Show not tell

Welcome to the 222nd issue of (Fl)awesome Facilitator, a weekly riff about facilitation, an essential skill for work and life. Thanks for reading and watching!

Have you noticed how hard it is to get your hands on a paper map these days?

I thought we could pick up a map of Sicily from a travel agent.

Turns out they are a bit hard to find.

Feeling slightly ridiculous, I ordered one online.

I wanted a map so we could highlight destinations, get an immediate sense of distance and what was possible during our time on the island.

(Turns out I might be going to Italy later this year. Bikes feature again – it’s a story for another time).

I’m now the proud highlighter of a big, detailed Michelin map (remember those?). It’s stuck up on our wall and has led to some great conversations with our dinner guests over the past few weeks.

I didn’t know that Sarah has hiked in the Madonie Mountains. Nor that my sister-in-law has a thing about volcanoes.

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My clients seem to appreciate maps too. Workshop maps.

They like seeing where we are headed.

Get a sense of the distance between destinations.

And what is possible in the time we have with a group.

I draw them a picture of what is likely to be on the walls of the workshop room at the end of each activity or each day. I call this a workshop canvas.

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It works with details too. What I mean by ‘share ideas’ can be different to what my clients mean. Even we speak the same language, a picture makes things crystal clear.

Like this one.

When I showed this to my client, let’s call him Phil, he leaned in so hard I thought he was going to come through the screen in our online call.

‘I thought each group would report back,’ Phil said. ‘This looks much more efficient.’.

He also saw that this way of sharing ideas:

✔️ Gets people up and moving – vital if they’ve been sitting in a group talking for a while

✔️ Gives people the time to read, reflect and respond on their own

✔️ Ask questions or comment, without everyone having to listen

I didn’t have to explain or persuade. This way beats wasting time and putting everyone to sleep with a boring report back.

What I do after to bring all the comments and questions together differs, depending on the purpose, the topic and the time we have.

The point is that words can be tricky. They have an annoying tendency to go in one ear and out another pretty fast. Without sticking.

Showing my clients what an activity looks like or what a group will produce is as good as having a map on the wall when you’re planning a trip together.

Thanks for reading this far.

Stay (fl)awesome!