Using Visualisation to get academics to think more practically

Challenge: Describe your challenge, including all relevant information.    I am a management consultant working in Learning and Development (L&D). As consultant we are  used to facing challenges when joining a new client, but some are more difficult to solve than others.  One of the more difficult ones I faced recently was with public sector organisation in the Justice  sector in the UK. The client was looking to stand up a new L&D delivery model, promoting a shift  towards a more self-driven learning culture to increase capacity while decreasing costs. As in most  public sector organisations the way the client was conducting learning was very classroom-focused,  didactic and theory-based, meaning it was time and cost intensive and ineffective from a learning  point of view. We agreed on the redesign of an existing learning product to test the approaches to  learning set out in the L&D delivery model and potentially create a proof of concept for future  product redesign.     The existing course contained a lot of academic theory and the SMEs on the client’s side insisted  these were all relevant for frontline practitioners to do their job. So as one of the first steps we  conducted a number of focus groups with frontline staff and learners and came to realise that the  main issue for them was the “translation” of the academic theory into practical application. They  understood the theories and concepts, they just did not know what it meant for them in their day- to-day.    We suggested the creation of a series of practical, on-demand performance support documents to  address the issue. However, the SMEs in our co-creation working group kept insisting on providing  lengthy and wordy academic write-ups instead, claiming this was relevant and necessary for  learners.    Selection: In your own words, briefly describe the tool you selected (e.g., what it is and why you  selected it for your challenge -- including any appropriate video lecture references).    As we sensed that the SMEs’ pushback was based on a lack of understanding of what exactly we  were suggesting, we decided to visualise it for them. We felt that seeing our ideas rather than having  to imagine them might help people see the value of it and encourage a more productive  conversation.     Application: Describe how you applied the tool you selected to your challenge (e.g., what you did  and how the tool was applied effectively or ineffectively).    We designed a suite of digital resources practitioners could use on-the-job (the way they would find  quick answers on Google when looking up a question), including short videos, top tips, checklists etc.  Next, we created visuals for each of them, some PowerPoint templates of one-pagers, some mock- ups of websites we were planning to build, some storyboards of videos. Working closely with  frontline staff we pre-populated these prototypes with content best we could.     Insight: Describe the insight you gained from applying the tool you selected to your challenge (e.g.,  how an insight affected your thinking about the challenge and about design thinking more  broadly).

The effect of presenting these visualisation products back to the working group was tremendous.  Experts who had firmly objected our suggestions previously immediately started engaging with the  content. By using Storytelling techniques, we presented the concerns we had heard from frontline  staff in the focus groups and demonstrated how each prototype document would address this  specific concern in a practical, hand-on way that was meaningful to learners.     Apart from bringing the “look and feel” of our ideas to life, one of the main goals the mock-ups  helped accomplish was for the academics to see that our aim was not to get rid of their theory, but  to simply “translate” it into practical terms. Once this realisation had sunk in they started building on  the first drafts we had presented, inserting more expert knowledge, correcting details and adding  further insights.     The final result of the redesign was a course that felt completely different to anything learners in the  organisation had ever experiences before, and it received outstanding feedback from the client, the  experts, and learners.

Approach: Describe what you might do differently next time -- applying the same tool you selected  or a different one -- and the reason(s) why

This was not the first time I have used visualisation, but the example has certainly reminded me how  powerful the tool can be. Being so used to using certain approaches or methodologies sometimes  makes me forgot that the same approaches might be completely new to other people. The only  thing I would therefore do differently next time is to bring in visual materials sooner to avoid  “fighting windmills” unnecessarily.

