Wilma Dekker – Design Thinking for Business Innovation    February 5 2017

Reflection – Visualisation      Challenge  In my work as a leadership consultant, my team and I help companies that need change but don’t know  how to lead it; the journey into the unknown. I work for clients and their high-educated young professionals  in the professional services sector; i.e. consultants, lawyers, accountants, sales professionals and  marketeers. They are often not used to be asked what could be the ‘what if situation’, they are more likely to  be conditioned to know the ‘right’ answer.     Selection  I was working for a client, a big consultancy agency and I coached a young woman; let’s call her Alice. She  and the rest of her peers got the order from management to set goals for the year and the goals had to  contribute to a more business development focused office. I was asked to help each of them. Alice had a  hard time in knowing how she wanted to grow in the coming year, develop goals accordingly, and make  them business aligned. I choose to help her with using the Visualisation tool (module 1 video 6). I first  helped her set the ‘what is situation’ and than help her through the ‘What if situation”. Finding your own  person in goals to set is very important for intrinsic motivation reasons; people that set goals that align with  them personal are more likely to succeed.

Alice  Alice is around 28 years old, pretty, a smart woman and we sat down in the conference room for  her first meeting with me, she got me some water and we got started. She asked if this  conversation was confidential and I told her yes. Than she talked for 20 straight minutes about  what she didn’t wanted this year, what she hated about her job, it felt like she really needed this to  get of her chest. She told me that she was tired. We really established the ‘What is situation’ at that  point. Getting into the ‘What if situation’ was harder for her. That’s where I used the visualisation.

Application  Visualisation – ‘What if?’  I asked her to look at the chair next to her and imagine herself 6 to 12 month ahead; specifically an Alice  who she liked and an Alice who was happy. I asked her to ‘look’ at this future Alice and imagine an Alice  that is content with the steps she made in the last couple of months (without specifically thinking about what  those steps were).    I asked her also how this Future Alice (FA) looked like and if there were other interesting things about her. I  asked Alice if she liked the FA, and asked her how FA was behaving, did FA say something or do  something, and what did FA think of all the things Alice wants etc. Alice went for it and described her in  detail and answered the other questions. Then we talked about how this FA was different than herself; what  were the differences? We boiled it down by describing a shortlist of personality traits and behaviours that  were different.     Insight  Wow, this was amazing! I saw Alice turning into a smiling person; happy to share her vision and curious to  find out how to work towards this ‘what if situation’. Alice loved having Future Alice next to her. We made  the personality and behavioural traits of FA the criteria for her goals.   For example: one of the differences between Alice and FA was that FA was calmer than her; and because  of that FA had more peace to create ‘real quality’ in her work, whereas right now she felt that she worked  hard to meet deadline after deadline not being able to catch her breath - often damaging the quality of her  work. This criteria – make space for quality – became very important in setting one of her goals for the year.     Reflection / Approach  What I love about the visualisation tool is that I could bring Alice out of her usual way of thinking; opening  up for positive opportunities and possibilities. Because I helped her visualize and be in the lead off this self- assessment process she felt she was able to lead her own change too (setting the goals), instead of me  telling her what to do and have a one-time effect. This allowed us to work on a meta-level, not only helping  her set the goals but giving her a tool that she too could use in the future when she would have to develop  other goals.     What I would do different next time is

Wilma Dekker – Design Thinking for Business Innovation    February 5 2017

1) I would also use Storytelling and ask her about creating a story about what she needs to get to her

Future Alice. Combining the visualisation with storytelling could really make it even more powerful;  it could create a roadmap to where she wants to go.

2) To use visualisation to describe more possible Future Alice’s. We didn’t explore this thoroughly

enough because of time reasons. I think we could have gotten to even more magical, exiting  possible Alice’s. Because that is what visualisation can do, look beyond the beyond.


Wilma Dekker – Design Thinking for Business Innovation February 5 2017 Reflection – Visualisation Challenge In my work as a leadership consultant , my team and I help companies that need change but do n’t know how to lead it ; the journey into the unknown . I work for clients and their high - educated young professionals in the professional services sector ; i.e. consultants , lawyers , accountants , sales professionals and marketeers . They are often not used to be asked what could be the ‘ what if situation ’ , they are more likely to be conditioned to know the ‘ right ’ answer . Selection I was working for a client , a big consultancy agency and I coached a young woman ; let ’s call her Alice . She and the rest of her peers got the order from management to set goals for the year and the goals had to contribute to a more business development focused office . I was asked to help each of them . Alice had a hard time in knowing how she wanted to grow in the coming year , develop goals accordingly , and make them business aligned . I choose to help her with using the Visualisation tool ( module 1 video 6 ) . I first helped her set the ‘ what is situation ’ and than help her through the ‘ What if situation ” . Finding your own person in goals to set is very important for intrinsic motivation reasons ; people that set goals that align with them personal are more likely to succeed . Alice Alice is around 28 years old , pretty , a smart woman and we sat down in the conference room for her first meeting with me , she got me some water and we got started . She asked if this conversation was confidential and I told her yes . Than she talked for 20 straight minutes about what she did n’t wanted this year , what she hated about her job , it felt like she really needed this to get of her chest . She told me that she was tired . We really established the ‘ What is situation ’ at that point . Getting into the ‘ What if situation ’ was harder for her . That ’s where I used the visualisation . Application Visualisation – ‘ What if ? ’ I asked her to look at the chair next to her and imagine herself 6 to 12 month ahead ; specifically an Alice who she liked and an Alice who was happy . I asked her to ‘ look ’ at this future Alice and imagine an Alice that is content with the steps she made in the last couple of months ( without specifically thinking about what those steps were ) . I asked her also how this Future Alice ( FA ) looked like and if there were other interesting things about her . I asked Alice if she liked the FA , and asked her how FA was behaving , did FA say something or do something , and what did FA think of all the things Alice wants etc . Alice went for it and described her in detail and answered the other questions . Then we talked about how this FA was different than herself ; what were the differences ? We boiled it down by describing a shortlist of personality traits and behaviours that were different . Insight Wow , this was amazing ! I saw Alice turning into a smiling person ; happy to share her vision and curious to find out how to work towards this ‘ what if situation ’ . Alice loved having Future Alice next to her . We made the personality and behavioural traits of FA the criteria for her goals . For example : one of the differences between Alice and FA was that FA was calmer than her ; and because of that FA had more peace to create ‘ real quality ’ in her work , whereas right now she felt that she worked hard to meet deadline after deadline not being able to catch her breath - often damaging the quality of her work . This criteria – make space for quality – became very important in setting one of her goals for the year . Reflection / Approach What I love about the visualisation tool is that I could bring Alice out of her usual way of thinking ; opening up for positive opportunities and possibilities . Because I helped her visualize and be in the lead off this self- assessment process she felt she was able to lead her own change too ( setting the goals ) , instead of me telling her what to do and have a one - time effect . This allowed us to work on a meta - level , not only helping her set the goals but giving her a tool that she too could use in the future when she would have to develop other goals . What I would do different next time is Wilma Dekker – Design Thinking for Business Innovation February 5 2017 1 ) I would also use Storytelling and ask her about creating a story about what she needs to get to her Future Alice . Combining the visualisation with storytelling could really make it even more powerful ; it could create a roadmap to where she wants to go . 2 ) To use visualisation to describe more possible Future Alice ’s . We did n’t explore this thoroughly enough because of time reasons . I think we could have gotten to even more magical , exiting possible Alice ’s . Because that is what visualisation can do , look beyond the beyond .