Crackerjack Visual Thinking

Tag: vision

  • Creating your organisations vision for 2022 (now is the time!)

    Creating your organisations vision for 2022 (now is the time!)

    With just under 3 months to go before 2022, have you got a clear idea of your vision for 2022? If not, now is the time to create that vision and begin sharing it with your people!

    For various reasons, many organisations only begin planning for the new year ahead a month or two after it has begun! That’s a couple of months where people may not have the clarity or direction they need to lay the foundations for a successful year ahead.

    Creating a clear vision for 2022 ahead of time allows people to prepare themselves, their teams and their organisations ready for the start of the New Year. Investing time and resource into creating your vision now will pay dividends (metaphorical and literal!) in the coming year.

    To discuss how best to visualise your vision for 2022, please do give us a call on +44 (0)115 6483381 or contact us.

    John

    John Ashton – Founder of Crackerjack Visual Thinking

  • Can your business tick all the boxes in this SIMPLE business health check?

    Can your business tick all the boxes in this SIMPLE business health check?

    It can be easy to lose track of the big picture and get lost in the complexity of running your business. To help with this, here’s a simple template I’ve developed to help you check the health of your business.

    The health check uses the SIMPLE mnemonic to focus on 6 key areas of running a business:

    Systems
    Innovation
    Metrics
    People
    Leadership
    Experience (i.e. customer experience)

    Simply work your way around the template and see if you can tick all the boxes against each of the statements shown.

    If you can tick all the boxes then great! Although don’t be complacent and regularly use the health check to ensure this continues to be the case.

    If you can’t tick all the boxes, take time to examine the reasons for this and plan the actions you need to take to enable you to tick the box.

    Click on the button below to download the SIMPLE business health check:

    simple-checklist-2Download

    If you’d like to talk more about the health check, please do get in contact.

    Regards,

    John

    John Ashton | Crackerjack Visual Thinking

  • As the UK ‘unlocks’, it’s more important than ever to communicate a clear vision for your business

    As the UK ‘unlocks’, it’s more important than ever to communicate a clear vision for your business

    As the countries of the UK emerge from the latest lockdown and progress through their COVID roadmaps, many businesses are opening up for the first time in months and/or having to adapt to how their customers want to do business now that they are used to working in a virtual, working from home, socially distanced, culturally changed (?) world.

    The key question for me is how many of those businesses have taken the time to review their business vision (which maps out the fundamental way in which they operate and details what they are striving to achieve)?

    It’s easy to understand why, in the scramble to get income flowing again, many businesses will not take even an hour to review their vision. But they could well be missing out on identifying fundamental issues that could eventually lead to their businesses being uncompetitive in the new post-pandemic world.

    Realising that you are targeting the wrong customers, using the wrong channels to deliver products or services and using physical office/shop space in an inefficient way are examples of how taking the time to review your business vision can help guard against running your business in the same way as normal – when the ‘old normal’ potentially no longer exists!

    So please, take time to review your vision and make sure it is fit for the future (and not the future as you saw it 18 months ago).

    All the best,

    John
    Crackerjack Visual Thinking

    If you would like to discuss your organisations vision including how to develop and communicate it impactfully, please contact me and visit www.crackerjackvisualthinking.com

  • Achieving your organisation’s Vision: A joined-up approach is vital!

    Having a Vision and then successfully achieving it requires a coordinated approach focusing on three key activities: Communicating, Enabling and Embedding. In this blog episode, I share my thoughts on the importance ensuring you have a joined-up approach to these key activities (and what can happen if you don’t!):

    To discuss achieving your organisations vision in more detail, please do get in touch using the options below.

    Get in touch…

    Phone: +44 (0)115 6483381

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    Thank you for your response. ✨

  • Keep calm and focus on your vision

    Before I continue, I recognise and acknowledge that the current Coronavirus situation is really tough for many many people and livelihoods and jobs are at risk (putting aside the obvious health implications of the virus). I therefore write this post with that in mind and in the genuine belief that focusing on the future can provide some potential help during these difficult times.

    It’s natural and a necessity for people and organisations to be responding tactically at this time to ensure their businesses are able to operate in some way, shape or form during this pandemic. Completely understandable and a requirement of any responsible business.

    However, it can be easy for business owners to take their eyes off the long term vision of their business (I know I’ve done it!). It’s also easy to forget to learn from the current situation – there are many valuable lessons learnt already and to be learnt over the coming weeks. So here are some ideas I offer to help:

    • Take time at the end of each day to think about:
      • What went well and what could have gone better?
      • What processes could I change to make things work more smoothly?
      • How could technology help me do things more efficiently?
      • Are there any opportunities to use tech’ to help me work even more collaboratively with my team and customers (remotely/virtually)?
      • Has working from home/remotely actually improved mine/my teams productivity and effectiveness?
    • Every few days set aside time to think about:
      • Is there anything I’ve learnt over the last few days that would fundamentally change my long-term vision for my business?
      • Is there anything I’ve learnt over the last few days which will help make my business more resilient in the future?
      • Are there any new opportunities I’ve identified for the business which I can plan for or take action now to achieve?

    Taking the time to think about and act on the above will pay dividends for your business both now and after this situation comes to an end. You may even find that your vision for your business alters to a greater or lesser degree due to what we’re all experiencing at the moment. But it will need you to ‘look up not down’ during these tough times.

    Good luck and as always if Crackerjack can be of help do contact us.

    All the best,

    John

  • 1 hour to draw a global IT strategy for a CIO! #visualthinking #graphicrecording

    Today I’m off to spend 1 hour with the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Interflora’s owner FTD Companies. In that hour I’ll be capturing his vision for the companies global IT strategy using the trusty visual thinking tools of pens and paper. Ironic given that it’s an IT strategy!

    Screen Shot 2015-09-28 at 11.03.42

     

    Should be fun!

    John

  • It’s a great time to #review your #achievements this year and #visualise what you will #achieve in #2018

    As we approach mid-November, the end of the year is looming into view rapidly. Before the Christmas period begins, it’s a great time to review what you and your team have achieved this year and also to think about what you want to achieve in 2018.

    Reviewing 2017…

    Graphic facilitation involvement

    A great way to review the year is to take a large sheet of paper (the bigger the better!) visually map your 2017 achievements against a timeline of the year. Use drawings/cartoons/doodles in addition to words to really bring this to life. Get everyone involved – remember it’s not about creating ‘art’ but it is about creating a way for everyone to see what they’ve achieved over the course of the year.

    Visualising 2018…

    Looking forward to 2018, why not ask your team to each create individual images showing what they think the team needs to achieve in the coming year. You can then compare these to look for similarities and differences – and drive a great conversation that will help really focus people’s mind on the year ahead. You could then get the team to work together to produce a finalised visual version of the plan for 2018. Display this on a wall when complete and regular review your progress against this during the coming year.

    Alternatively, feel free to contact us to help you create a rich picture (like those shown above) of your teams vision for 2018 (and beyond!).

    For support with any of the above ideas, please do CONTACT US. 

  • Running a 2017 Kick-Off event in January? If so, read this! #engage #communicate #visualthinking

    Are you running a kick-off meeting in early 2017 to get you and your team ready for the year ahead?

    Being clear about what you want to achieve in 2017 and how you are going to do this is vital to the success of your organisation.

    60 page PowerPoint presentations and over-long speeches are not the best way to engage with your people and communicate key messages!

    Getting your people really thinking, talking and identifying the actions they need to take to achieve the organisations goals in 2017 will provide you with a much better chance of success.

    To do this effectively we recommend the following steps:

    • Think about when and where you get your people together. If it’s going to be a face to face event, remember that the venue and room play and important role in how energised people feel and how engaged they are with the event.
    • Identify three or four clear organisational aims for 2017. Any more than this and people won’t have the time to really think about the role they play in achieving each of these.
    • Don’t just tell people the information! Help them discover it themselves through activities and discussion. Learning information rather than being simply told it is proven to be the most effective way to really understand and retain information. A graphic facilitation approach which combines facilitation with visual thinking techniques can be ideal for this type of activity.Graphic facilitation involvement
    • Think visually! Wherever possible and practicable, use images and diagrams to complement the other materials you will be sharing with your people. Rich pictures provide a great way of sharing complex information and graphic recording can capture the key thoughts, ideas and comments that emerge during your kick-off meeting.
    • Follow-up after the meeting. Be sure to set up channels that enable people to continue the conversations started at the event. Also ensure that you find a way to visually show the organisations progress against the 2017 goals.
    • Plan ahead! Toward the end of 2017, arrange another event to celebrate success and gather learning’s from the work undertaken in 2017. These can then be used to inform your plans and kick-off meeting for 2018.

    We hope this advice is helpful to you. If you would like to discuss any of the above ideas, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

    John Ashton – Crackerjack Visual Thinking

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

    exec-draw-conversation-01