Drawing the Future: Visual Tools for Strategic Resilience
The election cycle can be a whirlwind for social impact teams, BCorp CEOs, and philanthropic leaders. It can feel as if uncertainty is swirling around like confetti at a victory rally. There’s a secret weapon that can create calm in the chaos and transform your strategic meetings into a source of clarity and resilience- visual thinking.
Visual thinking can keep your team agile, adaptive, and deeply connected to your mission throughout the political hustle and bustle.
🎇 The Visual Thinking Advantage
Visual thinking tools light up the room like a fireworks display. Well, maybe not that drastic, but visual tools like live scribing (aka, graphic recording, sketchnoting, visual notetaking), visual strategy mapping, and interactive knowledge walls have the power to spark joy, creativity and innovation.
Here’s the rundown on why they’re so effective:
Meeting Productivity: Teams using visual aids are 20% more productive (Forrester Research).
Learning and Retention: Visual learning boosts retention by 42% (MindTools).
Attendee Satisfaction: 90% of participants report higher satisfaction when visual tools are used (MeetingsNet).
I've seen it happen!
🥱Traditional Strategy Meetings: The Snoozefest Statistics
When it's time to strategize and plan for the future, traditional events and sit-down meetings often leave folks feeling about as energized as a deflated campaign balloon.
50% of people admit to daydreaming during meetings (Atlassian).
71% of attendees report that meetings are unproductive and inefficient (Harvard Business Review).
Clearly, we need a better way to engage our teams!
Actionable Tips to Infuse Visual Thinking into Your Strategic Meetings
Here are 3 tips to consider as you prep for the strategic planning events that are on the rise in the fall and winter months.
1. Live Scribing: The Art of Listening
How: Hire a professional live event scribe to visually capture key points in real-time.
Benefit: Transforms abstract ideas into tangible visuals, and engages both sides of the brain, making information processing more dynamic.
2. Visual Strategy Mapping: Drawing the Big Picture
How: Hire a graphic facilitator to create a collaborative map that outlines goals, challenges, and strategies.
Benefit: Provides a holistic view, helping teams see connections and gaps at a glance.
3. Interactive Knowledge Walls: The Big Wall of Wisdom
How: Set up a large wall as a collection of posters or a large display board, where everyone can contribute their perspective on a topic.
Make it "next-level" by hiring a graphic recorder to transform sticky notes into a mural of wisdom combining responses with drawings, and clustering themes visually.
Benefit: Creates a dynamic and evolving visual hub of collective knowledge.
The Wrap-Up: Drawing Resilience
Visual thinking is more than an artistic gimmick—it’s a strategic advantage. Picture it Possible specializes in helping teams incorporate these tools into internal team meetings and helping organizations build resilience, and adapt to change while staying focused on their mission.
So, go for it! Break out the markers, and the sticky notes with purpose! If you're ready to watch your team’s engagement and productivity soar, schedule a call with me today!
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