Images and A3 Thinking

By Pascal Dennis (bio)

Seems Getting the Right Things Done has been helpful in teaching A3 Thinking, the "story-telling" approach to strategy.

I'm gratified by all the good people who've told me, "That book really helped us – thanks!"

We're hard-wired to tell stories -- that's what our ancestors on the African savannah did at day's end around the fire.

(They didn't show PowerPoint...)

Like any good story, a good A3 pulls you in...

"And what happens next?" you wonder.

Where do images fit in?

Assignment

Here's an assignment for folks that have gained proficiency developing A3s.

Turn your A3 over – now draw a picture that tells the story.

Don't worry if you "can't draw" – stick figures, circles and arrows are all you need.

Now tell the story to your team through the image.

The better your understanding of the problem, the easier this'll be – and the clearer your image.

Hope they're helpful.

Cheers,

Pascal




In case you missed our last few blogs... please feel free to have another look…

Why Lean in Sales?
Back to Basics - What is Value?
You Want to Get More Done? Do Less…
Strategy Deployment & Language

Images and A3 Thinking

By Pascal Dennis

Seems Getting the Right Things Done has been helpful in teaching A3 Thinking, the "story-telling" approach to strategy.

I'm gratified by all the good people who've told me, "That book really helped us – thanks!"

We're hard-wired to tell stories -- that's what our ancestors on the African savannah did at day's end around the fire.

(They didn't show PowerPoint...)

Like any good story, a good A3 pulls you in...

"And what happens next?" you wonder.

Where do images fit in?

Assignment

Here's an assignment for folks that have gained proficiency developing A3s.

Turn your A3 over – now draw a picture that tells the story.

Don't worry if you "can't draw" – stick figures, circles and arrows are all you need.

Now tell the story to your team through the image.

The better your understanding of the problem, the easier this'll be – and the clearer your image.

We've tried to illustrate Lean Thinking, Tools and Leadership with our Brain Booster pocket cards.

Hope they're helpful.

Cheers,

Pascal

Pascal Dennis Bio

The Power of Images

By Pascal Dennis

Powerful piece by Caitlin Flanagan in the Atlantic this month.

"Jackie and the Girls" - about JFK's bizarre & uncontrollable womanizing.

Visual thinking and the power of images are central themes in this blog.

Caitlin's piece reinforces them.

Despite overwhelming evidence that JFK was a creep, the iconic John-Jackie-and-the-kids photos, hooks us every time.

"John-John has found a new an adorable new hiding spot. His devoted father, the most powerful man in the world, is clapping his hands with delight..."

So JFK continues to get a free ride, as it were, while contemporaries like LBJ and Nixon are judged harshly.

Their resentment is understandable, no?

Any learning points, besides "images are powerful"?

Let's see:

Life's not fair.

Be careful to be born rich...

Any others?

What would Socrates have thought?

Best,

Pascal

Why Images?

By Pascal Dennis

As you may know, we've worked hard to illustrate Lean Thinking, Tools & Leadership with doodles.

We've developed three corresponding suites of Brain Booster Pocket Cards, as well as an App (& more to come).

We're lucky to have a gifted artist in Dianne Caton.

But even the humblest drawings (like mine) can be interesting.

My latest book, The Remedy, is full of my scribbles, which Di transformed charmingly.

Images go directly to the limbic brain -- the timeless world of direct experience, memory & intuition -- where learning happens.

The rational or Left brain is helpful in processing and applying learning.

But we learn largely in our limbic brain.

Our limbic brain likes stories, images, drama, emotion...

Disengaged students don't learn. Accident victims, who tragically have suffered damage here, also struggle to learn.

So...in our own modest way, we're trying to connect with the seat of learning.

Humor also helps. It's a grim world -- the "Light Touch" has always been my ideal.

People learn best when they're laughing.

Cheers,

Pascal

The Value of Images

By Al Norval

What is the value of an image?

We’ve all heard the old adage – “A picture is worth a thousand words” but what is the real value that’s implied by this phrase? We all know that value is driven by the customer so what value do customers see in images?

Let’s start at the beginning - who is the customer of the image? It’s the person who is receiving the information the image is conveying.

What do the customers want? To receive the information in the least waste way; this means understanding it at a glance and to be able to retain the information.


Let’s look at an example situation. We have new hires into the organization and are trying to bring them up to speed quickly and safely without compromising quality. They are the customers of our training process. We use a TWI based process where we have an experienced trainer and standardized work.

Would our customers, the trainees, see value in images so they can tie what their instructor has shown them to the critical elements of the work? Of course! Images reduce training time and take away much of the confusions that occur when using only words even when we show people as well as talk them through the steps.

Would our customers, the trainees, see value in being able to use images to poke yoke their standard work after the training? Again the answer is Yes. Simple images trigger recall of key learning points.

What is it that makes images so powerful in learning a new concept? Images are much deeper, richer and convey more information. Our brain reacts differently to images. Images cause an emotional connection to be formed in our brains so we form more neural connections with images than with words only. This means we have a greater rate of retention with images and a faster recall of the learning point.

My observation from working with many different organizations is that most training consists of slide after slide of PowerPoint? Why? Because it fits into computer systems better. In reality, our minds work so much faster than the words appear on the screen that we become bored and don’t retain the key teaching points. I believe that images are undervalued in training and we in the Lean community should be striving to change this as part of our work.

For more information on the use of Lean images in training, see Lean Pathways Images.