VisualsSpeak blog

When I started developing VisualsSpeak, I tried to find pictures of everything. If someone mentioned they couldn’t find a picture of a horse, I went off to find one and add it to the set. I had over 4000 images in the set. Filled a whole suitcase.

I noticed the stories people were telling weren’t as interesting to listen to. I wasn’t seeing as many insights, breakthroughs, innovation. As I worked to pare down the number of images, categories, and the amount of time to select the pictures, the stories came alive again.

Now I’m thrilled when you can’t find the image you want. Why? Because you now have the opportunity to dig deeper into the essence of what that thing you want means to you, and find another way to express it. You know the literal and obvious things about yourself already. You know the stories you individually and collectively tell about your organization. This is an opportunity to discover aspects beyond the obvious. To use the power of association and visual triggers to learn/realize something less clear.

We use words all day every day. If we could solve all the problems using words, things would work a whole lot smoother than they do. There certainly are enough tools, processes, and procedures that are word based. Photographs and visual tools offer you alternatives. Give you other ways to think and process information. Embrace the opportunity to think differently!

I encourage you to read Brian Libby’s article on BNET “The Right Way to Brainstorm“. He lists rules for how to set up for a successful brainstorming session. Its a quick and simple read. Also I have included my comments on his article about how brainstorming is a right-brain, creative process and needs to be treated as such.

Here are the 7 points he makes.

1. Choose Your Players
2. Assign Pre-meeting Homework
3. Don’t Tolerate Criticism
4. Encourage Collaboration
5. Evaluate Later
6. Don’t Get Discouraged

The Right Way to Brainstorm +

Brian’s post is excellent in how he simply explains the rules for setting up a brainstorming session. This is a creative process and any impediments, such as criticisms, in the initial stages are likely to sabotage the process. People are more likely and able to defend themselves if they are criticized about something in their field of expertise. However because so many people feel out of their league in a creative process, they are more likely to shut down their creative thinking if there is the threat, real or perceived, of taking flak for their ideas.

I would also go one step further than the guidelines Brian describes by highlighting the idea of brainstorming as a creative, right-brain exercise. In order to get the most out of a session, the facilitator needs to employ right-brain tools and strategies to get the most out of your participants in the quickest period of time. Don’t come to the meeting armed with spreadsheets, graphs, etc. These are left-brain tools and will squash the creative process faster than you can say Excel. These left-brain tools are best used for how the team is going to action the ideas generated from brainstorming. Two different processes for two different results; creative and actions.

In my company, we use photographs to stimulate conversations originating from the right-brain whether the group is focused on teambuilding, strategic visioning, or brainstorming. The exercises are quick and fun, not to mention bountiful, because our process is all about the right or creative side of the brain. Once the ideas are generated and the insights gained then we will use other types of tools and processes to make them actionable.

Tom Tiernan
www.VisualsSpeak.com

I found a blog post on “Presentation Zen” that has a number of elements which interest me. Garr Reynolds talks about seeing an ineffective presentation. His realization is that if we answer the same questions in our presentations as we do for our branding, then we might prevent being yet another bad presenter with Powerpoint.

The 3 questions (from the book “Brand Gap”) Garr thinks we need to ask when formulating presentations are:
Who are you? What do you do? Why does it matter?
Read the rest of this entry »