I’ve recently realized that the visual thinking programs that I run are about three things:
1. Building Skills
We gather together for the purpose of building visual thinking skills, to equip each participant with the knowledge, process, and practice that will enable them to make drawings and diagrams that help them make sense of their world.
2. Building Assets
That skill-building isn’t about just-in-case learning, but just-in-time learning, because there is inevitably a current topic or challenge or opportunity that would benefit from you sketching it out. That’s why the second component is the building of assets. I want you to walk away from a learning experience with me with a visual asset that will be of use to you not just in the days ahead, but in the years ahead. When you apply your visual thinking skills toward the creation of a model that explains something interesting, you’ve created a resource that you can regularly return to.
3. Building Community
We don’t do this work in isolation. It’s through the conversations about sensemaking, and the sharing of sketches, that this world of visual thinking becomes real. My favorite part of any live workshop is when one participant shares their sketch and then the others run with the visual metaphor that was presented and take it in exciting new directions. Or they present an alternative model that approaches the topic from a different angle. Or they steal the model and adapt it to fit their own work. In addition to helping each individual push their skills forward, they build connections amongst the group. Through the shared attention on this unique skillset and the things you can make with it, bonds are strengthened.
For most of my career as a visual thinking educator, I’ve created those types of learning experiences for any individual on the internet who stumbled upon my work and wanted to learn more.
That’s what Sketch Instinct is all about.
But over the past year I’ve begun taking this skillset to groups that already have a connection with each other, from accountants and small-business owners to a network of scientists working in the field of bionics to a group of dedicated change and project managers.
Those custom Sketch Strategy talks and workshops have been just as rewarding as the time I’ve spent with self-selected visual thinkers, and I look forward to doing more of them.
Here’s to building skills, building assets, and building community. Let’s do a lot more of that in the months ahead.
Cheers,
-Doug