How does Visual Tinking help people in sessions?

This table demonstrates a quick comparison of Visual Thinking Process, Visual Design Process, Techniques in Visual Thinking/Graphic (VT/GF) Facilitation Sessions, and Benefits in VT/GF Sessions in terms of time passing by in sessions. It suggests that Visual Design Process (JAM visual thinking, 2009) in VT/GF is developed on a simple and basic individual Visual Thinking Process (Roam, D. 2008). Visual Design Process is a group-level thinking process which inherits the intuitive nature of individual Visual Thinking Process. Participants as a group in the sessions can process the information in their minds as they have done numerous times in daily time.

Visual Thinkers/Graphic Facilitators also follow similar pattern to make a good use of appropriate techniques in each stage of Visual Design Process. For example, they use “Observation skills” to collect relevant and/or subtle information in the discussion. They quickly select out all these elements and draw them in front of participants with the technique, “Fast catch: word and image”. “Observation skills” and “Fast catch: word and image” create a common ground for “Collecting elements” and “Finding coherence”. As time goes by, the technique, “Deep listening: story and metaphor” help participants to compose of the words and images into coherent stories and/or metaphors as the base of “Composition”. “Holistic reflection” finally paves a way for Visual Thinkers/Graphic Facilitators to create a living document which is based on Team Mental Models or shared understanding in the sessions.

Visual thinking process is non-linear and non-rational, which is a proper ground for breeding creativity. Eventually, the thinking flow empowered by VT/GF techniques will bring fruity benefits to individual participants and teams in the sessions, and to stakeholders and employees after the sessions.