Visualization Tool

Challenge

I work in a big international organization which is part of global development network. The ultimate aim  of this organization is to help people build a better life all over the world. The particular business unit I am  part of concentrates its efforts to improve life in the country where it is located. In our business unit there  are a couple of distinctive clusters (smaller units) that focus on major areas that have to be improved in  our country. The areas and activities are totally different; however, the ultimate scope is common –  responding to complex challenges and achieving sustainable development of the country.

Considering the complexity of organization’s structure, diversity of actions and particular scopes of  programmes and projects implemented by different clusters, it becomes very important from time to time  to remember the major unified aim of the organization, as well as its fundamental principles and  components. This was the challenge selected for one of our major corporate events – ensuring that every  team member has a clear common vision on where we are now and where we want to get as the  organization in the next 6 years.

Selection

To respond to our challenge, we chose the Visual Thinking tool and invited a team from Ink Strategy (a  company combining management consulting with a visual design approach) to help us. Visualization is a  great tool that is extremely useful when a large number of complex ideas and processes have to be  presented in a clear and structured way, using visuals, photos, videos etc. This tool is also helpful when  there are a lot of ideas generated by different people thinking in different ways – visuals are meant to  present the way people think and help aligning the ideas of a big team. Thus, everyone has a clear picture  and a deep understanding of the concept.

Application

At the beginning a list of main ideas on what our organization does, which are our principles and aims,  and what defines us were developed. After that we worked in small groups, every group was assigned one  of the listed ideas and had to draw a visual presenting this idea. Every group used their basic drawing skills  to create a simple visual, that were improved by the Ink Strategy team afterwards. Every team had to  present its visual and to brief other groups on the meaning of the drawing. As a result, we obtained a lot  of visuals depicting small and very specific actions and scopes of our programmes and projects.

Afterward, we worked together to assemble our small visuals in one big picture; in this way we compiled  all our ideas in a unified 6-years-strategy and obtained a complex clear picture of what everyone in our  organization is doing and how these individual actions will bring us to where we want to be in 6 years.

Insight and Approach

Visualization is a fantastic tool especially when you are operating with a wide range of complex ideas and  a big group of people. It allows you to disintegrate complex “structures” into smaller “pieces” which are  easier to understand and operate with. Explaining every of the small “pieces” and making it clear to every  single member of the big group ensures that every single member of this group will understand the  ultimate complex “structure” – what it is composed of and how does it work. In our particular case, small  visuals we created in groups and briefed to other groups helped everyone better understand what other  colleagues in his or her organization are doing, what are their challenges and specific goals. At the next  stage, while integrating small visuals in the unified strategy, everyone knew exactly the special place and  meaning of his or her job for the overall success of the organization, as well as the importance of others’  jobs. Besides, knowing that the big picture is composed of lots of pieces – each created by every team  member, gave everyone a feeling of membership and allegiance. This fact proves that visualization is also  a great team-building exercise, as it allows a lot of people to be part of something consolidated and have  a common vision on something.

In my opinion visualization might be even more useful tool if it is combined with the storytelling tool. The  storytelling part might be used for explaining smaller visual (or “pieces” of the bigger picture) to give and  in-depth understanding of every single concept. Also, it might be extremely useful at the integrating stage,  when jigsaw puzzles are put together. When every group member tells a story of how he or she  understands the overall picture, it helps everyone to understand the strategy in a better way. Besides,  considering that everyone is telling the story in his or her own words, using different ideas and examples  her or she finds relevant, it creates ground for innovation, as it might generate new ideas and stimulate  new visions within the team.

