Well, the grand Olympic Adventure has come to my province (British Columbia). We’re in the eye of the storm right now, between the Olympics and Paralympics. I went over to Vancouver to take in some events and soak up the atmosphere. There was lots of opportunity to people-watch and, with a major transit journey to Whistler and back, ponder over what lessons the Olympics could bring in the field of strategic planning.
1. Sometimes it takes an outside set of eyes to see what you need to do. The press descended upon Vancouver like a pack of hungry wolves and while some of the reports were unfavorable (the Brits seemed particularly full of vitriol), much of the commentary allowed Vancouver to see itself through strangers’ eyes. Yes of course, they have the skyline to die for but there are also the social concerns in the Downtown East Side which bear careful consideration. On a day-to-day basis the average Vancouverite probably glosses over both good and bad, focusing on the daily minutiae of life, so the Olympics were a good shakeup. Organizations need to invite strangers to visit occasionally to get outside perspective on what they’re doing well and poorly.
2. Don’t let your competitors design your costume. This snarky little tidbit came from David Sale as he was commentating during the Pairs Figure Skating. One unfortunate couple sported bright blue one-piece suits that seriously begged the question: what were they THINKING? As it turns out, one of the other competing pairs had designed their outfits. Sometimes businesses and other organizations will let their competitors’ actions dictate theirs, from what products they develop to how they communicate with their customers. Stand firm: don’t just be a copycat. If your competitors are using social media, maybe it’s a good idea (all good ideas have to start somewhere) but you should evaluate a decision on its merits for your own business. How do you relate to customers and stakeholders? Can you pull off a head-to-toe neon-blue jumpsuit (or a daily-updated blog) or should you stick to your own knitting? (Ohhh the mixed metaphors!)
3. Consistency is king. In the bobsleigh competitions, it was the teams who were able to lay down consistently proficient runs who took home the hardware. If you’re doing something well, keep working on it – don’t relax, don’t get complacent. When you make your strategic plans, don’t get drawn to change for change’s sake. If you’re successful (especially when times are hard) it could be that what you need to do next year is more of the same. But if you’re in a rut, you’d better make like a vending machine, and change!
I hope these tips have been helpful. I’ll leave you with just one more thought from the Olympics: when all else fails, USE MORE COWBELL.
Tags: Olympics, Strategic Planning
This morning I took on the task of sorting the 300 people I follow into user lists. Along the way I unfollowed about 25 of them, mostly because I couldn’t think of why I’d followed them in the first place and because I didn’t have a good list to put them on. It took me just a little under two hours.
It shocked me that nobody has invented a tool that allows you to batch-edit your followers and following lists to assign them to lists etc. Wouldn’t you consider this a fairly basic utility?
Now that I can view my Twitter lists in Seesmic Desktop (my Twitter application of choice), I have this vague expectation that Twitter will become more useful to me. The jury is out on that. Maybe I’m missing something but there doesn’t seem to me much going on out there that’s very important to me.
On another social media note… has anyone figured out what to do with LinkedIn yet? Aside from getting connected with everyone you know (and apparently a bunch of people you don’t know, if the trickle of invitations from total strangers is any indication). I joined a few discussion groups and have plenty of connections but I’m still waiting for the A-HA! moment and the value to be realized. Please, if you’ve got some secret to making LinkedIn more than just a business-oriented, slightly less-annoying Facebook, please comment!
Tags: social media, technology
Last week’s graphic recording engagement in Vancouver is complete; the charts have been photographed, edited and sent to the client. I’m going to steal a few moments from my next project to reflect on my process.
The TrainerMarkers were very fun to use, especially the light grey. It’s fantastic for adding shading and dimension to things. The yellow and orange were also nice for highlighting word clusters. I found that it took a little extra concentration to make a good strong line with the full nib width: I’m going to need to do some more practice work in the studio to get the hang of these tools. The royal blue one is actually a little on the purple side for my tastes, but the other colours are pretty true.
Having the icon library on hand was great. Especially important was having “iconized” versions of my client organizations’ logos so I could reproduce them around the edges of the chart for the introductory session. I was missing one logo out of the four – must remember next time to have ALL logos on hand for titles, etc. I’m glad I didn’t have the Bikablo with me, as it would have been a distraction. Having put advance thought into various icon concepts meant that when I went to the wall, I had a good visual vocabulary to draw from even without my cheat-sheets.
During the session there were three discussion segments. For the first one, I knew that the facilitator wanted to draw a particular model. He had given me a text document describing the type of model in advance so I had a plan for how to lay out my page. For the second and third discussion segments I had less of an idea about what the questions and desired outcomes were, so I think the graphics were less effective as a tool to “draw things together” for the group. Next time I work with this facilitator, we’ll both know more about what to discuss ahead of time so that the graphics can be more supportive of his outcomes.
All in all, the session was very enjoyable and the participants were lovely people. It reminded me how much I love this work! Woohoo!
Tags: Graphic Recording, growth, reflections
I just received my first shipment from Neuland North America – I must be a “real” graphic facilitator now, because I’ve got Neuland products! These are my business’ Christmas present to itself. Here’s what Santa got Directis:
Bikablo is a pocket-sized coil-bound book containing hundreds of icons for use on flip charts / murals, depicting soft concepts like “global connections” as well as symbolic icons like a turtle, horse, sheep, buildings etc. The purpose of the book is to give you ideas about ways to depict concepts and objects with quickly-drawn illustrations. There are three to five icons in each page with a variety of words that could be associated with the icons. There’s also an index in which you can look up concepts and find icons in the book. The trick is to study the book and then practice drawing the icons with your own hand, using their shading suggestions.
TrainerMarkers (basic and colourful sets)
These are monster-big refillable water-based markers for large titles or shading. I splurged and got myself 12 – the four basic colours for titles and outlines, as well as the assorted colours set because I just can’t be restrained to red, black, blue and green. These things are BIG! The nib is 12mm wide and 6mm thick so you can do a variety of thicknesses of lines. The barrel of the marker itself is also big and thick so they’re not good for small writing, but excellent for broad brush strokes.
I have a graphic recording engagement next week in Vancouver and I am SO looking forward to whipping out the BIG pens. *glee!*
Prepping for an Engagement
Right now, I have a long list of words that I’m preparing ideas for, based on the project. Here are some of the concepts I’m brainstorming: planning, mobilize, community, assessment, evaluate, gaps, model, barriers, relationships, collaboration, innovation, respect, capacity-building, access for all, strength-building, representation, impact, social network, sustainability, joy, funds, mentors, conversations, meetings, stewardship, inventory, goals, action plan, partners, implementing, needs, consensus, demographics.
I’ve taken a few pieces of letter-sized paper and folded it so there are 8 sections on each page. Right now I’m using pencil to put a different icon into each section. I’m not really labelling the sections, just collecting the icons. Then when I’m at the engagement I’ll have these pages tucked into my kit and if I hit a wall (recorder’s block?) I can whip out the pages and peruse for an image I like. The reason I’ve created my own pages is because I know that I can draw each one of these icons quickly. If I simply took my Bikablo or computerized graphics with me, I would be stalled while my brain communicated with my hand on how to reproduce the image.
When I’m done with these pages, I’ll scan and upload them in case you want to borrow!
Quick addition: One of the things I do when I’m trying to find an icon for something specific is I google the word, then go to “Google Images” and choose Clip Art only from the search options. This gives me a bunch of thumbnails of online images relating to the word. I find one or two simple ideas and then draw them out freehand in pencil a few times to get the “flow” of the lines. This is a great way to generate your own icons because you’re not actually copying anything, just re-interpreting!
Tags: preparation, resources, tools
There are lots of VERY GOOD reasons why business people are jumping on the social-media bandwagon. I’m not going to rabbit on about those, but rather touch on something subtle I’ve noticed throughout the last year about social media and how it changes the nature of business relationships. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: people, social media
Well, even though I didn’t complete my 30 Days of Marketing Effort, putting my intentions out there for business development seems to have had a positive effect. I find myself right now with as much work as I can feasibly handle for the next month at least, and probably through until February if I count a few things that are in the pipeline.
The sales pipeline of an independent consultant isn’t like a typical B2B sales pipeline in some ways. Of course I have leads, prospects, proposals, closing, etc. One thing that differs is that I am very picky about what I consider to be a real sales prospect, and I typically do not invest in proposals or planning unless the client is very well qualified. Unlike bigger consulting firms, I don’t typically respond to Requests for Proposals unless I have been specifically invited to do so through a past client or close colleague. There have been the odd occasions when I knew I was being compared against other consultants for an engagement, but those instances do not generally require me to make a big investment until there is a clear match.
This is an excuse I sometimes use for not following a disciplined marketing program. Is it an excuse or a reason, though? Or maybe my rendition of a “disciplined marketing program” is just a lot more anal-retentive than it needs to be. Hmmm… no. I’m lucky right now that there is client work to be had and it seems to have drifted past my inbox at a time when I was paying attention, but I need to be more organized in the future if I’m going to expand my repertoire.
It’s written and said in lots of places that you need to fire your clients occasionally to prevent your consulting business from getting stale. I did that in a BIG way when I moved to Victoria from Vancouver. It takes a while to build things up again, but it’s worth reviewing clients once a year or so to make sure you’re both still growing and learning from the relationship. Am I still providing value to this client or that one? Am I challenging myself to learn and grow and provide better value all the time? Am I working too much to satisfy the whims of one or another big client who pays a lot? These questions are part of an annual client review. Sometimes this review tells me that I need to go outside my comfort zone in marketing so that I can attract clients who are unlike the ones currently in my calendar. It means more work, but the alternative is (as I see it) stagnation and DOOM. Okay maybe not DOOM but you get the idea. Oh and by the way, that kind of client review is really cool as the basis for a visual planning exercise!
Have a good weekend!
Ok I’ll confess: I’m thoroughly failing with respect to the 30 Days of Marketing Effort. I have done some of the tasks (mostly things I was already doing, like blogging and going to training/networking events) but there’s a lot of work outlined in that list which are simply not getting done. My excuse is that I have two client projects keeping me extremely busy this month, and since last month I was in Australia for three weeks, I really need to put in as many billable hours as I possibly can.
This is one of the drawbacks of being an independent: when you get so busy you can barely take a breath, you let the marketing slide. Yet when the projects end (as they inevitably do) you don’t have any new projects or clients in the pipeline. I’m lucky in that I tend to be naturally social and drawn towards networking events (less so now that I have a toddler at home), and social media like Twitter help me get connected with people even if I’m glued to my desk. If I weren’t making connections “online” with people like this, I would be treading in very dangerous waters right now.
Am I going to pull it out and stroke off some more of the tasks on that list before the end of the month? Quite possibly, yes. I’m not going to throw my hands up in the air and give up on the good ideas that lay behind that list… I’m just going to be more choosy, and do things that will build long-term results instead of focusing on activities that drive short-term business development. Perhaps I should have been more mindful of that in making the list the first time.
Working in large format (e.g., on a large white board or piece of paper) is a very different feeling from working in a notebook or even on flipchart paper. I find that it elicits more creativity, more expansive thinking, and frees the “thinkers” (either the artist or the client group, in a graphic facilitation session) from the limits of needing to think in a linear pattern. However it wasn’t until I stood in front of my whiteboard today at the start of a new piece of work that it really hit me about why working big works so well.
When our writing/drawing surface is bigger than our arms reach, we’re presented with a huge amount of potential. Yes it can be quite daunting to feel like you have to fill up that piece of paper or board, but at the same time that bit of discomfort can push us outside our comfort zone. Going outside the comfort zone is where you can discover all kinds of new ideas and fresh, fertile imaginative power. By moving the limits of your working surface outside of your arms’ reach, that loosening of the boundaries also works on your mind.
If you’ve been reading this blog and wondering if you could try some of the stuff I do, I urge you to give it a shot. Get yourself some pieces of flipchart paper and tape them together, or head on down to Island Blueprint (if you’re in Victoria) and request a roll of 42″-wide 20lb bond paper. 50 yards will cost you $20. Use masking tape to put it up on whatever available flat surface you have, get some non-bleeding markers (Mr. Sketch are easy, fun and cheap) and just start DOODLING BIG. Start with big circles and broad lines. It doesn’t have to mean anything. You can turn the paper over and use the other side if you feel guilty about killing trees. Just start pushing your own perceptions of your limits and see what comes out.
Tags: Exploration, Graphic Facilitation, growth, visual thinking
Small business owners and entrepreneurs rarely, if ever, get a “time-out” for thinking about the big picture of their life and business. The go-go-go habit is quite addictive, involving all sorts of factors like adrenaline, drive, ambition, fear, passion… the list goes on. These are all GOOD things except sometimes we can start to feel like we’re running ragged, not quite sure if what we’re putting our efforts into is going to come together in the end. I experience this all the time as an entrepreneur and independent consultant and I’ve found in six years of business that it helps a lot to set aside one day every six months or so to think deeply about my direction.
Visual Business Planning is a structured framework for the entrepreneur’s “time-out”. It supports an entrepreneur in thinking deeply about his or her business plan, marketing, life/work balance – whatever issues are uppermost, creating a need to step back and reflect. Here’s how it works:
- An entrepreneur (or a two-person team) contacts me with an interest in doing a session. I ask a few questions to find out what is going on, both in the business and life, and provide information (like what’s in this blog post) about what to expect. We decide if the entrepreneur is able to set aside a full day for the session, or just a half day. So far I’ve found a half-day session is enough to give a client plenty to think about without overloading.
- Before the Visual Business Planning session I send a list of questions to the client. These are customized to reflect the client’s situation and can focus on business direction, marketing, team-building, work/life balance… these are the most common areas. If the session is going to deal with strategic planning or work/life balance issues, I also send a list of Values Words and invite the client to reflect on what things are most important to him/her. The client’s response helps me structure a customized agenda for the session.
- During the session, we use big paper (4′ x 8′) on my studio wall to literally draw out the problems facing the client. For a marketing-focused session like this one, the charts showed things like the client’s primary target markets, what he offered those customers, etc. For sessions that focus on business and life planning like this one, we may do a strengths-weaknesses analysis and some long-range visioning.
- The real crux of the session is not the pictures: it’s the dialogue and reflection that takes place. My job as a facilitator is to help my clients make their own discoveries by asking perceptive questions. Having an objective, caring person ask you to explain your own decisions and ambitions helps you to clarify them in a way almost impossible to achieve on your own.
- At the end of the session I reserve time to help the client make an achievable action list of things they will do to follow up on the session in the next month. These actions will push the client slightly outside their comfort zone, but not so much that the resistance will lead to inertia. It’s up to the client to follow through with these things but I don’t want anyone to set themselves up for failure.
- After the session, if the client wishes, I’ll add color and graphics to the existing charts, and perhaps fine-tune some of the messages. I do this almost immediately after the client leaves so conversations are fresh in my mind. Then I digitally photograph the charts and send a JPG to the client. I also find a time to return the full-sized charts to the client.
That’s it! It’s a mini-retreat for an entrepreneur, supported by an objective, caring third party who just happens to be creating a visual record of the retreat as it occurs. Because it’s supported with an agenda and you have a concrete action plan in place for afterwards, it’s much more effective than just taking a morning to sit in a coffee shop with your journal. Oh yes – I also provide yummy coffee and baked treats for a mid-session snack.
Game to try it? Here’s a little gimmick to make you jump on the bandwagon before the year is out: everybody who does a Visual Business Planning session with me between now and January 31, 2010 will be entered in a draw for a Nikon Coolpix digital camera. Just in time for snapshots of the 2010 Olympics – or whatever you’re doing to avoid the Olympics!
Tags: visual planning
Last Thursday and Friday I was in Vancouver at UBC, attending the IAF Canada Tour Workshops. (IAF stands for International Association of Facilitators). Below the cut there are reviews of the workshops and scans of my graphic notes from the sessions. Both sets of graphic notes are merely the “highlights” of the workshop since much of the content was captured in the books the workshops were planned around. (It’s kind of one of those “you had to be there” sort of things – sorry for being exclusionary). Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Graphic Facilitation, IAF, training
