Lines of thoughts

What is the stuff you like thinking about? How does it connect to other topics you like thinking about? 

Is there a line or thread that runs through it all?  

Some people are straight line thinkers. The connections between their ideas, thoughts and themes are straight lines. 

Others are zig-zag thinkers. Their ideas and imaginings are here ... and there. 

Still others ‘go with the flow’, open to wherever their thinking takes them. A little more organic perhaps 🌱 

This is what makes us unique. 

It doesn’t really matter what you like to think about. 

But if you can find the theme or thread and see the ‘bigger picture’ that connects them all, you go a long way to learning more about yourself and how you make sense of the things that happen in your world. 


I love posing the ‘desert island’ question : if you and I were stuck on a desert island and could only talk about two or three topics, what would they be? 🏝 

Thinking about what you think about ... that’s a powerful thought among many. 

Make some lines and connections between your thoughts. 

Obsessed with a detail

Missile lock.
Focused on a target, excluding everything else.
Determined.
Sticking with it.

This is singleminded focus.
And we need it in many situations.

Yet our crazy changing world requires us to also lift ourselves up out of that detail and to see the wider view.

It doesn’t mean we don’t see that task or project as important.
It doesn’t mean we won’t return to working on it.

We can get lost, blinded and ignorant to what is important and what the priority is. Just because we’re ‘in too deep’ or ‘too far gone’ doesn’t mean it’s the right path or that we can’t pause or reverse out.

The ‘sunk cost fallacy’ can drive us to continue with something because we’ve already put so much effort in.

But hey, isn’t that also a good reason to pause, and reassess if it really is still so very important?

Somewhere between persistence and stubbornness is a space ... a flexible space where we can put our attention and effort so it’s valuable, impactful ...and efficient.

If we don’t raise our eyes, lift our head and come up out of the detail, we may never see what the bigger picture is all about.

Pause for a little while.
Look up ... and around.
Reset.

The cost of confusion

How much time do we spend trying to make sense of things, re-reading, scanning, skipping through information trying to piece it all together.

While the world’s productivity gurus are keen on selling us a new app or habit, what if we looked at the cost of confusion and sought to reduce the time we spend confusing people.

Rather than acting like we’ve got it together, what if we set aside a few minutes in a meeting to make sense? What if, instead of saying ’Now, let me give you some context’ and embarking on a 15-minute explanation of the history going back to the 1900s (yes this happened recently) we asked, ‘What do you need to make sense of?’

What if we shut up first.

What if we asked them about the parts they need to make sense of.

Imagine all the unnecessary detail, the overly long ‘context’ monologues and the long-winded ‘let-me-tell-you-about-the-history-of-this-thing’ stories.

Check first. What do they need? Where is their knowledge now; where does it need to be? Don't add to the overload; make sense instead.

Q: What’s a topic you’re confused about right now? 

Thinking Tools for Sensemaking

Sensemaking is our ability to understand the deeper meaning of what’s going on.

In a crazy cray-cray world, with pressure to process vast amounts of information in lengthy meetings, we need to make sense as quickly as possible. But how? Do we sit around a meeting table, talking and listening as best we can?

Sadly, this is the default and gives us too much talk and not enough sense. You know, non-sense.

So do this instead: CLARIFY THE CONTEXT

Why are we doing this work? Set a big picture reason why and give people context. 'Context' is the setting, circumstances, the environment or situation. How many meetings start without time to focus on why the heck we are all there? Great mediators and conflict negotiators know if they can get high-level agreement at context, they’re part of the way to success. So ask and know: 'Why are we here? What are we trying to do?’ Big picture. Google Maps, Google Earth view, big big picture. Detail drillers? Not required right now.

Are you a big picture person or do you love details?

What's important to 'capture' visually?

I'm often asked how I know when something is important to capture using visuals. This 'graphic recording' or visual approach to working with people in groups and teams is powerful in that for me, it primarily helps people hear each other. 

People get to truly 'see' what is being said. 

So out of everything being said, how do I know which parts are important to a group and which parts to leave out?

Context - What is this whole conversation about for this group - not for me, for them? Keep this in mind - it truly is about the 'big picture'. When you're clear about their purpose, reason, why... you'll be put in the picture about what is important. So take note of the title of the session, the role of the team or the speaker/presenter, the mission or purpose of the meeting or conversations. Whatever is important for them, needs to be listened out for.

Repetition - when topics, key phrases and content are repeated (by different people - in conversation, presentation, printed material or discussions) I know there is some importance there, so I'll capture it. 

Pause... talk. When people give a little pause before they present their important phrase or word, I'm listening out, in a BIG way. A common situation is when people say things like ... "I think what this team needs is <tiny pause> more accountability.' And often the words 'more accountability' are delivered a little louder, a little faster or a little slower or in a slightly higher or lower tone. Listen out for the pause or other voice changes outlined in my earlier blog post on what's important and what's waffle. They are a perfect indicator that the speaker is trying to say 'this is important' - so I'll capture that. 

You can't capture everything - you need to distill, delete, rearrange or economise, so these tips will help you on your way to doing this.