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TOOLS@WORK

Corporate trainer Priya Kumar

Nothing sketchy about this one. Sure, it's an American guru giving gyan from across the Atlantic, but our desi corporate trainer and art therapist agree: Visual thinking through the use of drawing, an ability grossly underused by corporates, is one of the most powerful tools for solving problems.
 
In short, anybody with a pen and a scrap of paper can use visual thinking to work through complex business issues. A surprise bestselling US novel, THE BACK OF THE NAPKIN: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures by Dan Roam, tells you why ditching power point presentations for drawings (no matter how bad), can help in more ways than one.

Google was designed on a napkin

A Wall Street Journal clip pasted on the author's website shows Tim Armstrong of Google drawing out the company's vision on a napkin. According to Tim, Google has been expanding this single napkin sketch for seven years, and plans to continue refining it for at least another five.

Corporates need to get rid of visual block

Why desi corporates aren't thinking visually: Most corporates choose to believe they are not creative, and that drawing is the domain of a few geniuses. "People are so used to using words to drive home a point, to expect them to get creative, ups stress levels and is perceived as work load," explains corporate trainer Priya Kumar.

Sign up for a visual workshop: To sign up for a 3-hour session that teaches techniques of using visuals in mass and one-on-one presentations, log on to www.priya-kumar.com

How drawing "live" can boost career

Roam clarifies that pictures that work are so simple, anybody can draw them. Priya Kumar reiterates the power of pictures. Here's how it can help your career:

>>Encourages group participation: Having a picture drawn for the team, during a business meeting or presentation, invites participation and shared problem-solving.
>>Improves communication: The clarity and power of a hand-drawn image will allow you to communicate directly with your audience.
>>Makes meetings more engaging: Visuals are by far the most effective means of making an impact and keep the
audience engaged.
>>Adds a human touch: The paper napkin technique, as opposed to a fancy-gadget-run presentation, adds a human touch to the show. It simplifies not only the problem, but also the process.
>>Makes it relatable and realistic: Hand-drawn visuals add a level of
tangibility and reality to the concept in question.

A picture speaks a thousand words: Corporates

Gaurav Seth, Business head, VGC
I am a firm believer in breaking down a problem visually, in order to simplify it. Whether it is an internal meeting, or a client brief, the system works wonders in advertising.

Dhiraj Gupta, MD, Jumbo King Vada Pav
In all our presentations, the rule is, no slide should have more than two sentences, and a striking visual should accompany each slide. I rarely use live drawings as a tool, though.

Purvi Sheth, Vice President, Shilputsi Consultants
I believe in presenting content as pictorially as possible. However, I also believe that too many visuals distract, and are not taken too seriously during a presentation.

Art therapist who encourages corporates to paint

We all know that drawing can be relaxing. But what you don't, is that taking it up as a hobby, could rid you of your block against drawing in meetings. "Painting in private can help a person open up, and gain confidence in the visual and creative sphere," says art therapist Amisha Mehta, who holds art therapy classes for corporates, and suggests you paint in a graffiti style when you are stressed.

DISCOVERED! Paper napkin power

Roam discovered the power of the paper napkin when he was asked to make a power point presentation for a colleague at the last minute, on the role of the Internet in American education. The problem was that he didn't have one. So, the first thing he did was grab a pen and the nearest napkin, and began sketching out how to build a useful website for that audience, and later recreated it on a white board, turning the meeting into an interactive exchange.

The next time you have a business problem, try this:

In an interview with a British newspaper, the author suggested this solution for anyone stuck in a business quandary:

Step 1: Draw a small circle in the middle of a page and label it
"my business".
Step 2: Now, on one side, draw a larger second circle, and call it "my customers".
Step 3: Draw an arrow between the circles, and label it "my sales channel".
Step 4: Add a few words describing that channel: Is it "good", "needs improvement", "solid", "stretched", etc.
Step 5: On the other side of the "my customer" circle, draw a third circle and call it "my competitor".
Step 6: Is this circle bigger than yours? Is it closer to your customers, or farther away?
Step 7: Draw an arrow between "competitor" and "customer" and describe that channel.

Order the book

On Amazon.com for Rs 725 approx.

To download pdf versions of the author's napkin tools, log on to http://digitalroam.
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