Do you and your colleagues have to prepare and share plans for business or major projects?
Would an approach to present and share separate plans in an integrated way be
of help? One which helps people develop and understand the overall picture in
an interesting and participative way?
Read on….
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Yes And Mapping Article For Web
1. Do you and your colleagues have to prepare and share plans for business or
major projects?
Would an approach to present and share separate plans in an integrated way be
of help? One which helps people develop and understand the overall picture in
an interesting and participative way?
Read on….
Driving to the coast with my children, I played
over in my mind thoughts about a course
design.
Mapping
The Way
Arriving on a cold but sunny beach I found CLOUD MAPPING SITE ~ EXMOOR
myself pointing at the sky, using the fluffy Project managers were developing new plans
cumulus clouds as virtual “Post It” notes to for ten different areas of the project and he
construct my course. With startling clarity I needed to be assured that the plans would
"saw" the course; "The Flexible Thinking integrate. In addition, he wanted to ensure that
method here, creative styles there, Solution the plans were robust, took into account key
Focus at that end...," I mumbled. dependencies and that the plan owners’
colleagues would endorse them.
Onlookers would have seen a lunatic waving his
arms at the sky but my children provided the On the team, many people were new and those
perfect excuse for lunacy. My impromptu "cloud with a longer history were low in energy from
mapping" worked well, it allowed me to get a fighting fires. Some team building would be
sense of how the course would fit together and beneficial. We agreed a two day workshop to
I was able to design it quite quickly. tackle the situation. The challenge was how to
design it for maximum success.
Now let’s track forward in time to a recent
meeting with a client. A programme director,
Workshop Outcomes
he had taken on the challenge of turning
around a failing, multi-million pound, We agreed the following:
transformational change programme.
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2. CHALLENGE TWO – HOW TO ACHIEVE
WORKSHOP OUTCOMES
The Group will have: OUTCOMES
Developed a high level integrated plan A common way to share plans is to have people
to implement the System that identifies present them and others feedback but I
why this plan is different to previous envisaged that people would be dozing in the
plans first presentation and comatose by the tenth.
Provided recommendations to We needed something participative and
individuals so that they may adjust their collaborative so stealing a trick from my beach
detailed plans exercise I decided to use mapping.
A sound awareness of each plan Mapping is a technique I use often. For this
workshop I decided it would be a collaborative
and enjoyable exercise to have the teams
Workshop Design Challenges create individual maps of the plans and then
pool their knowledge by building these in to a
CHALLENGE ONE – NEED TO BUILD TEAM
giant integrated map. I used the type of
Though it was not an outcome, it was mapping that Buzan calls “Mind Mapping”.
important to build the team to ensure a
For an explanation of Mind Mapping please see:
successful planning review. Consequently, the
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map
client agreed to dedicate three hours to run a
Solutions Focus workshop.1 The focus was on CHALLENGE THREE – HOW TO ENSURE
how the team would be working when the CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK
project was on track and achieving milestones.
As the project had a history of issues, we
needed to ensure that participants would
review each plan in a considered and
constructive way. To this end, we used a
variation on De Bono’s Six Hats (please see
Page 4).
For an explanation of Six Hats please see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Thinking_Hats
Running the Workshop
The group of fourteen convened at a hotel near
BUILDING THE TEAM – RICH PICTURE
St Paul’s in London. The room was not ideal,
having no natural light or fresh air but the
group was keen and open-minded about the
workshop.
1
[Please see our previous article on Solutions Focus or
request it from hi@yesand.co.uk ].
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3. Next, I drew a central image and name for the
map on the first two sheets and plotted broad
lines from this to each of the ten sheets.
It’s quicker to use large flipchart markers for this
Try and make the map attractive with colour,
shading and thicker lines. The teams use these
“marker lines” as the point from which to start
their map. This framework also provides a good
DAWN ST PAUL’S, LONDON illustration of what the final map will look like.
PREPARING FOR MAPPING
PREPARING THE TEAM
You may ask, why map? Why not just list the
We warmed up with a “focus” session of
plans on a sheet? Our experience shows that
around thirty minutes’ duration. This enabled
creating maps enables people to think more
the group to relax, review the purpose, clarify
broadly, helps visualise relationships between
objectives, see the workshop outline and set
different aspects of a topic and is more
the rules for the two days. Through this
interesting than compiling lists.
exercise and the Solutions Focus session, the
To form the integrated plan, the group had to group generated a great deal of energy to carry
draw their individual maps on a flipchart. As it forward.
is crucial that the integrated map fits together,
I prepared a map framework on the wall before
the workshop.
RELAXING START
PARTIAL FRAMEWORK
This framework consisted of two sheets of REVIEWING AND MAPPING PLANS
flipchart paper on the wall and ten further We arranged the review and mapping into
sheets of paper around them. three sessions. In each session, the group split
into teams, each team reviewed a plan from
Use 3” x 5” Post It notes to work out the right
different perspectives, provided constructive
configuration of the paper
feedback to the owners and mapped the plan.
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4. To ensure uniformity and ease of sharing QUESTION TEMPLATE ~ EVALUATING THE PLANS
information, you should have a standard format 1. What benefits does this plan provide
for the plans people bring. Brief the plan owners over what has been done before? To
on the format in plenty of time to allow them to whom?
prepare it. It could be PowerPoint or Word
2. What makes this plan different to what
format
has been done before? Why will it work
now?
In the first session I explained the end goal of
an integrated map to the group, using the map 3. What issues must we manage if we are
framework to illustrate this. to implement the plan successfully?
4. What additional data does the plan need
Ensure that you record the brief on flipcharts or
to ensure we can implement it
on briefing sheets so that people can review
successfully?
them when needed. Chaos can ensue if you
don’t 5. Who or what is this plan dependent on?
How feasible is this?
Next, I briefed the group on their review
6. What ideas do you have to overcome
actions. I gave them a question template (see
the issues you have noted at “3 - 5”?
box) and explained that they should:
1. Review the documented plan (verbal report REVIEWING THE PLANS
and / or reading)
The group split into four teams to review one
2. Complete question templates plan each and had 90 minutes to achieve this.
3. Feedback to plan owner
4. Prepare two flipcharts and record on
flipchart 1:
A brief summary of the plan
Benefits of the plan
Why this plan is different to previous plans
On flipchart 2 record:
The issues the project team must manage
to ensure the plan works
Further data / information that is needed to
ensure the plan can be completed
On whom or what is the plan dependent
EXAMPLE REVIEW OUTPUT
Ideas to overcome issues
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5. See the example map for an illustration of this
MAPPING THE PLANS
point.
Following the review, I briefed the teams on
preparing the maps and how they should For the first session, we split the review and
mapping stages to avoid overloading the
format them. Each map had the name of the
participants at the briefing stage. Once they had
plan in a “cloud” at the point where the map
carried out one review and prepared one map,
started, to make it easily identifiable.
we combined the review and mapping of each
Be prepared, they won’t all follow the format for the next two sessions
suggested, but the starting point (the “cloud”)
is crucial. They had thirty minutes for this
GROUP FEEDBACK ON PLANS AND MAPS
exercise.
Each team placed their individual map on the
Ideally, everyone would be experienced in this integrated map framework and presented it to
type of mapping but this is unlikely so a few tips the group along with the review flipcharts.
on map preparation are helpful. Send an e-mail They had five minutes to feed back and then
to hi@yesand.co.uk if you would like some tips
ten minutes to discuss the plan with the group.
Allow an hour to feedback three plans.
Each plan owner was able to see where others
were dependent on them, common issues and
ideas to overcome them. They also received
useful feedback from others in the group.
Plan owners took away their feedback flipcharts
to help them revise their plans.
CONTINUING THE WORKSHOP
As the group added more maps to the
framework, they began to see the overall
EXAMPLE MAP
picture of the integrated plan.
Whilst the teams completed their maps, they
The rest of the workshop consisted of
discussed the plan in greater depth and further
reviewing the final six plans in two sessions. As
enriched their understanding of it.
people became more confident with the
It is essential that people record plan
process, they speeded up and we achieved the
information on each map at a high level,
review, mapping and discussion in 2.5 hours.
identifying only the key aspects of the plan.
As the final map was integrated, there was a
This enables the group to absorb information
sense of accomplishment and great energy in
and compare information across ten maps. Too
the room.
much detail makes it too complex.
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6. CONTACT:
Write: hi@yesand.co.uk
Speak: 020 8869 9990
See: www.yesand.biz
MAPPING OUR BRANDS
FINAL MAP
Another client, a chemical company, asked Yes!
CAPTURING THE DATA And… to facilitate a workshop for the marketing
team. They have grown through European
When the integrated map is complete, take
acquisition and have inherited a number of
digital pictures of each map and use mapping different brands. They needed a workshop to
software (I use Mind Manager Software2) to discuss a new brand strategy.
make a hard copy map that you can share with
To educate everyone on the similarities and
the project team.
dissimilarities of the brands, as well as
understand the pros and cons, they planned to
Conclusion have presentations on the branding in each
Group Mapping is a very useful tool you can country.
use to share information, prompt discussion As the time available was very short and the
and increase understanding. presentations would be after lunch (ideal for
napping), I suggested mapping the brands.
It encourages participation, engages people
We asked the country managers to bring along
and can be done in a relatively short time. As
some slides, adverts and / or marketing materials
seen in our examples, people can use words,
with pictures of the brands and an assessment of
figures and pictures to express their message
the pros and cons.
and the map provides a basis for rich group
We built a framework as before, except we gave
discussion.
each country team two sheets to map on. The
As one delegate said in feedback: teams developed their maps using the pictures
and we built a brand map of Europe.
“The enthusiasm of delegates and the output of
a two day workshop impressed me.” Each team then made a brief presentation on
their map.
With the information you have here, time and
The exercise was very valuable in highlighting
some facilitation skill, you can conduct a Group
the disparity in the branding across countries and
Mapping session yourself.
in building the knowledge of the teams, providing
Try it! core information for later discussions.
John Brooker Innovation Director. Yes! And…
2
Available at www.mindjet.com
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7. About the Author
John Brooker started his career in the RAF and went on to become
a Senior Vice President with Visa International. He now does what
he loves; running his own company Yes! And…
The company mission is to create successful organisations by
facilitating flexible thinking.
John and his colleagues help teams to think more flexibly by
facilitating workshops, developing skills and advising management.
His particular interest is innovation.
John is a Solutions Focus Professional, a Kaizen Training Black Belt Facilitator and a NLP
Business Practitioner. He also has an MBA from the Open University and tutors on the OU
“Creativity, Innovation and Change” MBA Course.
His regular clients include major organisations such as Visa International and EADS as well as
Government departments.
As well as the UK, John frequently works internationally in Europe, Sub Saharan Africa and
the Middle East. He writes the “Creative Gorilla” articles on creative leadership and flexible
thinking, distributing it internationally twice a month. To sign up, send an e-mail with
“Subscribe” in the subject line and your first and surname.
DON’T HAVE TIME TO DESIGN AND FACILITATE?
Do you want to share plans or other information across your organisation? If you have the
time, you can use this article to design and run a workshop to help you do that, but if you
are short of time or prefer to be part of the workshop, you might like to talk to us.
In Yes! And… we are experienced in using Group Mapping and other approaches for
workshops and have many satisfied clients. We also train people in Mapping.
To discuss how you can use Group Mapping to develop integrated plans, share
information and motivate your team, please contact John Brooker:
Write: hi@yesand.co.uk Speak: 020 8869 9990 See: www.yesand.biz
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO PASS THIS ARTICLE ON TO A COLLEAGUE WHO MAY APPRECIATE IT.
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