own stories increases the possibility for new insights and breakthroughs. You will also get the added benefit of increased participation.

After selecting and assembling their photographs, each person is offered the chance to tell the story of their image. The content of the story, as well as how the person constructed it, offer insight. Listening between the lines and looking for visual cues help people to surface additional information and insights.

Reflection

This is the stage that a lot of processes either skip or spend way too little time on. We need space for the threads from individual perspectives to realign in new ways, for patterns to emerge, and for outlying perspectives to affect the group. This stage is necessary in order to generate the best outcomes.

Working with an intact or forming work group is different than working with a group that assembles at a conference to learn about a process. Coming together knowing you will not have to continue to work together does not foster the same level of emotional investment as working with people on an ongoing basis.

There are several ways of approaching this stage. Which one you choose depends on the outcome you want to achieve. If your purpose is to gather information about group functioning and operation, allowing them to struggle to figure out how to work together offers the possibility of showing the group something about how they operate. If you just need to reach a particular outcome, facilitating the conversations more actively can help people stay focused.

Converge

In order to get past the least common denominator and look for different ways of thinking, the group can be challenged to create a new collective story that includes input from everyone. Using visuals allows them to show outcomes that have different parts, which can show multiple viewpoints, and yet still be part of the whole.

Assess

Here is another part that is left out of many processes. Once the new story emerges, do you go back and explore to see if the original question was answered? If not, what shifted in the process? If yes, is it an outcome that is useful?

Two paths come out of this stage. If the new outcome seems right, how do you begin to move it into action? If the story raises more questions, then the process starts over again until as many questions as necessary are answered.

If you are looking for significant outcomes, you usually need to go through this process multiple times. Creativity and innovation emerge from iterative rounds of divergence and convergence.

Strategic Insights – Part 2

In Part 2, we’ll look at how the people who attended my breakout session at the NASAGA 2008 conference and I used this process.