Expert endorsement

Dr Mark Harrigan

Edward de Bono Master Trainer

I use the CCS for corporate visioning/strategy and personal goals. I use it because it taps into visual learning styles and allows people to draw on their experiences/memories. Thus it can make what is often only a cognitive/cerebral understanding of something more real or "visceral". It also makes it "safe" to share thoughts that otherwise might not be mentioned.

Perhaps most importantly it enables you to achieve an outcome of shared understanding more quickly than traditional dialogue since the cards/images provide a basis and common language for constructive dialogue or story telling.

Let me give you an example:
A building services company had enjoyed success over the last 15 years, having achieved and surpassed its strategic goals. However the industry was changing and the company needed to establish a new vision and new goals to take it into the future.

The chief executive had developed a sense of what that vision should be and had put together a draft vision statement and strategic outline. The task was now to engage the executive team and various division heads with that vision and to build and refine it so that it would create a sense of purpose for the whole company. It was decided to hold a workshop with the ten key stakeholders to determine the vision and strategy for the future.

The day opened with a review of where the business had been and a reflection on past success. It was agreed the company was in a strong position to move forward but faced a significantly changed environment in the future.

The CEO then presented his strategic vision document, which had been previously distributed, and then we facilitated some brief discussion to ensure common understanding. Everyone 'signed-on' to the vision statement ... it made sense logically ... now we had to get them to sign on with their gut as well as their head.

We handed out a CCS vision pack to each participant and then to get people 'into the groove' of using the cards we used a 'standard' approach of asking each individual to scan their pack and select 5 cards that represented 5 key elements of their lives (business, personal, goals etc.). When everyone had selected their cards we asked them to share their 'story', ie to explain their choices, to their nearest neighbour. As usual, after a little reluctance, people found this fun and informative.

The next step was to ask each individual to select 5 cards that they felt best described the future vision of the company as they saw it.

Next, we divided the group into two teams of five people each and asked them to share and discuss the 5 cards each team member had chosen. We asked them then to reflect on the common concepts and common images chosen as well as to note where there were differences and discuss these. We asked each team to create a 'collage' of up to 15 cards to describe their collective vision and present it back to the other group. A final 'group picture' was created which made the vision vivid.

The result was a vision of the future state of the business that went beyond 'cognitive' understanding to real alignment. The 'refined' vision was embraced by the executive team and launched the discussion for the rest of the day into a new, well-formed strategy for success. Furthermore the executives had a powerful visual tool (the final group picture) to effectively communicate that vision throughout the organization.

From the time we introduced the cards to the final picture took just on one hour ... a great result that allowed the rest of the day to develop powerful strategies to achieve the vision.