Visual Strategy

Words can be powerful but there are times when they are not enough to move forward into your dream. There have been times when I have been stuck trying to figure out the next step and throwing words at it was just like spinning my wheels. At times like this, looking at things differently can make a real difference. Visual strategy is one key way of doing this.

An ancient story tells of a teacher that was set up to fail by the lawyers and politicians of his day. After posing their question to him, the teacher didn't reply at first but instead scratched something on the ground with a stick. After a pause, the teacher gave a simple answer and his opponents walked away without a word in reply. Unfortunately the story does not record what was on the ground, but whatever the visual image was, it was part of the dramatic resolution of a 'no win' situation. 

So what is visual strategy? It is the use of objects, images or symbols to bring insight or understanding to a question. Visual strategy can also include arranging or clustering words and ideas inside of a framework.  

There is a lot to visual strategy, and this week's blog is only intended as a short introduction. If you can't wait to learn more, one book on visual strategy that I would recommend is Visual Meetings by David Sibbett.  

Here are three potential uses of visual strategy to start you off...

For those of you who put their crayons or markers away years ago, how about picking up a pencil or loading an app on your mobile device and start putting your ideas down visually. Here is a drawing I did within the last year when I was developing my personal vision.

Try communicating without any words at all. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Why not put a slideshow together or create a collage of images to communicate a fresh perspective when you are stuck.  

How about comparing your experience over time with others. After posting growth curves on last week's blog, I received a growth curve from one reader showing another way that growth had worked for them (see figure on left). They described it like this "When we put effort into making a change we often see rapid results and then a levelling off before we see any future change... When faced with this scenario, we frequently stop the behaviour and over time we may in fact return to our starting point." The comparison of growth curves in this case opened insight into how different people experience growth and what the common elements might be.