I remember the first strategy away day I had with the senior team in a recently merged organisation; each wanted to present their strategy and intended to use PowerPoint.\u00a0They were dismayed when I invited them to confine their presentation onto two pages of flipchart.\u00a0But the conversation we had that day was rich, challenging, supportive, relevant, human \u2013 different to what they were used to and completely different to what it would have been, had we been pulled into the usual content-driven, detailed, fact-based, past-focused place that slides often pull us into.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m not against PowerPoint \u2013 it has many great uses, but I find it is being over-used and used for the wrong purposes in organisations.<\/p>\n
My slice of the world is team coaching, and teams that are addressing knotty challenges (communication, competition, uncertainty, holding onto talent, etc) need to engage in open, honest, relevant \u2013 but mostly REAL debate that leads to clarity and commitment.\u00a0So \u2013 here\u2019s why I favour flipcharts and pinboards:<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Workshop objectives dictate room layout \u2013 not whether everyone can see the screen or has access to a plug<\/p>\n
2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Material can be posted on the wall, keeping key points in sight. And these can be updated, referred to, brought\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 back to the office, even framed!<\/p>\n
3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Flipcharts keep participants at high level, sharing relevant information rather than getting bogged down in detail<\/p>\n
4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Presenters can respond much more easily to what is unfolding in the room \u2013 rather than delivering a pre-prepared presentation<\/p>\n
5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Using flipcharts encourages movement around the room: creating a more energised atmosphere.<\/p>\n
In other words, using flipchart and pinboards democratises the process and favours the group over the individual and changing the dynamic in the room from telling to discussing and helping everyone in the room stay in \u2018adult\u2019 mode.\u00a0There can be something a bit final a slide, and a bit mesmerising about the passage of slides that lulls participants into a passive place.\u00a0Moving away from technology changes the engagement level and ups the conversational ante.<\/p>\n
Father of systemic team coaching, Professor Peter Hawkins talks about moving beyond insight to an embodied shift \u2013 and that this shift happens in the room or not at all.\u00a0With the help of the low-tech environment of Flipchart, pinboard and whiteboard \u2013 shift happens!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"