Co-written by Brad Closson and Mike Leamon

(Photo by Mike Leamon)

Since the dawn of mankind, humans have been “taking to the walls” of a canyon or cave to express their ideas and tell their stories.  “Rock art” has been practiced for over 30,000 years!  This is an amazing testament to the power of pictures and the longevity of this form of communication.

We could have named this blog, “Take it BACK to the walls.”  Visual planning returns this simple activity to the world of business.  Even in these modern times of incredible technology, it’s hard to beat post-it notes and a handful of markers.  New clients say things like, “energizing” “tangible” and “a better way to organize our ideas than staring at power point” and finally, “facilitation excellence to support our operational excellence.”

It’s interesting to note that my partner Mike Leamon and I have spent most of our careers in technology and software, yet our cornerstone collaboration pushes technology to the side.  We call our method War Room Solutions.  We are not alone in this movement.  Cutting edge software development methods (called Agile) also use wall-based visual management.

Over the past months we have received overwhelming support on this planning tool-set from our “tribe” which is made up of colleagues, clients and friends.  Here is a list of the aspects favored most by the new fans:

Story-telling

Story-telling serves a central role in human communications and motivation.  It’s another ancient and instinctively powerful tool.  Our brains are programmed to create, look for and follow stories.  Utilizing the walls, allows both individuals and groups to construct visualize and implement coherent stories.

Playful Approach

Connective Management’s style of brainstorming and planning on the walls is energizing and fun!  It increases the buzz in the room instead of sapping energy like traditional meetings or PowerPoint.  Sure, there will be tough conversations to deal with the “elephant in the room.”  Navigate those conversations with candor and respect and you will really lighten up the atmosphere.

Co-Creation

War Room planning allows for “shoulder to shoulder” collaboration.  Problems or opportunities are defined and solutions are created together.

Visual Connection

Colors, pictures and white space engage our brains in a unique instinctive way.  Creatively is increased dramatically when we use the walls as our canvas.

Scalable Integrity

Visual Planning is proving to be effective across large and small groups of people.  During a single day we use the same basic method with Fortune 500 companies and solo entrepreneurs.  Everyone loves the idea of aligning and influencing people but they grapple with how to shift from too many reactive activities and insufficient proactively.

Deep Rich Conversations

War rooms would be ineffective if they did not inspire deep rich conversations about what really matters most to a business.  Our methods simply provide a way to inspire and then capture those conversations.

Our side of the equation is fun as well.  We are passionate about continuously improving our War Room tool-sets and discovering new uses for visual planning.  Who would have thought that age-old practices like story-telling and “cave art” would have to be resurrected in order to revolutionize modern human collaboration.  Be sure to watch for your own opportunity to ask, “Can we take this to the walls?”