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...

The importance of innovation became apparent when startups with new business models disrupted established industries many of which are still grappling with the changing business landscape.Businesses have realized the crucial role played by innovation labs to improve their current business processes, for dreaming up new ideas and to bringing them to fruition.Innovation labs use the methods of agile startups, with the aim of coming up with new ideas that can either disrupt or complement the overall company. They can work independently from the parent company and have the freedom to ideate away from corporate constraints.In an innovation lab brainstorming relies...

Do you think that diagrams, charts, curves and tables are boring? So did we! Until we met Stefanie Posavec, the author of „Dear Data“ and trainer of our Dataviz Drawing MasterClass on May 28. Looking forward to this great training, and inspired by her cheerful charts, the bikablo trainer team invented a clever decision-making technique „on the job“, while preparing an internal train-the-trainer event. Learn more on how we made data work for our intentions! Two weeks ago, a group of bikablo core team trainers met in our Cologne headquarters in order to share their skills and get ready for our three day Visual Storytelling...

I read a lot about leadership, and not just because I’m professionally interested in leadership. What people write about leadership is a great source of insight into how they are viewing business organisations, and what they are thinking about how those organisations are likely to evolve. I’m particularly drawn to well-considered writing about leadership development, because dissatisfaction with the leadership pipeline is a good indicator of how quickly organisations are changing. This past summer I came across a great article by Josh Bersin entitled “Why Leadership Development feels broken and how we’re fixing it” Bersin considers the way that traditional...

Meaning, discernment, and the fascinating relationship between words and images – this is what visualization is all about. If you not only know the rules for visualization, but also know which conventional wisdom and beliefs you should toss out the window, it makes it easier to use translate concepts into visual language. You’ve no doubt heard the saying that a picture is worth a thousand words. I’ve heard it a lot, myself. It’s often the first thing people think of when they begin to learn about visualization, and in fact, many articles that have appeared in the press about the work we...

There’s a lot written about great teams, and, understandably, much of it is focused on how they get it right. We read about aligning individual contribution, solution-focused communication, building a team-climate that encourages risk-taking, etc etc etc. All the positives that allow good teams to evolve into great teams. Over my career I’ve worked with a lot of great teams, across a broad range of sectors and geographies, and I want to suggest a further, little-recognised, attribute of a great team – how they deal, individually and collectively, with getting it wrong. It’s a bit of a cliche, but great...

Meaning, discernment, and the fascinating relationship between words and images – this is what visualization is all about. If you not only know the rules for visualization, but also know which conventional wisdom and beliefs you should toss out the window, it makes it easier to use translate concepts into visual language. Rules for Visualization, Part 1: The simpler, the better? Not necessarily. You could, of course, attempt to draw the world using only three lines – as long as it truly helped the observer to better understand your point. Usually, though, one of the greatest challenges for visualizers is...

Our modern business world is often dominated by complicated structures. If we want to change or optimise these, we first have to understand them – and this is not always an easy task! Using posters to visualise complex topics or processes is an ideal way to bring clarity to the seemingly incomprehensible. Here are some tips for what to pay attention to when preparing a visual presentation. My great-grandfather was a carpenter. Using just a few tools, he built tables, cupboards, and cabinets – one of which still graces my kitchen today. What was special about his work was its...

Facilitating learning is a strange kind of business, from the outside it often looks like an easy thing to do “You just watch folk doing stuff then ask a few questions”, while from the inside it can be one of the most physically and emotionally draining tasks you’ll ever undertake. So what is it about this kind of facilitation that, done well, is so effective and rewarding, but, done badly, leaves everybody feeling so raw? Last week I read a new paper which made me come back to this question, as usual as part of a RSVP Design routine in...

I went half around the world to train advanced visualization skills with our partners in Singapore and China. I learned why you should not write names with red ink in China and had many other insights during my journey. Singapore The city was packed with people when I arrived, so I wondered: „Do they all want to join our new advanced training?“ Then I realized that the formula 1 race was on. Luckily, I had our certified trainer Jaya Machet by my side, who knows Singapore inside out. We ran the training at the national library of Singapore in a bright room...

Bikablo®1 Bikablo 1 introduces you to the world of pictures and can be used as reference material or simply as a source of inspiration. This book covers 6 areas over 131 pages: Script and graphics Objects Symbols Figures Situations Picture worlds   Bikablo®2 Building on a strong base of Bikablo 1, Bikablo 2 takes visualisation to the next level. You will find even more specialized pictures and poster templates for organizational issues ranging from personnel, individual personality, organisational development, strategic planning, project management, marketing and the general economy. This book covers 4 sections over 134 pages: Tools for visual facilitation:...

The last two weeks were pretty busy at the bikablo headquarters: We welcomed new members to our global family, and proficient trainers upgraded their portfolio with the bikablo advanced agenda. This yearly gathering allowes us to see each other face to face, to learn from each other, share experiences and celebrate. Please meet the new faces in our team: Christian is a consultant and Lego Serious Play Facilitator based in Lima and joins Alexandra Oporto at the NaveLab team for trainings in Peru. Gillian is an extremely experienced process facilitator based in Cape Town and opens the South African market for our visualization concept. Our...