Drawn Together Through Visual Practice

by Brandy Agerbeck

  John Ward • Kinesthetic Modeling

  Take note: all of this action, excitement, and understanding came without words, in silence! This develops frequently in Kinesthetic Modeling. The comments came out spontaneously, with no quibbling over wording. The whole group agreed on the meaning of the activity: “We can use the strings (our image for the future of our industry) to hold up the tower for one more year. We will explain and blatantly promote our vision to Corporate this one last time. We can do this; and if they can’t see our value we will go out on our own.”

  After dictating a high-level list of initiatives to me, they were out the door, exuberant, by 4:15. They shared their eureka moment; Corporate got the message. The next year my clients were brought east to re-envision and re-train the entire organization—a move that led to an industry-wide course correction.

  What’s going on here?

  Group thinking moves more fluidly when people don’t talk. Silence prevents interruptions from our chatterbox, argumentative minds. When no one talks as a model is built, several people are able to think simultaneously and in concert. Debriefs often reveal that individuals are hyperaware of each others’ trains of thought. Because there were no verbal interruptions, they collaborated more, resulting in themes fully played out.

  Frustration at the lunch break: It is natural to push up against an impasse. Skilled scientists and artists know to step back at times like this to allow the unconscious to process and make new sense.

  Iterations that alternate silent building with verbal discussion prevent preconceptions and runaway rationalization from taking over. Proficient talkers and writers can bristle at this; it takes a while for them to learn how to work pre-verbally. Most groups benefit by a mindstate shift like this at least every 30 minutes.

  Much of the model is filler as we grope non-verbally and kinesthetically for images that will lead to significance and new meaning. A great many images that do not make the final cut are entertained and dismissed before we settle on any explanations.

  The model is a foil, a non-threatening armature for us to hang our thoughts on as we discuss and vet them using a variety of our cognitive modes.

  A problem that is well seen and described frequently solves itself. This team spent the day reliving every aspect of their painful situation. Their breakthrough came in a flash as a result of this hard work.

  III. Rearrange the furniture in people’s minds

  Kinesthetic Modeling is a robust process with few rules. It works as long as it involves kinesthetic activity done in silence. It produces a tangible, three-dimensional framework on which to hang the group’s thoughts and discussions.

  Brian’s group has discussed their interpersonal communications problems openly. In spite of their candor at many meetings, the group has made no progress. He has used Kinesthetic Modeling with them before, but he calls to ask me for advice, telling me they’re short on time: “I can’t get out all that junk and go through all the usual steps. I want to use Kinesthetic Modeling with them tomorrow, but I can’t figure out how.”

  My suggestion: Kinesthetic Modeling is not just the use of tiny objects. Surprise them, surprise yourself. Briefly bring up the intractable communication problems. Next tell them they have just five minutes to silently rearrange the room and themselves to make communication as difficult as possible. Then have a conversation. I’d never tried this, so I wished him “good luck.”

  The next day, in session, several people immediately turned their chairs around and faced the walls or corners. One person left the room and sat outside the door. Another rattled furniture and papers whenever anyone talked. Another stood up repeatedly and noisily emptied his pockets on the table.

  John Ward • Kinesthetic Modeling

  Once he was able to get past the raucous laughter, all Brian asked was, “How is what is going on here like your team’s situation?” He captured all the answers on a wall chart.

  The agenda and the time crunch were forgotten because this was the most urgent conversation they needed to have. Finally, they outed the stubborn substance of their communication dysfunction and addressed it directly. Brian, who is normally a very nuts-and-bolts meeting facilitator, described the effect as “magical.”

  What’s going on here?

  The tremendous scale change, as well as the disruption of conventional meeting behaviors, is what surprises everyone this time. It prompts them to finally engage effectively with their predicament.

  The rearrangement of ordinary chairs and personal belongings embody the elusive issue in much the same way as the miniature objects in other examples.

  Humor and role-playing open people up.

  Visceral kinesthetic activities break through verbal taboos that block open discussion of their problem.

  A Kinesthetic Modeling facilitator benefits from being willing to go to the same edge to which they ask their meeting participants to go. I often recommend to people I’m coaching that they inject something into their process that they know will create some anxiety for themselves.

  After modeling sessions like this one I’m frequently asked if I use Kinesthetic Modeling for my own issues. But because the process relies so heavily on surprise and wiliness, I’m forced to admit that I simply have not yet learned how to tickle myself.

  IV. The roof falls in

  Having a great track record can make it easier to deceive yourself. Kinesthetic Modeling is quite benign, yet it challenges assumptions and reveals new perspectives.

  In a month-long, three-dimensional business plan workshop, a seasoned and successful entrepreneur built an elaborate model of the way he wanted his business to be. The expansive roof of the structure even embraced the boat he loved to sail on the San Francisco Bay. As he showed us his model, the roof began to collapse. We all jumped to help him shore it up so that he could finish sharing his fascinating vision.

  The next week he arrived late, apologizing for his agitated state. He had just backed out of a negotiation with a high-potential client. The deal had promised huge growth and profits for him, but he hadn’t slept all week. The night before, he awoke knowing his model’s collapsed roof was a warning. The growth he had planned would probably have overloaded his small company’s infrastructure, not to mention ruin his life. Without his dark appreciation of the model-building and the collapsing roof, he probably would have rushed into a disastrous contract.

  What’s going on here?

  Visual and kinesthetic thinking are spatial and multi-modal, a good antidote for runaway rationalization. I’d never claim predictive powers for the act of building models. I do believe the quiet act of working carefully with your hands opens you up to a whole host of imagery and prospects—elements of a bigger picture that you can then ponder.

  Our habitual logical, linear sequential approaches tend to gloss over the flaws of our initial assumptions and intentions. Add to these blind spots the relentless optimism and happy talk of many organizational cultures, that drive imagination to the back burner just when it is needed the most.

  The exposure and vetting of images during Kinesthetic Modeling debriefs is a form of strategic due process.

  Working with others, even on individual issues, introduces new perspectives.

  V. A large tree reaching for the sky

  Working with and responding to tangible materials makes pulling the wool over your own eyes more difficult.

  At the start of a weekend-long career development workshop, each participant was given an egg-sized chunk of clay. I asked them to quickly shape it into something that represented their passion for their work.

  Deborah offered hers, saying, “It’s a large tree reaching for the sky. It’s solidly grounded in the soil giving me the nourishment I need.” Another participant noticed that the tree actually seemed withered a
nd broken, anchored by a huge chain big enough to moor an ocean liner. Deborah was silent for a moment. Then she burst into tears. “It’s true, my hopes for my work have not panned out. I thought I’d love it. But I don’t and now I don’t know what to do.” Deborah spent the rest of the workshop re-examining her career vision. She would not have apprehended her own delusion without sharing an unguarded image with others.

  John Ward • Kinesthetic Modeling

  What’s going on here?

  Hands often articulate thoughts and feelings that we conceal behind our game face.

  Others can help us see our images without bias. They offer fresh perspectives that often trigger great insight.

  A Kinesthetic Modeling debriefing trolls for images. Many are generated and appreciated until a few resonate. They are described and examined before we try to explain them.

  Images that any participant sees are taken at face value. There’s no quarreling about the literalness or significance. As modeling continues, the relevant imagery tends to stand out and constellate around important themes.

  The wisdom of kinesthetic modeling

  Kinesthetic Modeling shares features with many experiential and creative thinking methods such as: working in a safe setting, physical movement, mind-body state changes, improv, etc. Through these six stories we focus on the unusual qualities unique to Kinesthetic Modeling:

  using ordinary objects and the physical space around you

  kinesthetic and visual activities—embodied mind

  sensoriness—dropping back into your senses

  trusting images before ideas, analysis, and explanations

  silence—blessed relief from the intellect, especially in groups

  Kinesthetic Modeling not only confounds the intellect—a good thing to do every so often—it sidelines our need to have a plan prematurely, and be right about it no matter what.

  The experience and outcomes of Kinesthetic Modeling are immediate and resonant to those in the room, groping together, with ordinary materials. However, the models and modeling process are vulnerable to outside criticism. Describing the modeling, showing pictures of the models, and gushing about epiphanies to colleagues who were not in the room are almost always counterproductive. Therefore, it is essential that the modeling be translated into terms that people who were not in the room can comprehend, or that outsiders are invited to have their own Kinesthetic Modeling experience.

  And one last story:

  VI. Twenty-four M&M’s® and one Ziploc® bag

  “You told us each to bring 25 ordinary objects!”

  An intelligence analyst once showed up at a Kinesthetic Modeling training with 24 generic green candies, without the “m” marks. They were in a small resealable plastic bag. I found it curious, but kept quiet through the two and a half days of training. During the closing, he provided his backstory.

  Covert character that he was, he assumed that I was profiling everyone. He wanted to foil that possibility with inscrutable candies in the plastic bag. He’d pitched this notion to his colleagues, but they didn’t play along. Nonetheless, he proceeded to show up in Kinesthetic Modeling terms with a poker face. He was caught totally off guard during the icebreaker when his friends scarfed up and ate his candies, every last one of them.

  For me this work returns as many surprises as it dishes out. And humor like this is a true blessing at work.

  JOHN WARD has 50 years experience in design, craft, and business. He helps people make sense of their lives using arts-based meeting methods. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, he specializes in leadership development and the online coaching of facilitators who want to use Kinesthetic Modeling in their practices.

  Reference

  The term and technique “Kinesthetic Modeling” is intellectual property of

  John Ward, copyright 1996-2016.

  Becoming a Visual Change Practitioner

  Nevada Lane

  In the early years of my work as a graphic facilitator, many of my work engagements followed a similar flow:

  Receive call from client interested in including graphic recording at their upcoming event

  Speak with client to go over the meeting agenda, logistics, and fees

  Show up at the meeting, work diligently to accurately and beautifully capture the meeting in a visual format

  Hand off charts and digital images to the satisfied client

  After several years of working in this way, I began to miss being a part of what happened after the meeting. I found myself wondering what happened with the housing strategy the team had agreed on during the meeting, or how the marketing team fared after the re-organization they’d spoken so passionately about. It became clear to me that to stay energized and connected to this work, I had to become more connected to the longer-term goals of my clients so that I could be a part of what happened after the meeting and see the impact of my work unfold.

  I developed the Visual Change Planner described in the following paragraphs for visual practitioners who have a similar desire to work toward longer-term change with clients, but aren’t sure where to begin the journey of shifting their relationship with clients to make that vision a reality.

  Meetings, the heart of change

  As most visual facilitators have seen, meetings can have real power. They can act as the “crucible events” that catalyze a group or an organization to move from one stage to another. The Visual Change Planner is a tool to help you consider whether or not a meeting connects to a larger change effort, and if so, to identify how else you can provide value before or after the meeting to support the change your clients would like to make.

  Not every meeting will connect to a larger change effort, of course. Some meetings, as you’ve surely experienced, are stand-alone events designed to solve a problem, have some fun, or help a group understand something new. Every effort to create change, however, requires people to come together to engage in designing and implementing their future. Keep your eyes open for these kinds of meetings. These are your best opportunities to use the Visual Change Planner and begin to engage more deeply with your client.

  The image at the top of the Planner showing people on icebergs moving through a body of water reflects the fluid nature of change and the fact that the next step ahead isn’t always clear at the beginning of the change effort. You might also notice that the figures in the image are facing different directions and convey different emotional states. The figures reflect people at different stages of Transition, the phrase introduced by William Bridges to reflect the internal process people go through in times of change. Some figures are still looking backward, mourning the past (the Letting Go phase of transition). Some figures are facing forward, dipping a toe in the water or questioning, reflecting the ambiguous and challenging Neutral Zone. A few people are looking to the future, ready to move to the new land, reflecting the phase of New Beginnings. The purpose of including the image at the top of the Change Planner is to gently remind design teams to consider the internal, psychological side of change during the design process. It’s not meant to be prescriptive, or to have each process step on the template align with a specific phase of transition.

  There are a multitude of organizational change theories, models and approaches to choose from. The Visual Change Planner is for the most part agnostic about the approach to change you might choose. The Planner is flexible and doesn’t outline a specific change process or model, so it works for Kotter 8 Steps1 converts as well as people who prefer the ADKAR model from Prosci,2 for example. It does assume, however, that you are aiming for engagement and alignment in your change efforts because organizational and systems change is first and foremost about people.

  Using the Visual Change Planner

  Below is a step-by-step process for using t
he Planner with a client, followed by a detailed, real-world case study.

  Use the Planner as a conversation guide with your client. I like to have the Planner next to me when I’m speaking with a client about a new graphic facilitation engagement so I can make notes as we talk. It reminds me to have a strategic conversation first, and then move on to logistics and fees.

  Start at the top of the Planner. Understand the current state of the client’s business and where the client wants to go. The client will often begin speaking about the details of the meeting they want you to support. Listen, then ask about their broader business objectives. The client’s goal may be cultural transformation, or it could be shifting how a team works under a new performance management system. Make sure you understand the broader business context of the meeting.

  Identify the process steps that the client has in place to move from the current state to the future state. One of these process steps is likely the meeting that prompted the client to call you in the first place. Investigate what other steps the client has already implemented or considered. What, if anything, has already happened to support the business objective before the meeting? What will happen after the meeting? Not every process step will be a meeting, but meetings will often act as anchors or milestones of longer-term change efforts. Clarify the client’s objective for each process step.