Visual tools? Doodling? Saving the world?

What is Carolyn talking about?

How can visual tools – like graphic recordings, mindmaps, tabletop visual templates, participant handouts, flipcharts, Kanban boards, journey maps and more –put a dent in the kinds of problems humanity is facing right now?

At the 2019 International Forum of Visual Practitioners annual conference, I was so fortunate to be in the company of 180 other graphic facilitators from 25 countries. We came from different cultures, different languages, and different experiences, but we all shared a common burning desire to use visual tools to spark great understanding, creativity and be a force for good when it comes to understanding and solving complex problems.  We all felt an urgency to make a constructive contribution to bridging the increasing polarization of public dialogue and policy-making that seems to be taking hold in various countries around the world. We felt the urgency to get some kind of traction on thorny issues like climate change, income disparity, immigration, poverty, child labour, sexual harassment and more.

Here are 5 of the key takeaways I had from my conference experience, that I hope will inspire you in the work you do as well!

1. It’s about the System, Not the Symptom

Our world seems to operate and change at lightning speed. It’s tempting when you’re under pressure to fix something to address the most immediate and apparent symptom. Organizations, under the pressure of budgets, lack of time, and the need to come up with “quick wins” often try to take a short cut to understand the intricacies, interdependencies and networks of relationships that are part of the system in which we operate.

Trying to address just the symptom is like dealing only with the tip of the iceberg, and staying in blissful ignorance about what’s below the surface. We know from the experience of the Titanic how well that approach worked out.

Working visually through creating graphic recordings or designing visual frames for brainstorming and innovation sessions creates a tangible artifact of a discussion. Visual tools offer a road map of the conversation so we can see the big picture together. We see the relationship between ideas and can identify where we may have gaps or synergies to build upon. Visual tools help reveal the landscape of the system in which you operate, so you can develop a more holistic, integrated solution.

2. Creating Artifacts Helps Us Understand Things

When we rely only on auditory input, we miss things or misunderstand ideas. It’s hard work for our brain to track all that information over the course of a lively, multi-hour discussion! To get people out of working in silos, you need to help them understand and appreciate new perspectives.

Visual tools help to capture the wisdom of the group, and then reflect it back to them. This allows you to get some perspective and insight on what you’re actually talking about. As I like to explain to my clients, visual tools can also create a more collaborative and creative environment so people can do their best work. Rather than butting heads and getting entrenched in their positions, they work more “shoulder-to-shoulder” to create a map of their ideas, concerns and issues that is produced in real time in front of their eyes. Visual tools allow you to iterate your solutions, improve them, and vastly improve your chances of success.

As an added bonus, visual tools can be used to share and engage people outside the meeting in which they were created. Use them to share the big picture with those in the front lines who will need to build and execute the solutions. Use them to touch base as your team implements those great ideas and make sure you are aligned and making progress.

3. Be a Bridge

I earned my Masters in Public Policy from Harvard, and my formative professional experience was in the public sector. I know first-hand how difficult it can be to understand tricky issues and design effective policy and legislative solutions. What concerns me greatly is the increasingly polarized discourse we are seeing in our political landscape.  Scientific facts, national values, and social trends can be disparaged or cast aside for short-term personal or political agendas. Social media platforms divert us into echo chambers which reinforce our current perspectives, and where we become are the product, not the client. The rise of technology and lack of consequences that allows nefarious elements to spread misinformation seems to be ripping away at the fabric of the social contract we have with one another in a civil.

I believe we need to build bridges with people we don’t understand. I believe that visual tools have the power to help us better appreciate different perspectives, and discover areas of common ground we can stand on together.

4. Hand Over the Marker

There is a huge amount of authority that is invested in the person who holds the marker and captures the essence of a conversation visually. This has been true since the first caveman etched a scene on a darkened cave wall or the Egyptian scribe completed a scroll about the latest Pharaoh. As a visual practitioner, I know it is crucial to listen deeply and as clearly as possible to reflect the wisdom of the group. Visual tools need to be in service of the group’s needs, not in service of the graphic recorders comfort zone.

As author Mike Rohde says, “It’s about the ideas. It’s not about the art.” I think a new frontier in visual facilitation is when we hand the marker to the participants themselves. How can we go beyond sticky notes to actually having participants draw out their ideas and solutions together? In my work as a facilitator, I am always designing my sessions to be engaging and as multi-sensory as possible for participants.  For me, I’ll be developing opportunities for more people to pick up the marker and start to think visually for themselves. I think there will always be room and a need for a graphic recorder for group work, but I think we can amplify people’s engagement and creativity when they are handed the marker themselves as well.

5. Realize What is At Risk

We’ve heard the saying that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. The sheer scale of disruption and complex issues we face, individually as people and organizations, and collectively as nations and a global community, are daunting. Every year, humans use our planet’s resources 1.5 times faster than our ecosystem can regenerate them. There are no old game plans we can dust off and follow because we face issues that we never have before, and our collective survival depends on finding new solutions.

Visual tools are not just a product of a meeting, but a valuable part of the process of group innovation and planning. If you really want to move beyond “all talk and no action”, incorporating visual tools in your next meeting is an easy next action to take. From the grassroots to government offices, we all need to be an active part of the solution to our global challenges. Surely, the stakes have surely never been higher.