delta7 -Graphic Facilitation - visual support for leading change

Julian Burton’s radical re-working of the old adage "a picture speaks a thousand words" is transforming the way his clients discuss complex issues in workshops and meetings. By representing the problems and solutions discussed in pictures, Graphic Facilitation provides a catalyst for shared understanding, consensus and clarity.

What is Graphic Facilitation?
Graphic facilitation means that when you have a strategic dialogue the important themes, issues and insights that emerge are immediately draw up in pictures and words on large sheets of paper displayed on the walls around the room for all participants to see and reflect on as the discussion progresses. People can see what they have said and that they have been heard. Seeing what you are talking about translated into tangible, visible form can really focus attention on important issues, anchors new meanings and helps to give everybody an immediate grasp of "the Big Picture" in a way that is unavailable to words alone. This approach enriches the work of the group and enhances its ability to focus and create shared understanding. This technique adds value during the meeting itself, and the pictures created are used afterwards as a record or group memory of the main themes.

What benefits does it bring?
Graphic facilitation can clarify shared problems, which can be difficult to put into words, It does this by:

• Capturing diverse strategic themes in one picture
• Helping people get to grip with large, complex problems
• Enabling complex ideas to be considered in a simple and powerful way
• Providing a common focus that brings people together
• Stimulating creative discussion in small groups
• Engaging the emotional as well as the rational
• Enlivening meetings through a dynamic creative process
• Leaving a readily accessible record of the issues can maintain momentum by being used back in the work place as a tangible reminder, on-site, of current issues and solutions, prompting further practical discussion.

What form does it take?
Meetings and discussions can be graphically facilitated in different ways:

Continuous Recording

[click here for a larger[ 150kb] version] – themes are captured immediately as they arise throughout the day and during breaks, creating a wall of visual information.

Snapshots

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[Click here for a larger[ 150kb] version] [click here for a larger[ 150kb] version] - particular themes are distilled into more refined pictures that capture the ideas discussed, typically 3 or 4 in the course of a day.

[click here for a larger[ 150kb] version] – one colour picture representing the day’s themes that is sent to participants and acts both as a record of the day and as a stimulant for further discussion.

Examples of events visualised
Complexity workshop at the L.S.E. 6/7 March 2002
Antidote Conference on Dialogue, 'change is possible" , 31 Jan, 2002
Complexity: a new perspective for the NHS and its partners 17/18/19 September 2002 - University of Exeter
"Improving perfomance", NHS conference,Cambridge, May 2001
Voice/change project

As you can see, the real value of this approach comes from using pictures to reflect back, creating a new perspective which facilitates consensus and the decision making process. A visual representation of complex or controversial issues becomes immediate, inescapable and consequently amenable to common examination. This leads to common understanding, stimulating engagement, creativity and participation. In essence, Graphic Facilitation can provide the breakthrough that is needed in workshops and meetings.

Please contact me if you would like to see a demonstration of how this process can support the dialogue in your organisation.

Julian Burton

julian@delta7.com

077 9000 7560