Your thoughts, their shoes

Are you working on something at the moment for a client, customer, colleague or yourself? Designing or creating something - a solution to a problem, a response to a call for help or a new service or product idea swishing about in your head?

Whenever you step in to any type of 'design' mode - a response, solution, creation or proposal - you need to bring together your thoughts, and a good dose of 'standing in their shoes'. 

Yes, that old saying of walking a mile in someone else's shoes gives you a sense of what it's like for them. 

A visual way of doing that is using an Empathy Map. 

Here's one I prepared earlier for you!



Either click and save to print this one, or quickly sketch out the lines and labels on a whiteboard, flip chart or a blank page in front of you. 

You can use post-it notes to write your thoughts on and then post them on the chart... or you can write directly on the page or canvas. Make the canvas big and it will work brilliantly as a conversation and collaboration tool. It's certain to get diverse views up on the wall!

And you can keep the chart visible and refer to it to remind yourself - and others - of who you're working on this 'thing' for. 

I worked with a customer solutions team this week and we collaborated on several Empathy Maps. Rather than talking generally about customers, users or clients 'out there', 'them' or 'those people', we developed a couple of customer personas. These imaginary - but quite true to life - customers kept focus on what they were really thinking, feeling, saying and doing. We gave them names and characteristics that were representative of the target audiences for the program of work.

It was a quick process to identify what problems and pain we were solving, and what successes or gains we would be delivering. We also included some of the comments from research and focus group conversations that some of the team had been having recently. 

Ooooh it was a 'rich' and interactive session! 

With this information as a great foundation, you can then add your own thinking, expertise and input.

It's one of the key elements to design thinking - start with that empathy, understanding and customer or user perspective. You can find more about Empathy Maps from a wander with Google or in the book Gamestorming.

Now what are you working on at the moment? How can I help you with that? Let's create an Empathy Map together and see how good thinking and some time in other people's shoes can create a range of brilliant solutions for you and your clients or customers. 

The 9 Elements of Collaboration - explained

Yes, here they are, the 9 Elements of Collaboration I presented at the International Association of Facilitators conference in March this year. While I spoke about seven 'continents' (it had a global theme after all!) there were an extra two topics I slipped in!

This visual of the 9 Elements is a real 'go to' for me. I talk through this visual whenever I'm meeting with a client, leader or team who are planning their strategic session, their team day or their 'get everyone on the same page' event. 

It's much easier to plan out an agenda when they know what they want to achieve, and I can be sure we design a session that's actually built for collaboration. 

Here's what the 9 elements are all about:

1. Kick Off : be sure to start the event, session or workshop with some pizzazz and energy. This does not mean a welcome speech from the leader or CEO ! That is not usually energetic - it may be, depending on the leader, but likely not. Kick off with music, an inspiring video, a creative performance or something energising that sets the scene for what this event is all about. I've used improv performers, musicians, drummers, actors... whatever you use, don't ignore the kick off. It's important to start with a bang!

2. Singular : help people settle in to the day with an activity they can do alone. Perhaps a reflection on what they want to get out of the session, what their expectations are, what they bring to the team, where they are at. This helps those who are slower to 'jump in' to group yee-ha activities. I particularly like using a singular activity because it goes against the over-used "let's all sit in a circle and talk - listening to one person".

3. Social : OK, now we can mix and mingle and get 'groupy'. It could be a networking activity, a meet your colleagues, a speed connections activity or some improv games. Whatever you do, ease in to the socialising aspects of the event. I never like to throw people in to a 'ok, everyone talk to everyone' activity. It can be a harsh shift from waking up in the morning to being thrust into group stuff. 

4. 5 and 6.

Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic : these are the must-have elements to any training, workshops, sessions, conversations. You can't just sit and talk and listen. Get people looking at things, hearing things and doing things. 

Visual: I'm a huge fan of visual thinking and graphic recording so I'll often provide visual facilitation as a standard part of my facilitation. Here I capture the unfolding story and content of the workshop, giving participants the threads to follow so they'll do better work in the session. But other visuals could be photographs, illustrations, videos, artwork, tangible objects and props. I make sure everyone has the tools for visuals at their tables - post it notes, markers, note books, photo cards...

Auditory: This is about hearing things - and other people's voices doesn't count! Unless they're singing! Introduce other forms of sound like music, music, music. A participant in a recent workshop said to me "I'd love to come to one of your parties; you have the most diverse music I've ever heard!" Yes, diverse people in the room so I was playing world music, jazz, country & western, pop, classical, blues... and with some teams and groups we trade pre-recorded music for live music. Why not try team drumming? Greg at Rhythm Effect is superb. 

Kinesthetic: Touching, feeling and doing things is such an important way for many, many people to learn and connect and contribute. It might not be your preference, but then it's not all about you! Be sure to have things for people to do like activities to work on, practical tasks to complete, space to move around in, things to touch and play with (Lego, Play Doh, props and items, tools, abstract objects, costumes, accessories, products... use your imagination)

And shift it around, shift it up. Go from visual to kinesthetic to singular, to a social auditory activity, back to singular visual... 

7. Logical: Give the agenda, structure and processes of the day some order and logic. For those who gather and sort information in this way, they'll be looking for the process. Give it to them. The 9 elements of collaboration - that's a logical process. Set up things with some logic, flow, step by step and order. I always start with the agenda on a flip chart - even if they have it written on a page in front of them - then we can tick off the chunks as we go through. Then I find the steps and chunks in the sub-topics so there is logic and process within logic and process. 

8. Verbal: I address verbal last because it's the thing that gets done the most - too often in fact. You cannot expect people to jump up and down for joy, wanting to collaborate when you hit them with a whole heap of verbal blah blah from the leadership team. Or worse, you make people sit in a circle all day and make them listen to everything everyone else has to say. You have to change it up. You can still talk, just mix it up with the other elements. When I'm providing graphic recording services I get to work alongside facilitators and leaders who are facilitating - there's way too much verbal going on out there. Talk at you, talk about you, trying to talk with you, talk talk. The balance MUST shift so that other elements can be incorporated so you'll engage and inspire and get better outcomes. 

9. Wrap-Up: When you started strong at the beginning of the day, you opened a loop in people's minds. It's time to finish with a bang too, so that you can close up the loop, link everything together nicely just like a beautifully wrapped gift. Help people make sense of it all. Give the a natural yet obvious conclusion to the event. I shudder and cringe when events run over time and the wrap up, conclusion, next steps and call to action is undercooked and people are left, flat. You must finish with air and inspiration and energy to build commitment and action. Otherwise the big bucks you've invested in getting people there has been diluted. Shame about that. 

9 Elements of Collaboration - there are certainly more and different things you can do but these are a base, a must-do and a must-think-about.

Just because you've finally found a date in the diary when everyone's available, don't think that's the most important thing about the day! What you'll do and how you'll help them collaborate is what's important. Give sufficient attention to that and you'll get much higher levels of engagement, deeper levels of commitment and you'll create a momentum that's unstoppable.  

All hail the talented management consultant

Tomorrow I’m spending the day with a team of management consultants. Imagine the knowledge, ideas, solutions and know-how in that room! Imagine all of the situations they’ve seen and how many times they’ve brought someone or something back from the brink.

And yes, you might be thinking of jokes, one-liners and other comments about management consultants... but I think at the core of what a management consultant does is helping a client find a solution to a problem or issue, or find a way through to a new way of doing things.

Tomorrow I’ll be equipping them with some powerful visual thinking skills so they can use in-the-moment visuals (that’s words, shapes, pictures, images – quickly sketched) to give them visual agility.

I say ‘agility’ because they need to be quick, thinking on their feet or quick to listen and respond…with another question, or a possibility, and help the client 'see' that possibility.

It’s vital in this information-dense world that they are able to

• Capture: what the client’s key points are, and to distil the essence of the problem or situation. Then to ...
• Convey: to pitch and propose, to present and consult on the types of solutions the firm can work with the client on. They will map out the possibilities, show the client what the future can look like and what milestones along the way can get them closer to resolving the issue or creating that situation.

And then throughout the client/firm engagement, there will be the:

• Collaboration: meeting after meeting, the many conversations, workshops, brainstorms and innovation discussions – all of that talking can be ‘caught’ so that together the solution will be proposed, adjusted, implemented and embedded.

The skills will give this team of consultants a shorthand and a shortcut to clarity. Rather than talking back and forth, trying to reach understanding, some key words and concepts will help get to ‘same page’ understanding so both parties know what is to be worked on and how it will happen.

This team is in for a powerful day. They’ll likely go from “I can’t draw” to using visuals every day in so many situations.

I’m so excited for them! And for the value their clients are going to receive as a result of this development.

Yes, now we can hail the (even more) talented management consultant!

Now, let’s get their kits together of markers, journals and other cool visual tools… lucky I love stationery. 

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. 

Plan for Awesome Collaboration

This article from Inc. on Collaboration Gone Wild seems to be wallowing between privacy and meaningful collaboration. 

Interruptions, asking colleagues questions or having a quick problem solving chat are on the 'light' end of collaboration. 

For my mind, serious collaboration isn't about interruptions or taking off your headphones to answer a question in a partion-less workplace. 

Planned collaboration is powerful and productive. Just plan for it. 

• Right environment - quiet, noisy, spacious, cozy, indoors, outdoors, meeting room, quirky community theatre ...
• Right tools on hand - visual flip charts, white boards, ipads, props and toys, markers, post its, refreshments, space for activities, equipment, prototypes ...
• Right facilitator - leading, directing, enabling, designing, moderating, defining, capturing...
• Right people - obvious choices, 'out there' thinking people, 'in here' thinking people, industry experts, other industry experts, users, customers, colleagues, friends...

Spontaneous collaboration can be a glorious, wonderful and refreshing thing that gives you a bonus outcome you weren't hoping for. 

But mostly we need to plan for a great collaborative experience. And sure, there will be times when wearing headphones could be just what individuals need to change the pace and their state of mind for the next activity or step in the collaboration.

Don't expect it will 'just happen' or that it is always the right approach to interrupt or distract. Plan for some serious and fun collaboration and you'll hit some awesome heights.