Lean Leadership Lessons - the Visual Notes Story

This morning in Melbourne I watched a livestream of the Lean StartUp conference, beamed from San Francisco. 

There were many swift presentations on great topics. 

Usually when I'm at a conference or seminar, I keep myself listening and focused by capturing visual notes. Also known as graphic recording, sketchnoting or scribing. 

I will often share the image of the visual notes I've created, based on the content I've heard. 

Today I shared this visual on Leadership Lessons in Lean - presented by a team from Intuit Inc. 

I'm often asked what app I use or how I create the visuals I share. 

Here's the short story on what I do...

- I do use the app Brushes on my ipad mini. There are plenty of others I've tried; this one remains my favourite. Look for an app that will let you zoom, choose brushes and colours and output to a jpeg, mov, PDF or other file.

- I don't use a stylus. I've tried many and find that using my finger to write, zoom and change colour/brush size is quicker and easier (for me anyway) than writing, shuffling the stylus, writing again...

- I often start in the middle of the blank screen with the presenter's name and title, or start at the top with a big bold, banner-style heading. You can do this before the speaker starts - it's a good 'warm up'. 

- I do listen out for voice changes in the speakers -it's as important as listening to the content they're delivering. It helps you separate what's important and what's waffle.  Speakers are signalling which points are important by how they speak!

- I do write out some key words they've said, and if a quick visual or image comes to my mind that will help anchor and enhance that key point, I'll sketch that. (I don't think you need to know how to draw many icons or symbols at all. About 20 is a good place to start and build up from there to 50 - 120. They're reusable for so many different meanings and concepts).

- I may have to pause on that point or visual I'm writing because now I'm listening for their next point and might have to write and draw that. 

- Time permitting I do go back to the previous point and begin to embellish it more; more detail on the picture, different colour for the words.

- I do keep building up the content either working in columns or radiating out from the centre of the page. 

- If I feel like I'm 'running out of space', I can adjust the size that I'm writing; I can scale it down and write smaller, or place other key points 'in the white spaces' on the page. 

If you're not already taking visual notes for yourself - let alone your team - you're missing out on vital opportunities to learn, retain, recall and distil information. Plus it's fun, and a productive and effective way to build your creative muscle - and it certainly keeps you listening and stops your mind wandering to whether or not they'll have muffins at morning tea.

Some speakers are well organised, structured and entertaining. That makes taking visual notes an absolute joy! Others you have to listen hard to - trying to work out 'what are they saying', 'what's this really about'? Often that's because they haven't clarified their thinking; they could have another pass at their content and improve on their presentation. We could all improve on our presentations!

But you'll have a better chance of understanding and making meaning of presentations and content when you've got a sorting or filtering process you're working on - and visual notes are just that!

Try visual notes rather than dot points, linear notes and pages of scrawl that you may never look at again.

Oh go on! Try it in private - listen to the news, an interview or a TED talk!

Spotting the spark

Whether you're 'in' to a particular sport or not, there's no denying the impact Sachin Tendulkar has had on the game of cricket. 

His farewell speech delivered from the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, India a few days ago was insightful, touching and inspiring. 

I listened to this speech and captured via my visual notes below, the many thank yous, acknowledgements and learnings he delivered. 

Of particular impact was the acknowledgement to his brother Ajit who 'spotted the spark' in him. 

For many fans and followers this speech gave one of the deepest insights into what makes him tick. And it brought tears to the eyes of his friends, family and supporters... and some of the toughest players in the sport too.

And it was about everyone but him.

We achieve few really BIG things alone. We rely on others to co-operate, co-llaborate and co-ntribute. 

Co means 'together'. 

Pause to check on the big things you're getting done with the help, support, guidance and confidence of others. Who is 'spotting the spark' in you and encouraging you to get something great done?

Make sure you thank them for what they're doing, or what they've done to help you get there...

Are we ready to move on?

It's been fun, challenging, interesting to work with some different groups this week - at some point each group needed to make a decision and move on. 

Yes, you can vote, bring out coloured sticky dots or... whatever decision making process you like. But one approach that worked a charm this week was this:

1. Open up the topic for discussion

2. Visually capture key points about the views in the room (on a flip chart or white board) - people can SEE what others are thinking

3. Identify the options or choices

4 Check for agreement. That means 'asking' the question.

I saw several groups this week spinning around content for such a long time. It's great to talk and put everyone's views out there, but once we're looping back around to some of the same points, some clarity is needed. 

Summarising or recapping the main views is powerful and I rarely see anyone use this technique in group discussions. Too busy trying to get their own point across!

Summarise, and then ask - 'any other views...any different views?'

Once you've teased them all out, it's time to check if you're in agreement to proceed. 

Again, I rarely see groups ask the question to get agreement. It's as if a few people are so frustrated that they say 'I think we're all in agreement, let's move on'. That ain't a question!

Closed questions are great. 'Is there agreement?' 'Who disagrees?' 'Who still has views to put forward?' 'Are we ready to move on?' 

Just because YOU think everyone agrees doesn't make it so. 

Somtimes I'm in the role of listener (graphic recorder, visual capture) with teams and groups and not leading or faciliating. This is how I get to see what's really going on in teams and groups. If you had someone just listening to your next meeting, workshop or session - and not participating - what would they say? How would they rate your team's ability to get to consensus and move on?

What's an important point ... and what's 'waffle'?

When I'm facilitating, leading a team session or working with visuals to capture people's thinking (and talking), some feedback I often get throughout the session is - how did you know what the key point was they were trying to make?

People say a-lot of stuff. Sometimes it's their own thinking, working out their views as they're speaking. Sometimes ideas haven't formed yet. Other times, their opinions are changing as they're speaking. 

But here's how I really know when someone is getting to their gold nugget, their kernel, the essence of their point.... their voice changes. You just need to listen. 

One of my earlier 'careers' was in radio, voiceovers and creating voice characters. I spent many hours speaking into a microphone, hearing it in headphones and then adjusting pace, tone, volume ever so slightly. 

This is the stuff to listen out for - this is when you'll be guided to what people are saying... when they are making an important point and when they are, well, adding to that point. 

• Tone change: it won't be as drastic as from a deep baritone to a high soprano, but people's voices will shift from lower registers to higher (or higher to lower) when they're getting emotional and getting to the point
• Volume change: think of our voices like a volume dial - we have low and soft down at levels 1, 2, 3 and higher at 6, 7, 8. Ten is heavy metal stuff. Listen for when volume increases. A key point will be delivered right there. 
• Pace change: when people s-l-o-w down their speech, there can be emphasis there. When theyarespeedingup, there can be energy, passion and enthusiasm there. Their brains are working faster or slower, there is an important point here for them. 

Listen up. It's all there. Along with the content of what people are saying, listen for how it's delivered. Then you'll be more likely to pick up their important points and those that are further down their list. 

The Anatomy of a Collaborative Workshop

The 60 second timelapse video embedded on my webpage here captured a full day workshop I facilitated recently.

But what was really going on?

Have a second look or press pause and you'll see a number of things happened...

Big Paper for BIG Ideas

in the background against the wall there are long paper charts. I use these to graphic facilitate - that is, I facilitate the group AND capture the key content the group is contributing using words and images on the chart.

You'll see a second chart to the left which I'm darting back and forth to at the start. I used this chart when everyone in the session was introducing themselves. This served as a great anchor for the participants to bring them 'into the room' and onto the story wall that was being completed during the workshop. 

Talk and Do

Throughout the workshop there were segements where participants were discussing in tables, contributing as a larger group and standing at the front of the room, reporting back from their table discussions. Keeping the variety going throughout the day is vital. We mixed up the table groups too - by the end of the day, there had been a real mixing and meeting of minds and views. 

As groups reported back, I captured key points presented... knowing that we also had the more detailed content from the groups when needed. 

Break Time

When the room is empty, the teams are just outside the room, enjoying conversation, networking, food, refreshments and a change of 'state'. That gives people space to be alone, be in small groups, be in bigger groups, and space to think, talk, review, reflect, brainstorm, laugh and ... whatever!

Standing

It's important to structure your agenda so you do important work when the team is high on energy. The after-lunch slot in a workshop can be a little quieter (with lunch being digested!) so some standing, moving and quick discussions can help keep the interest, energy and engagement up. 

Resources at the Ready

The room was set up for collaboration. Tables for small group conversation and discussion and working on stuff. The tables had paper, markers and post-it notes to capture thoughts, information, ideas and discussions. There were blank walls, flip chart pages posted ready for use and markers available to capture visual thinking. 

And there were yummy food resources provided on the tables - few sweet treats, mainly nuts and dried fruits and healthier energy choices. 

Start & Finish

The workshop featured a brief introduction by the sponsor of the event from the business and a wrap up of 'where to next'. I also talked through a review and summary of the content of the two large visual charts. 

So if we pressed 'record' on your next workshop, meeting or conversation - how much variety, collaboration and creative engagement would the video capture? Think ahead and plan for your team sessions. My whitepaper 'The 7 Problems with Strategy and Team Sessions' is available for download further down the same page where the video is. It's got some hints you can get happening straight away when planning your next strategy session.