When you think visually, you put down your thoughts on paper in shapes, symbols and key words. To map out a problem or to develop an idea.
That sounds simple, are we talking about mindmapping?
Mind mapping is indeed a simple way to make your thinking visible. But there are many other ways to concretize your thoughts. And to expand your frame.
Visual thinking is an interplay between:
Why visual?
Our brain has an enormous visual capacity. Two-thirds of our brain processes is targeted at sight and visual processing – including our memory. When you make your question visual, you open a door to extra thinking power. And you make room for your creativity.
You automatically make three steps in your thinking
How does that work?
Take a question, like:
How do I develop a clear profile as a freelance consultant?
Or: How do we make our teams more self-organizing?
Together we map out your question and reflect on it. With a drawing it is easy to reflect in greater depth: The drawing is the tip of the iceberg, which beliefs lie underneath?
A drawing is the starting point for a conversation
We have a visual dialogue to get a clear picture of your approach. You can go back in the organisation with a change visual. Or we facilitate a session together, where we explore the issue with the people involved. We quickly come to the underlying question: What is it really about?
How does that help?
When you get to the core of your question, you create space to look further. Where are we now? What is the next step? A map helps to start moving.
Visual thinking, is that something I can do myself?
Yes. You already have the skills to think visually. I help you to put them to use at the questions you work on. And if you want to do that by yourself or with your customer, it is easy to learn. Start with this free 30-page ebook: your crash course in visual thinking.
Are you stuck on a change question?
Give me a call or send me an email. Then we look at in a different way.
If you want to read more about how I use visual thinking to support change, see: ‘Unlock your visual thinking power & create change.’