Hoopla in the Redwoods

Tricky Dick via hues

Angie and I were out in the Redwood Forests this weekend - hiking, drinking wine, playing with fire, and making Hoopla.

It was a good weekend.

I have to recommend Hoopla to anyone who is looking for a boardgame that demands multiple skills and is not overly competitive. It's just plain fun.

Hoopla combines pictionary with password with charades and more.

The picture above is from my clue for Angie to guess, "Richard Nixon".

For a game that tests verbal, visual, and kinesthetic skills - I have to recommend Hoopla.

VizThink 09 Highlights VII: John Wards' Kinesthetic Modeling

John Ward leading our workshop

I saw some outstanding talks at VizThink 09, and met some really interesting people - but the greatest takeaway from the three days was definitely my introduction to Kinesthetic Modeling.

The workshop was led by John Ward of Many Minds. John is one of the nicest men you'll ever meet. I'd been introduced to John last year, when he was doing the graphic recording of the Leadership Challenge event I attended in Sonoma, so I was happy to see him again.

I knew that John was on the agenda at VizThink, but apologized to him - I wouldn't be able to attend his workshop, because I needed to see another one.

John, gentleman that he is, scheduled a follow-up session for myself and a number of others who also expressed disappointment at missing his session.

So, Tuesday night we all gathered to learn about Kinesthetic Modeling.

I am a camera...

John issued each table of 4 a bag of 'holy scrap' - odds and ends that possess no inherent meaning - and asked us to dump the bag on the table. Then he walked us through a quick process:

1. Each of us were to grab 3-4 pieces that 'spoke to us'.
   
2. Organize the pieces in a manner that said something about us
3. Let the other members of our table tell us what they see.
4. Share what we saw and meant to convey.

My arrangement is displayed above. My tablemates saw a swimming pool with aliens.
I saw a collection of technical hardware (I'm an engineer), that were very toy-like (I still love to play), and I arranged them into a camera (my favorite toy, tool, and mode of expression).

That was interesting, but the big project was yet to come:
Our team project called for us to model the current economic situation and its impact on the visual thinking community. To say we were skeptical would be an understatement.

The four of us modeled in silence. It was really bizarre to model and utilize resources with no conversation. I had no idea what my colleagues were making, so just did my own thing and tried to stay out of their way.

After about 15 minutes, John asked us to stop.

We were left with what you see below.

The current economic situation and its impact on the visual thinking community

John asked us to walk around the table, commenting on items we didn't construct, and write down what we saw in those objects. After we did that, the people who constructed them told us their intention. We were aligned on many items, but very different on others.

Our next step was to create meaning from all the observations, and capture our key thoughts.

Our thoughts...

You'll see that our thoughts were quite profound for such a quick activity:

• Our beacon (the spoon) is surrounded by barriers.
• The community is outside the wall.
• Shelters from the storm look frighteningly similar to traps.
• Walls had been built through fear, but they are keeping the community from the 'gold'.
  

I don't think I've ever seen an activity bring that much alignment on a complex issue so quickly.

I'll be trying this one with my internal teams in the near future.

I would highly recommend that you attend one of John's workshops and see this methodology for yourself. It's very powerful.

How to Run a Process Walkthrough

Last week, I tried something new.

I was working with a group on a logistics process, and it seemed to me that the whole discussion was too cerebral. We had a one-dimensional Visio image on a screen, but no process is one-dimensional.

Any process is 4 parts people, 2 parts machine, 1 part time, 1 part emotion, 3 parts fumbling in the dark, and 1 part flowchart..
That's on a good day.

You probably know by know that I'm a sports nut. So, I reached into my sports metaphor toolbox and suggested we do a 'no-pads' walkthrough.

Let's print out each process box on a 8x10 piece of paper, lay it out on a floor, and - like a giant chess board - literally walkthrough it and see what happens.

So, yesterday we tried it. It was amazing to see the difference. Staring at a projected screen is entirely a left-brain event. As soon as we stepped up and walked around our '3-D swimlane chart', people noticed problems. Right brains become engaged.
Imagine the power of using your whole brain at work... no, really... imagine!!
In 90 minutes, we changed about 60% of the process - simplifying and clarifying it.

I was pretty proud of myself, until Ken informed me that this is a standard event in the world of process mapping. Oh well. It was still pretty cool...

Where would a walk through help your team?

hues values

I believe that values are an important ingredient in the lifelong success of any person or business. Goals and objectives help you keep score, but alignment with values helps you win the game.
Quite a few of my team-building workshops focus on identifying the values that a team holds. Until you know your values, it's hard to tell if you're working in the right place, or on the right project.

Here are the values that drive my thoughts and actions.

Passion Matters

• There’s nothing I'd rather do than this - whatever this is.
• There’s no one I'd rather be with than our team and your team.
• Fun is a core design component in every one of my offerings. If that sounds unprofessional to you, I'm not the right partner for you at this time.
• I use these offerings in my life and work. I believe they are the best available.
• When that feeling isn’t there, I'll change or recommend someone else.
• I don’t see myself as a vendor – I see myself as a partner. If you don’t want me as a partner, I don’t want to be your vendor.

Innovate or Die!

• I aim for ‘a-ha’ experiences. They rock my world, and I think they’ll rock your world as well.
• I don’t create ‘me too’ products. I love being unique. ‘Blue Sky Thinking’, ‘Provocation’, ‘Thinking Sideways’, and ‘Falling Forward’ are typical phrases you’ll hear here…(Hear Hear!!)
• Unless I can ‘better the best’, I'll send you straight to them.
• I take risks, with a view to fail fast and fail cheap. I admire rebels, nomads, wanderers, adventurers, explorers, and inventors. I believe it's riskier to not take a risk.
• I look for 'R.O.M. - Return on mistakes'. I celebrate failures.

Be Authentic

• You might love who I am. You might hate who I am. But you’ll have no problem knowing who I am.
• I strive to not be overly tricky, clever, or complicated – in my offerings or in my life. I won’t try to fool you.
• My life and my offerings are aligned. The offerings reflect what I have learned in life, and my life gains from these offerings.
• Facts change. Truth endures. I search for the truth that lies behind the facts.
• We’re global. Our lives are global. My offerings are global. Anything less would not be authentic for me.
• I lead in the classroom, but I live in the field. The frontline is where I spend most of my time, ensuring that I hear the voices that executives never seem to hear.

Openness as Confrontational Zen™

• If I don’t believe in an idea, I'll give you the chance to convince me.
• If you’re willing to give me the same opportunity, together we’ll learn exponentially.
• I believe it’s a sad day when you or I don’t learn something new.
• I believe in confronting issues, problems, challenges, ignorance, prejudice, bias, gaps, rules, laws, models, myths, assumptions, and beliefs - But (here’s the Zen part) with no destructive emotional attachment.
• If neither of us can convince the other, there are only two possibilities:
  1) I am not strong enough as a teacher to help you see my position.
  2) I am not strong enough as a learner to see your position.

I'm Skeptical, not Cynical

• I think that’s true of you, too.

What you Need, Nothing More

• Like a women’s skirt – solutions should be long enough to cover the subject, but short enough to be interesting.
• If the above offended you, see "Passion Matters, #3".

Live, Learn, and Design through Story

• Not fables, tales, or myths. I'm a skeptic, remember?
• Real stories. Real people. Real research brought to life through examples.
• I want to know your story. I want to read the next chapter of that story. If I can help you write it – well, that’s cool too.

Be Physical

• I pat backs. I give high fives. I play loud music. You might catch me playing guitar, juggling, drumming on the table, or throwing stuff around.
• I'm a geek, but I'm a kinesthetic geek. I love research and data, but ultimately, we must put it into action. I make things happen. It’s what keeps me innovative and open.

I'm Accountable

• I own everything I do.
• I sign everything I do.
• I take the blame and share the credit for the output.

Aesthetics are a Need, not a Desire

• When I hold true to the above 9 values, a natural beauty emerges.
• Not ‘beautiful vs. ugly’ – last year’s ugly is this year’s beauty, after all.
• I embrace ‘beautiful vs. inauthentic, inorganic, cumbersome, or clever'.
• I want to engage all your senses.
• That’s why I fight for the above 9 values.

Offerings, not Products

• I don’t like selling. I don’t like being sold to.
• The above 10 values represent my sales technique.
• I love to team up with passionate learners.
• Water flows downhill – when you’re ready for my offerings, I'll be here.
• The easiest sales technique in the world is fear – and I refuse to use it (if you find me doing it, call me on it… please).
• My growth is measured in relationships, experiences, and wisdom before dollars.

For the past few years, my values have been in alignment with my work and my company, but it hasn't been that way for all of my career. How about you?
Have you done a values exercise? What are your values?
Have you experienced a time when your values and the values of those around you were not compatible?