Crackerjack Visual Thinking

Tag: draw

  • Half term school holidays – the perfect time to practise your drawing! #visualthinking #communicate #engage #draw

    In the UK, it’s the half term holidays for many schools and many of you may be taking a few days off to spend time with your kids.

    Although there are many things that take up children’s attention during the holidays, (from sports activities to X-Boxes), in my experience kids still really enjoy drawing. A blank piece of paper and some felt-tip pens allow them to be creative and share their ideas (whether it’s Star Wars inspired picture, a fairy story or a new monster from their own imagination!).

    So why not get involved too and practise your own drawing skills whilst also spending some quality time with the kids! From simply helping them finish one of their drawings through to having a full-on family drawing competition (e.g. who can create the best monster…), the practise will help develop your own drawing skill and confidence.

    And then of course you can put these skills to use back in the your workplace and sketch out ideas (maybe not monsters or fairies!) to share your thinking with colleagues more quickly and effectively.

    Remember, drawing your ideas is not childish – it’s the smart way to share information!

    To find out more about visual thinking and drawing your ideas, please CONTACT US.

  • Give your people the power to draw (a.k.a. communicate more effectively)! #visualthinking #communicate #engage #teamdevelopment

    Getting people and teams to communicate effectively is one of the key challenges facing organisations of all shapes and sizes.

    We here at Crackerjack Visual Thinking believe that helping people to feel confident and empowered to use sketches, diagrams and drawings to communicate thoughts and ideas can create a significant cultural change in an organisation.

    yesdrawingsign

    We have witnessed people having numerous ‘lightbulb’ moments which were only possible because information and ideas were shared visually (rather than the more traditional formats for sharing information including reports, bullet-point presentations etc).

    That’s why we are passionate about helping people develop their drawing skills and offer a number of training workshops which we call ‘Scribble Labs™‘.

    Scribble Lab 1

    Scribble Lab™ 1: Get Scribbling! is ideal for those people wanting to develop their drawing skills. We can offer this as a standalone 1 day workshop or can tailor it to your teams specific needs. Ideal as part of a team development activity.

    We also offer a 1:1 coaching option if that better suits your needs.

    To find out more about how our Scribble Labs™ can help your people to communicate more effectively, please contact us. 

  • Afraid to draw at work? #visualthinking #communication #drawtothink

    What stops you drawing more at work?

    It is acknowledged that sharing information visually via sketches and diagrams can help people understand concepts more easily and drive more meaningful discussions than more traditional methods of sharing information (i.e. reports,  bullet-pointed presentations etc).

    Is it because you feel your own drawing skills are not up to scratch?

    Or is it because you feel drawing ideas doesn’t align with the culture of your organisation (i.e. you might be laughed at or looked down upon for using a ‘childish’ way of working)?

    What I’m pleased to tell you is that both of the above reasons for not drawing are wrong!

    yesdrawingsign

    You don’t need to be a great artist to draw ideas. Simple stick people, basic shapes and a bit of colour are all you need. A simple sketch that helps people understand something is better than not giving it a go and people not understanding the idea you’re wanting to share! Have a look at Dan Roam’s website (one of the thought leaders in visual thinking) to see how he encourages people to use simple sketches to drive business conversations. Crackerjack also provides training workshops to help you develop your drawing skills – click here to learn more.

    If it’s a cultural issue, then simply point out that successful companies like Google and Apple actively encourage their employees to sketch ideas out wherever possible. Many forward-thinking organisations have ‘drawing walls’ where teams can work together to sketch ideas, develop new thinking and explore different ways of doing things. They then simply take a picture on their smartphone to share what they’ve created. Simple, efficient and effective!

    So, join the visual thinking party and start sketching out ideas in your workplace today! And remember to share in the comments below how drawing has helped you and your colleagues develop ideas and increase understanding where you work!

    Happy and productive drawing!

    John Ashton
    Crackerjack Visual Thinking

    For visual thinking help, advice and training queries Contact Crackerjack

  • A typical #exec team conversation when they try #drawing their new #strategic #vision out on paper! #visualthinking #engage #communicate

    exec-draw-conversation-01

  • The Friday ‘Visual Thinking’ Challenge

    Here’s a visual thinking challenge for you and your colleagues on a Friday afternoon:

    On one side of A4 paper, you have 3 minutes to draw (using only pictures) your organisations company strategy.

    Once you have completed the challenge, compare your drawing to your colleagues and discuss:

    – what analogies you’ve used and why?
    – similarities and differences between your drawings?
    – what elements of the strategy were easiest to represent in your drawing?
    – what elements of the strategy were hardest to represent in your drawing?

    I think this should spark some interesting debates to end the week!!!