Challenge and Selection

I am working in a Defense R&D industry in which deep expertise gained in a certain field is required to  perform the task. Although, these deep expertise are an asset to the company yet it comes with a  certain risk of skills obsolescence due to the ever-changing defense landscape. Any skills or technology  might be irrelevant as the threat around the world is moving towards “grey zone” conflicts and  becoming more complex.

As a result, I was tasked to lead a team to explore new opportunities on the problem of skill  obsolescence. The first few meetings were tough as no one seems to agree with the problem  statement of skill obsolescence. Every team members were from different department that were  striving and growing.

Using Visualisation tool (such as visual thinking, visual understanding and diagrammatic  representation) during alignment/exploration stage helps us to (1) understand the problem better and  (2) achieve a common understanding of the problem among diverse group of team members.  Visualisation also comes in handy during concepts development and stakeholders interview process.  For instances, during the stakeholders interview process, I have used the technique of using a stick  man/diagrams/chart/graph to represent the current “What is?” (an employee who is facing skill  obsolescence) and follow by illustrating potential “What if?” situations with a set of discussion  questions for the stakeholders to (1) appreciate the current situation (defining the problem  boundaries), (2) ponder upon the possibilities and (3) provoke more questions on how to get it works.  This gives us more insights and feedbacks on what the stakeholders were concerned and most  importantly, to assure us that this is really an issue that the stakeholders are truly interested to  resolve.

Application

The following is the process that my team and I have tried to use the visualisation technique at  different phrases of the project:

1) Getting the team members to align on the problem statement - (What is?)

The most critical part of the project is to get the team to understand and align our thinking on  the potential skill obsolescence issue. I suggested to use drawings (in the form of diagrams,  stick man and pictures) to represent the answer for the following 2 questions: 1) What are the  major expertise that individual department had built over the years? 2) What are the current  challenges that our customer in the defence ecosystem faced?  From the diagrams that I presented, the team started to discuss and add on their pictures to  the whiteboard. This activity took approximately 2 hours and finally, all of us understood the  issue and started to achieve consensus among the team members. We started to arrange the  drawings to find patterns and relationship in the issues as well as the different stakeholders.  This visualisation activity lead us to identify the different categories of stakeholders using  pictures that we printed from the company intranet: (1) Influencer/sponsor (major  stakeholder like the CEO and the department directors), (2) User (employee facing potential  skill obsolescence), (3) Providers/Supporters (back-end staff: HR, directors, admin executive)  and (4) fence-sitters (people who might be against the idea or not participate in this project).

2) Stakeholder 1st Interview - appreciate the current What is?

I will discuss 2 of the many stakeholders’ interview ((1) employees facing the potential skill  obsolescence issue and (2) Directors of the striving department) that I have conducted.   For the employees that faced the potential skill obsolescence issue, they started to share their  current situation/issue, fear for the future, frustration about the company process and so  many more. I have literary use diagrams and pictures from the internet to rate the different  level of feeling/anxiety/frustration that they were facing. From there, I have truly understand  their real pain-point and empathise/connect with them using pictures.    For the directors in the striving department, stick man diagram don’t really connect with them  well. I adapted and started to use charts/diagrams and graph to illustrate the issues faced by  other non-striving department. These were much more effective to communicate with them.  After the directors had visualised the issues, they shared their concerns about  sponsoring/piloting this project. Surprisingly, they also started to use simple diagrams and  flowchart to illustrate some important workflow and other stakeholders in the company that  I had missed out.

3) Brainstorming opportunities, exploring possibilities - What if?

Once we have conducted all the identified stakeholders interviews, we gathered in a meeting  room and started to sketch diagrams, pasting photographs, writing and pasting post-it notes  on the whiteboard. After feeding the big whiteboard with all the necessary  information/pictures and diagrams, we started re-arranging the information to explore  different concepts, ideas and opportunities for growth.  I recorded the different possibilities, insights and the main obstacles in achieving the  possibilities. For each possibilities identified, we created a PowerPoint slide with simple and  understandable diagrams and pictures to engage our stakeholders and share with them the  possibilities.

4) 2nd round of interview- Engaging stakeholders

In this round, we gave each stakeholders post-it notes to make comments and also for  answering the following questions: (1) What do you like (green post-it)/dislike (pink post-it)  about the concepts presented? (2) Is there any change you would like to make? (orange post- it) (3) Any missing information? (blue post-it) (4) Any insights that you would like to share?  (yellow post-it). We gave them roughly 20 mins after each presentation to make the necessary  comments.  After completed the 2nd round of interview, we shared the insights and made adjustment to  the plan in order for the major sponsor stakeholder to pilot the project with us.

Insight and Approach

Visualisation is a powerful tool in engaging team members and stakeholders as it helps to reinforce  alignment on the issues and concepts, draw attention on the diagram and visualise the next move for  the project. I was surprised that some stakeholders were being influenced by the diagrams and started  stretching their own diagrams to explain their current situation and their wish for the future. From the  discussions, our team had gained valuable insights in the problem definition, root causes of the issue,  relationship between the different stakeholders and also opportunities for growth and improvement.

The key thing that I have learnt is that everyone is always shy to draw or display/present their diagrams  first. Once someone started to share his/her diagrams, the discussion will be much more smooth-

sailing. With this insight, I will surely make a point to start sharing my drawings first to trigger more  valuable sharing and discussion.

Another thing that I learnt is that when handling different stakeholders (as mentioned previously in  the 1st interview process), different types of diagrams works well for them. Stick man is not the only  drawing for visualisation process. Simple diagrams, graph and pictures are also a good form of  visualisation tool that I can use.

I have also discovered that visualisation is an iterative process and there is a need to engage the  stakeholders multiple times to seek clarification and agreement on the problem definition and the  opportunities for growth. The insights and feedback gained from the 1st round of interview can be  used to improve the initial diagrams and serve as a new centerpiece for discussion in the next few  meetings.

Finally, pattern finding after exploration is another key element that I need to practise on, as putting  many information/diagrams together to see their connections is not an easy task. If pattern finding  process is done right, it helps to (1) display connection between different stakeholders, (2) connect  every element of the issues and eventually discover opportunities for growth and improvement.


Challenge and Selection I am working in a Defense R&D industry in which deep expertise gained in a certain field is required to perform the task . Although , these deep expertise are an asset to the company yet it comes with a certain risk of skills obsolescence due to the ever - changing defense landscape . Any skills or technology might be irrelevant as the threat around the world is moving towards “ grey zone ” conflicts and becoming more complex . As a result , I was tasked to lead a team to explore new opportunities on the problem of skill obsolescence . The first few meetings were tough as no one seems to agree with the problem statement of skill obsolescence . Every team members were from different department that were striving and growing . Using Visualisation tool ( such as visual thinking , visual understanding and diagrammatic representation ) during alignment / exploration stage helps us to ( 1 ) understand the problem better and ( 2 ) achieve a common understanding of the problem among diverse group of team members . Visualisation also comes in handy during concepts development and stakeholders interview process . For instances , during the stakeholders interview process , I have used the technique of using a stick man / diagrams / chart / graph to represent the current “ What is ? ” ( an employee who is facing skill obsolescence ) and follow by illustrating potential “ What if ? ” situations with a set of discussion questions for the stakeholders to ( 1 ) appreciate the current situation ( defining the problem boundaries ) , ( 2 ) ponder upon the possibilities and ( 3 ) provoke more questions on how to get it works . This gives us more insights and feedbacks on what the stakeholders were concerned and most importantly , to assure us that this is really an issue that the stakeholders are truly interested to resolve . Application The following is the process that my team and I have tried to use the visualisation technique at different phrases of the project : 1 ) Getting the team members to align on the problem statement - ( What is ? ) The most critical part of the project is to get the team to understand and align our thinking on the potential skill obsolescence issue . I suggested to use drawings ( in the form of diagrams , stick man and pictures ) to represent the answer for the following 2 questions : 1 ) What are the major expertise that individual department had built over the years ? 2 ) What are the current challenges that our customer in the defence ecosystem faced ? From the diagrams that I presented , the team started to discuss and add on their pictures to the whiteboard . This activity took approximately 2 hours and finally , all of us understood the issue and started to achieve consensus among the team members . We started to arrange the drawings to find patterns and relationship in the issues as well as the different stakeholders . This visualisation activity lead us to identify the different categories of stakeholders using pictures that we printed from the company intranet : ( 1 ) Influencer / sponsor ( major stakeholder like the CEO and the department directors ) , ( 2 ) User ( employee facing potential skill obsolescence ) , ( 3 ) Providers / Supporters ( back - end staff : HR , directors , admin executive ) and ( 4 ) fence - sitters ( people who might be against the idea or not participate in this project ) . 2 ) Stakeholder 1st Interview - appreciate the current What is ? I will discuss 2 of the many stakeholders ’ interview ( ( 1 ) employees facing the potential skill obsolescence issue and ( 2 ) Directors of the striving department ) that I have conducted . For the employees that faced the potential skill obsolescence issue , they started to share their current situation / issue , fear for the future , frustration about the company process and so many more . I have literary use diagrams and pictures from the internet to rate the different level of feeling / anxiety / frustration that they were facing . From there , I have truly understand their real pain - point and empathise / connect with them using pictures . For the directors in the striving department , stick man diagram do n’t really connect with them well . I adapted and started to use charts / diagrams and graph to illustrate the issues faced by other non - striving department . These were much more effective to communicate with them . After the directors had visualised the issues , they shared their concerns about sponsoring / piloting this project . Surprisingly , they also started to use simple diagrams and flowchart to illustrate some important workflow and other stakeholders in the company that I had missed out . 3 ) Brainstorming opportunities , exploring possibilities - What if ? Once we have conducted all the identified stakeholders interviews , we gathered in a meeting room and started to sketch diagrams , pasting photographs , writing and pasting post - it notes on the whiteboard . After feeding the big whiteboard with all the necessary information / pictures and diagrams , we started re - arranging the information to explore different concepts , ideas and opportunities for growth . I recorded the different possibilities , insights and the main obstacles in achieving the possibilities . For each possibilities identified , we created a PowerPoint slide with simple and understandable diagrams and pictures to engage our stakeholders and share with them the possibilities . 4 ) 2nd round of interview- Engaging stakeholders In this round , we gave each stakeholders post - it notes to make comments and also for answering the following questions : ( 1 ) What do you like ( green post - it)/dislike ( pink post - it ) about the concepts presented ? ( 2 ) Is there any change you would like to make ? ( orange post- it ) ( 3 ) Any missing information ? ( blue post - it ) ( 4 ) Any insights that you would like to share ? ( yellow post - it ) . We gave them roughly 20 mins after each presentation to make the necessary comments . After completed the 2nd round of interview , we shared the insights and made adjustment to the plan in order for the major sponsor stakeholder to pilot the project with us . Insight and Approach Visualisation is a powerful tool in engaging team members and stakeholders as it helps to reinforce alignment on the issues and concepts , draw attention on the diagram and visualise the next move for the project . I was surprised that some stakeholders were being influenced by the diagrams and started stretching their own diagrams to explain their current situation and their wish for the future . From the discussions , our team had gained valuable insights in the problem definition , root causes of the issue , relationship between the different stakeholders and also opportunities for growth and improvement . The key thing that I have learnt is that everyone is always shy to draw or display / present their diagrams first . Once someone started to share his / her diagrams , the discussion will be much more smooth- sailing . With this insight , I will surely make a point to start sharing my drawings first to trigger more valuable sharing and discussion . Another thing that I learnt is that when handling different stakeholders ( as mentioned previously in the 1st interview process ) , different types of diagrams works well for them . Stick man is not the only drawing for visualisation process . Simple diagrams , graph and pictures are also a good form of visualisation tool that I can use . I have also discovered that visualisation is an iterative process and there is a need to engage the stakeholders multiple times to seek clarification and agreement on the problem definition and the opportunities for growth . The insights and feedback gained from the 1st round of interview can be used to improve the initial diagrams and serve as a new centerpiece for discussion in the next few meetings . Finally , pattern finding after exploration is another key element that I need to practise on , as putting many information / diagrams together to see their connections is not an easy task . If pattern finding process is done right , it helps to ( 1 ) display connection between different stakeholders , ( 2 ) connect every element of the issues and eventually discover opportunities for growth and improvement .