'Well that's nice but I don't draw'

If you've checked out any of the sort of work I do you'll see I help people communicate and engage with each other - better than they're doing now. 

Visual thinking is part of it. 

There's a lot of 'I don't draw' out there when I arrive in a workplace to run a half or full day session on visual thinking. 

Actually folks, it's not about the drawing. It's about the THINKING. 

Say it like this : 'I don't think'. 

Well... you do. 

If you don't think that visuals can play a part in how you engage or think or sell your message and thinking to someone else, you can read some more here and here.

When you use visual skills, you'll really 'get it' because the people you're communicating with 'get it'. The process of engaging with them will be so much sweeter - even if you're having a rip roaring disagreement with them!

And I think it's so selfish to say 'I don't draw' - as if it's all about you! When you're working to communicate with someone it's actually all about them! So it's time to move on folks....

Untangle Thinking

Get Things Straight

Make Something of It 

4 Ways to Tell if You're a High Engagement Leader

"So glad that's over... what a yawn-fest." No doubt you've enjoyed that type of meeting, workshop or conversation today?

If you were the leader or convenor, of course not. It was somebody else, yes?

High engagement leaders know that having a meeting or a conversation that's a 'yawn fest' is a no-go zone.

High engagement leaders focus on establishing and maintaining high levels of engagement with the people they work with: team members, colleagues, stakeholders... whoever they work with... high engagement is a high priority. 

(Sure, you can have a high engagement gathering on a Friday afternoon after work. Not many outcomes achieved, but gee, we had a g-r-e-a-t time!)

A high engagement leader aims to create and build engagement and connection with others... and then, once they've got that engagement, they are able to make stuff happen. In other words, get to outcomes. 

Engagement and outcomes. That's it. 

I think there are four ways to tell if you're a high engagement leader. 

In this model, you're aiming for the top right of the four quadrants - high on engagement, high on outcomes. 

If you're creating a hostage situation : you're getting great outcomes, but dragging people along.... pssst, you're not high engagement. 

If everyone's engaged, happy, singing sweet songs but you'll work on the outcomes next time... you're still not a truly effective leader. 

And if you're not getting the engagement and not getting the outcomes, cue the 'yawn fest'. 

Get the participants at your next workshop, meeting or conversation to answer this question:

Was this meeting/workshop/session a:

1. Hostage situation
2. Yawn fest
3. Party
4. High on engagement and outcomes?

Show them the model. Get them to tell you how well you went with engagement and outcomes.

You may well be somewhere between these, but whatever you do, keep shifting away from the hostage situation, the yawn fest and the pure party. The people you work with are counting on you. 

Give good output

"We've got to get input from people on how this service will be designed, structured and delivered", said Jason, a client I met up with this morning. 

But how is that 'input' experience going to go for the business and the project team... and the users?

For Jason and the team, they are keen to get control over the engagement, the collaboration and the 'working with others' that is to come over the next few months.

"It can go sooooo off track," he said. "On the one hand, we absolutely need their input... but it can be such a pain to open up that huge world of possibiliy - they want everything, they want it now."

We both chuckled at the 'Daddy I want an oompa loompa and I want it now' quote from the spoilt child character Veruca Salt in the Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory film.

To get input into design and delivery, you do want to get it right and be conscious of how it can get out of hand, drag on or never seem to be finished. 

So with Jason, I'll be designing the input, engagement and consultation process in a way that generates great input and is an enjoyable and successful process.

When you're going for input from people, it needs to save time, not steal time.

It needs to engage with 'yowza' not yawn, and it needs to deliver great positioning and awareness of what the project or team is about to embark on.

How you handle this phase of engagement, consultation and development will say so much about how you intend to work with the business over the coming months. 

Plan for good input and you'll give good output. 

Hello... is anyone there? Teleconferences with Outcomes

I prepared a quick e-book for a client today who needed some simple guidelines to shift the way her team run teleconferences. 

This is not about the technical set up of invites and booking rooms and all that hoo-ha. 

Rather it's about a few principles the team can follow every time they are connected by the phone line. And we've only been doing that for 130 years - so no wonder we sometimes need to revisit a few of our techniques!

For her project team, she wanted to break the belief that : just because people can't see each other, doesn't mean you can't take visual notes or use a flip chart to capture the conversation. You can send it after the meeting. 

Additionally, her team's meetings were 'rush-fests'. Everyone rushing in and rushing out. Not enough focus on clarity. Clarity saves time in the long run. Clarity trumps speed. So s-l-o-w down; allow time. 

So I share a few tips to help you get some better outcomes from your phone hook-ups too. 

Please don't throw lollies

Please don't throw lollies. I can walk over and pick them up out of the plastic packet all by myself. Look, watch me, I can.

*Cringe*  I was in a training session last week – or perhaps that should read, ‘boring presentation’ by a presenter who introduced the topic by saying ‘Now I hope you all don’t ‘fall asleep’ during this!’

So there we were, looking forward to a boring presentation and the opportunity of falling asleep. Before the presenter spoke, she held up a large bargain bulk bag of lollies and sang in Mary Poppins style “I have lolllliiiieeeeeesssss!”

“I’ve got bribes!’ she further explained! “This will keep you awake!”

As if a bag of lollies is going to make my interest levels peak through 32 mind-numbing PowerPoint slides in a darkened room. What did peak was my blood sugar level, just by looking at the pink and yellow shapes inside the bag.

Why isn’t she trying to make that presentation more interesting, engaging and helpful? Why isn’t it more palatable than the cheap lollies?

She delivered the presentation. She never needed the lollies. It cheapened the presentation; it lowered the professionalism and it made us feel like we needed to listen or we’d be very naughty. We are adults you know. So are you, presenter.

Some people I have consulted and worked with argue that you need damn good coffee and pastries to get people to some presentations. But surely you don’t need to throw lolllies at us when we look bored!

‘Oh but it’s FUN!’ shouted Amy from the Learning and Design team. ‘Lighten up! It’s fun! You’re too serious!’

It wasn’t fun for Gavin from Accounts who sat in the accident and emergency department waiting room with his eye bleeding out of its socket. No, Gavin wasn’t laughing when a bullet hard lemon barley sugar with kiddy wrap went flying through his left eye. The visual, yes that’s a laugh. The Safety Team said ‘No more throwing lollies. You may hand them around.’

If you want your session, meeting, presentation or training to be fun you don’t need to throw lollies at me or anyone else. What you do need to do is design the session with engaging activities, designed for the purpose, designed for the people in the room. They’re called an audience. Even better when you call them ‘participants’.

What are you doing to make your meetings, conversations, workshops and learning experiences creative, collaborative, engaging and transformative?

*Gavin isn’t his real name. And he didn’t need to go to Accident and Emergency either. He’s ok.