Number 1
Dear Client:
The use of graphics to solve problems will grow. Companies,
organizations, cities, community groups will increasingly take a visual
approach for strategic visioning, program planning, formulating core
ideology, other issues. A relatively recent trend.
What do we mean by graphics? We mean pictographs, quick
sketches, drawings…often done by a graphic recorder who uses big
sheets of paper affixed to a wall to get down key thoughts, themes of
meeting participants.
Why the trend? It’s a powerful way to make sense of information…perhaps
more powerful than any other method. It’s estimated the amount
of information will increase by 3,000% between the years 1900 and 2100.
Visuals, graphics, drawings help organize information,
give it structure, show relationships, sift out the knowledge so businesses,
non-profits, governments can DO something with it…according to
Kurt Hanks, who writes about visual communication, and The Grove Consultants
International, a pioneer in the use of graphics at meetings, with teams,
in strategic visioning.
Eye-catching visuals help communicate ideas, direction
throughout an organization. Visuals posted on walls or distributed to
stakeholders after a meeting are easier, more effective for explaining
what happened.
Graphic language enhances group memory…and allows
participants to work faster and be more effective. It also encourages
participation, makes listening easier, connects with those who learn
visually, reduces group hierarchy. All pluses in any meeting.
When people SEE what they are saying they feel acknowledged.
Mapping information on big displays facilitates understanding
complex systems. Powerful images are key to mindshare and memory.
A long
list of stats supports the strength of graphics…
People retain 60% more of what they see vs. 15% of what they hear.
The use of graphic language promotes lasting images and retention of
concepts. This and other stats here according to Robert E. Horn in his
book titled Visual Language: Global Communication for the 21st Century.
Solution rate for problems goes up to 64% vs. 45% without visual
language. Visual language shortens meetings by as much as 24%,
saving valuable time, human resources and dollars. Busy people like
shorter meetings where things get done.
79% of groups reach consensus with visual language
vs. 58% of groups who don’t. It helps for groups to see the gaps,
common themes on one page at once.
People are persuaded 17% more often in presentations
using visuals/graphics vs. presentations without. Means presenters who
use meaningful visuals are perceived as being more effective, get their
points across much more successfully.
Students offered visuals in testing improved scores by 22%
in 13% less time.
Key corporate,
community leaders like graphics…
One example: Bo Gyllenpalm, former CEO at Phillips, the European
electronics manufacturer. Gyllenpalm is now a consultant and leader
in the World Café movement, an approach to problem-solving where
participants shift from small group to small group in a single setting
to talk through issues. Graphic recording is a key part.
“People are sick and tired of those bullet point things,”
Gyllenpalm said.
Even when bullet points are listed on flip charts, “they don’t
say very much,” Gyllenpalm contends. “No one can see how
the group came to a conclusion.”
By contrast, with graphics, participants see and remember much
more of what was said, Gyllenpalm said. “They remember
the experience, feelings and emotions, so when they show someone else
who hasn’t been there, they make a personal story of what happened,
they remember much more of what the discussions mean.”
CEOs want to hear the story “with all its richness,”
says Gyllenpalm, who has been on the receiving end of countless, boring
briefings from mid-level managers.
Another
example: A Texas automotive consumer products company…
The company was integrating seven newly acquired companies it bought
at auction. There were hard feelings among some of the former leaders
of the acquired companies.
The acquiring company is building a new core ideology…values
and purpose.
Grouped by former companies, executives mapped histories…VISUALLY.
Each group drew the good and the bad times. They sketched
pictures of sunshine, thunderstorms, people and products. They showed
huge run-ups in revenue, problems with suppliers, trips to the courthouse,
expansion into new markets.
They listed values and how the values came to be…integrity,
honesty, quality.
Then each group explained their history to the rest of the participants,
using the full-color histories they had created.
A moving experience…as each discovered others
in the room had common experiences, overcame immense hurdles, and as
a result, forged similar values.
The discovery made it easier to brainstorm values and purpose
for the newly integrated company. Brainstorming occurred in a morning-long,
facilitated discussion the next day and was graphically recorded. The
group easily reached consensus.
Is there
a limit to the use of graphics? We don’t see any. We’ve
seen graphics used effectively in market research, in personal goal
setting exercises, in brainstorming sessions on marketing initiatives,
in public hearings. They bring these activities to life. They have been
used at companies of all sizes…from Fortune 500s to start-ups.
They have even been used in rural, impoverished communities in third
world countries.
But some situations will cry out for the use of graphics more
than others.
Yours very truly,
Principal, Conbrio
P.S. To learn more about using graphics in problem-solving and strategic visioning, call me in Dallas at 214-941-8199, Email me at bbancroft@conbrioamericas.com or visit the Conbrio website at www.conbrioamericas.com.
