Graphic Facilitation: Not Just A Pretty Drawing

Graphic facilitation is making the news lately.  The other day, The Oregonian quoted me in their article, “Portland Graphic Recorder Maps Businesses’ Route To Success.” Today, the Wall Street Journal published their article, “Doodling for Dollars: Firms Try To Get Gadget-Obsessed Workers To Look Up–And Sketch Ideas.”
 
As a graphic facilitator and the president of the International Forum of Visual Practitioners, I am thrilled (THRILLED!) about how these articles shine a light on powerful processes.  Yay… graphic facilitation!
 
At the same time, I found some of the articles’ comments absolutely fascinating, as they provide a glimpse into how some people react to this work.  Here are two of my favorites:
 
“‘Consultants’ get paid to create this stuff?”
 
“What’s next? High fives and smiley faces… duh!”
 
These comments underline a common misconception about graphic facilitation, graphic recording, doodling, visual note taking, and other visual techniques for helping people process complex information:  it’s all about the drawing.
 
Well, it’s not.
 
It’s all about the process BEHIND the drawing.
 
From my comment on the Wall Street Journal’s story:
 
. . . the value of graphic facilitation – or doodling, or graphic recording, or even organizing thoughts on sticky notes – is not necessarily in the perceived quality or beauty of the visual artifact. Rather, the value comes from the process behind the product: the graphic facilitator’s ability to listen to the conversation, see the bigger picture and how the group feels about that bigger picture, distill all that information down into its core content, and mirror that back to the group in real time while the conversation continues to unfold.
 
It provides clarity and insight in-the-moment during difficult conversations. It keeps teams on track and moving toward their desired outcomes. It allows ideas to be shared in memorable and effective ways. And it allows team members to see themselves as part of that bigger picture… which means they feel more vested in the outcome. Ultimately, that allows teams to achieve massive results in less time. Results like completing over 90% of the organization’s annual plan in just seven months. Or moving up the timetable for corporate expansion by four years. Or being able to simply draw out your business idea on the back of a napkin for a prospective investor and land those much-needed startup funds.
 
There IS power behind these seemingly simple processes.  And there are many companies out there that leverage the power of drawing out their ideas when business-as-usual just won’t do any more.
 
I encourage you to pick up the pen and do the same!