Visual Thinking Strategies

I just read and posted Christina's article on integrating the left and right sides of the brain. I loved it and I really resonated with the cycle she described with her clients who were at first afraid it wouldn't work, were willing to try it, and then were joyfully surprised when people loved it. She was talking about Graphic Facilitation and we experience the same pattern with the work that we do that is participatory. Sometimes people are hesitant and somewhat afraid to try something new, and yet when they are willing to give it a try they find that people love the opportunity to authentically participate and become highly engaged.

I have been exploring visual thinking the last couple of years since I learned about Graphic Recording and took a training in it. Last month I learned about Visual Thinking Strategies. I had the unique opportunity to see a mini-demonstration of this technique which is a facilitated group discussion about a piece of art.

It provided a dramatic understanding of multiple viewpoints and realities. The facilitator actually uses tools I'm now familiar with as a coach - paraphrasing being one of them - to help people articulate the meaning they see in a piece of art. It is a beautiful example of how people see and interpret things differently and there is no judgement.

I spent an hour today on their website - Visual Thinking Strategies - which has some great information on the technique, the research behind it, how it is used, the benefits, and you can see some videos of it being done. Click on www.VisualThinkingStrategies.org and check it out.

Cassandra at cassandraoneill@comcast.net
http://www.wholonomyconsulting.com