Client: Regional Development Agency
Author: David Goldberg, The Creativity Cooker Ltd.
www.creativitycooker.com Introduction
Graphic facilitation is not about covering up poor facilitation technique – you still need all those good Pinpoint Facilitation™ disciplines. Rather, it’s about helping a group to see the bigger picture. Being able to visualise the whole thing and get above the detail is often key to building consensus and moving discussion forward.
The tools of the trade are plenty of wall space, a large roll of paper, coloured pens and pastels. The facilitator acts as the group’s bionic-cursor – encouraging discussion, listening, challenging and recording the output as a kind of latter-day Rolf Harris.
Simple image + actual words = powerful memory.
In short, the group’s output is captured on a large sheet of paper as simple images combined with the actual words spoken – a powerful combination. For example, in one workshop a participant recalled a time that was "a bit of a battlefield". The image, plus his words, were remembered by all long after the workshop had ended.
Objective
As part of a review of the key processes of the Regional Development Agency (RDA), I was asked to facilitate a session to look at the process of how funding is allocated to projects. The objective was to identify areas for improvement.
Approach.
The approach was a Graphic Facilitation session with representatives from each of the divisions of the RDA. 
Although the goal was to capture the process on a large sheet of paper (already up on the wall for when the group arrived), I started with a simple proposition technique - "How well did the group agree that the current process was fit for purpose?" This is ideal for testing the mood of the room and initiating discussion. It also has the added benefit that it avoids having to start drawing straight away - the large blank sheet of paper can be quite daunting and it’s good to have already engaged with the group before starting.
Following the initial discussion, the bulk of the session (some 3½ hours including breaks) was taken up with the Graphic Facilitation.
Once the group agreed there was no more to add to the picture, I drew in some graph lines by getting the group to call out "higher or lower". These are the blue line, representing the amount of resources required at each process step, and the orange line, representing the relative duration of each step.
The final step was to hand out flash stickers and get the group to highlight the areas that they felt most needed improvement. As you can see, this part of the process was in urgent need of repair.
Practical Tips
With a process review I begin by asking "So, how does the process start - what initiates things?", but hesitate before drawing as it’s almost certain there will be disagreement on the start point. Even then, I record the first part of the process some way in from the left of the paper as usually someone thinks of an earlier stage later on in the discussion.
Some of the key questions I ask to keep the discussion flowing are as follows:-
- What happens next?
- Who else is involved?
- Are there any other inputs or outputs?
- Is there any other information that’s relevant?
- Is that linked back to what happened before?
- Is there an alternative approach?
Look for themes emerging. For instance, here the Hand of God appeared several times as a metaphor for things changing unexpectedly. This became a running gag and helped the mood and the pace. 
Don’t be afraid to take your time drawing at the board - the group will wait for you. The quality of the drawing is not as important as capturing the group’s output and you don’t have to be a skilled artist.
A label always helps e.g. "This is the Project Advisory Board".
Pastels are great for highlighting parts of the graphic, but they are also very useful for putting in the kind of graph lines described above, as it is easy to draw over the top of the marker pens.
Outcomes
The immediate outcome was that the group realised major inconsistencies – the process was different in different parts of the organisation. This was the first time that they had seen the big picture and several people commented on the improved quality of informed debate they had had as a consequence. Also they highlighted several key areas for improvement and agreed next step actions. I was invited back a few months later to help the group draw out a revised process that they could all implement consistently. At this session I learned that the original graphic had been used to revamp their website and had been used as the basis of their induction training to show newcomers how the process currently worked - hidden benefits!
Since then, the RDA has been restructured around the new process to create a much more fit-for-purpose organisation - a powerful outcome from a powerful facilitation technique.
Further Information
For further information, contact:
David Goldberg
The Creativity Cooker Ltd.
E-mail: info@creativitycooker.com
Web: www.creativitycooker.com
