Upskilling is a process of learning new skills to aid you in your work. In the fast-paced world of today, you need Upskilling as it: enhances competencies and thereby ensures job security boosts employability brings new opportunities with added benefits opens up new possibilities with changing job perspectives With the current uncertainties this is a good time to learn something new or practice a skill, put on the backburner because of a lack of time.   I’m using this time to work on my flipcharts, practicing the Bikablo icons. By looking again at the icons I can see newer and fresher...

An Interview with Sylvain Mahe, Enterprise Agile Coach at Palo IT. Singapore.Sylvain was very happy to talk to All Lined Up about how Bikablo has transformed the way he works and the positive impact it has had on his company and clients. How has learning Bikablo changed the way you work and communicate? I work in an agile team which is a group of coaches, facilitators and trainers. Most of us, if not all of us, used slides as a standard way of working. Even though we had a lot of experiential activities in our trainings our presentations were slide...

Whenever we are trying to comprehend complex topics or make difficult decisions, it can be helpful to ask everyone involved to grab a pen. At the bikablo akademie, we call this type of small-format visualisation “thought sketching.” It helps you to analyse everyday problems, arrive at informed opinions, and gain clarity about the situation at hand. Here’s a practical real-life example: A few years ago, a colleague and I were working together to find suitable office space to rent. After one of our appointments to look at an office, the usual happened: we just couldn’t make a decision. Instead, we found...

Imagine a working environment where everyone is able to quickly and effectively communicate their ideas across lingual and cultural barriers.Groups can resort to visual metaphors at a strategy conference in order to express things that they would not have been able to verbalise. E.g. company HQ depicted as an ivory tower with people starved of information, departments portrayed as isolated silos, teams paddling aimlessly in a sea full of reefs and sharks. The ability to communicate an idea visually can increase alignment, reduce potential conflict and misunderstanding, allowing teams to work effectively and productively. Therefore, visualization can help a participative...

When, during discussions with colleagues or clients, you once again get that feeling that there is a lack of mutual understanding, what you’re really missing are just three things: a pen, a sheet of paper, and a couple of drawing basics. With these, visualization opens a second channel of communication, and immediately, people begin to better understand each other’s point of view. Back in 1971, Allan Paivio, a native Canadian, introduced his Dual Coding Theory at the University of Western Ontario. His theory was based upon the assumption that, since we mentally process images differently than we do verbal or written information,...

It is very hard to have clear thought processes due to the bombardment of ideas, information, & observations. It is helpful to put your thoughts on paper be it text, graphics or pictures. More and more people are using 'thought sketching' to make ideas visible. By using icons, symbols, pictograms or graphics as key visuals you can make an abstract idea tangible. Content you have written or drawn is easier to remember and recall as most people learn by seeing and doing rather than hearing. An illusion of having understood something arises when too complex information is delivered too quickly. Slide...

Visual language is defined as a system of communication using visual elements. Just as people can verbalise their thinking, they can visualise it. Our brains are constantly busy with observations, ideas and arguments so it is helpful to put everything that comes into our head down on paper. More and more people use thought sketching in the form of text, graphics or pictures in order to make the ideas visible. Research has proved that people grasp things bette by doing rather than by seeing or hearing them. Visualisation offers learners a chance to "do" something in a manner that is accessible...