Crackerjack Visual Thinking

Category: Problem Solving

  • How not to be one of the 75% of business start-ups that fail

    Over 75% of business start-ups fail within three years of launch.

    In the majority of cases, start-ups fail because the business owners do not have:

    • A clear vision of what success will look like for their business and themselves.
    • A fully thought through business model that is both sustainable and scalable.
    • A unique customer experience that differentiates their business from the competition.

    Crackerjack People Development’s ‘Power Pack‘ has been designed to help prevent this happening to you (the business owner) and provide you with an opportunity to consider these business critical issues using the power of coaching and the clarity of visual thinking.

    The Power Pack consists of:

    FREE 30 minute kick-off phone conversation.

    3 x 2 hour visual coaching sessions using large graphic templates (known as ‘Big Pictures’) to explore:

    – Big Picture #1: ‘What success looks like‘ on both a business and personal level for you.

    – Big Picture #2: Your Business Model and its robustness, sustainability and scalability.*

    – Big Picture #3: Differentiating your customer experience from the competition.

    * The Big Picture #2 session uses the Business Model Canvas developed by Alex Osterwalder (worldwide best-selling author of the Business Model Generation handbook).

    The visual coaching sessions can be held wherever is most convenient for you.

    During each coaching session, Crackerjack will work with you to co-create each of the Big Pictures. You can expect your thinking to be challenged and new ideas to be generated during these sessions.

    At the end of each of the above sessions, you will take-away the completed ‘Big Picture’ to use as both a reference and an action plan for developing your new start-up business.

    Click on the example template below to view an example of one of our smaller graphic templates:

    Visual Business Coaching Temp medium

     

    3 x FREE visual coaching templates to further challenge and develop the business owners thinking about their new start-up.

    3 x 30 minute follow-up phone coaching sessions to help you maximise the benefit of your learning’s from the Power Pack experience.

    To find out more, please contact us.

    #newbusinesses #businessstartups #visualthinking #coaching #hownottobeoneofthe75%thatfail

  • FREE ‘So you’re thinking of starting a new business?’ visual coaching template

    Are you thinking of starting a new business? If so, why not use our free visual business coaching template below to think about some of the important questions you should consider when setting up a new business.

    Click on the image to open the template and then print it out.

    Visual Business Coaching Temp Small

    Important note: Draw, sketch, doodle and scribble your answers to the questions on the template wherever possible as this will help you think more creatively and imaginatively about the answers you provide.

    It would be great to hear about any learning’s, thoughts and realisations you have as a result of using the template! And if you found the template helpful, click here to have a look at our ‘Power Pack’ visual business coaching package for new businesses – helping you to not be one of the 75% of new start-ups that fail.

    #newbusiness #startups #coaching #visualthinking

  • ‘Resilient Dynamism’ – the theme of Davos 2013

    The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2013 is taking place this week in Davos, Switzerland. Its key theme this year is about creating ‘resilient dynamism’ – in other words helping organisations, governments and other body’s to create a positive and creative environment in which growth and development can happen within an evermore transformational, complex, challenging, competitive and inter-connected world.

    To enable this ‘resilient dynamism’ to flourish will initially require:

    • A clear vision of what is meant by the term ‘resilient dynamism’.
    • A clear strategic plan of how this global goal can be achieved.
    • The engagement of employees and employers around the globe with the vision and strategic plan.
    • Initiatives to ensure the that organisations and their people have the skills and ability to play their part in achieving the global goal of ‘resilient dynamism’.

    To achieve the above, people development, organisational development, employee engagement and clear (visual) thinking would seem to have an important role to play. Crackerjack therefore hopes that the importance of these disciplines is recognised as part of the toolkit required to achieve ‘resilient dynamism’ during the discussions in Davos.

  • Post-It notes and Visual Thinking

    Many people will have experienced using Post-It notes to structure thoughts and ideas in meetings and training events. However, in many cases the Post-It notes simply have words/phrases on them resulting in them being, in effect, a moveable linear list. Research continues to show that linear lists are not the most effective way of helping your brain understand complex and diverse information.

    Visual Thinking encourages people to share their thoughts using pictures, diagrams, sketches and other visual techniques. This helps people:

    • see concepts more clearly
    • see the relationships between different ideas more easily
    • resolve problems more efficiently

    Crackerjack People Development can help you and your organisation harness the power of Visual Thinking by designing and facilitating visual meetings and events and helping your people develop Visual Thinking skills in your organisation.

    To find out more, please click here to contact us.

     

  • Lesson’s from a blizzard

    As I write, I’m looking out from my office window into a raging blizzard. The tree’s and building’s I can normally see have all but disappeared, the snow flying past the window obscures my vision.

    However, if I half close my eyes and squint, I can actually see the outline of the building’s and tree’s more clearly.

    The lesson from this blizzard is that sometimes we have to see less to see more. By reducing the amount of detail we can see, the bigger picture becomes clearer.

    By applying this lesson to an organisation and reducing the amount of detail flying around in your business, can you help everyone see the bigger picture more clearly?

    #blizzardthinking

  • Taking the time to explore and play…

    Most organisations want to solve problems and generate new ideas as quickly and effectively as possible. However, counter-intuitively to some people, slowing down and taking the time to really explore and play with issues and ideas can allow the best solutions to be generated. The repercussions of rushed and ill-conceived concepts can in fact slow the business down, whereas considered quality solutions can ultimately allow the business to move at pace and succeed. #goslowtogofast

  • Got a difficult problem to solve?

    Have you and/or your organisation got a particularly difficult problem to solve?

    Have you had numerous meetings about this issue without moving things forward?

    If so, then it may well be time for a different approach!!!

    Using a visual thinking approach can help you ‘see’ the problem more clearly and identify more innovative and creative ways of resolving it.

    Using a combination of large scale co-created graphics and effective problem solving activities and games, Crackerjack Visual Thinking can help you to achieve the outcomes you want for your organisation.

    To find out more, please do contact us by clicking here.

  • Systems Thinking x Visual Thinking = Organisational Clarity

    In complex organisations, trying to understand how the various elements of the business fit together and co-exist can be challenging.

    By using a visual thinking approach and working with your people to visually map your business on large wall charts, you are able to see the organisation and understand more easily how your business operates and the critical linkages that enable your business to function effectively.

    Systems thinking x Visual Thinking = Organisational Clarity

  • How can Visual Thinking help your organisation?

    Someone asked me the other day how Visual Thinking can really help organisations? Here are three ways in which I think Visual Thinking and a visual approach to sharing information can benefit a business:

    • Communicating your thinking to colleagues quickly and effectively.
    • Supporting ‘pitches’ and tenders for work by helping potential clients ‘see’ your thoughts and ideas.
    • Communicating complex ideas to people who don’t have prior knowledge and understanding of a subject.

    #Visualthinkingbusinessbenefit