Graphic Facilitation Training

My fixed mindset kicks into full gear for several areas in my life; one area is my abilities when it comes to drawing and writing on a flipchart or whiteboard. The irony is not lost on me given that I will frequently want to visualize something as I’m explaining or talking with someone but I have resigned myself to the results looking like chicken scratch. This was always acceptable in 1-1 meetings but not so much in professional training that I’m delivering. Luckily, my team wants to improve their skills while helping me get some skills; so we had a private training on graphic facilitation techniques this past week.

There are so many wonderful things to highlight about these 2.5 days…spending time
with my colleagues, meeting new people, not traveling for the week, etc. However, all of this just doesn’t come close to the progress I’ve been able to see in my own work. The creativity of what I can use this for and how…well, let’s just say I’m super pumped.  Here’s my first attempt at doing something “visual”:

I had several areas to work on: my letters are too thin and small, random icon/image placement, title boring, icons don’t pop, no depth/perspective, red lettering difficult to read, etc.

As the class continued, I found myself figuring out a few things: how to make a banner, how to use pastels, how to draw a person, how to use the chisel tip of my marker for writing, how to enhance for added elements (like movement). Not perfect but huge difference by the end of day one!

Then during day two I was able to integrate the things I was learning into one large chart. Seriously, the difference is overwhelming!

Now there are things I see on this chart that I would want to improve next time:  write the words first then draw the arrow, use a bigger color difference in pastels between ah-has and goals, improve title lettering, and drop shade some more elements. However, that doesn’t take away in the least bit how proud I am that I made this chart…me, the chick with no artistic chops!

In order to not overwhelm myself, I’ve made a game plan to continuing this path:

• Within two weeks:
  • Pre make charts (or at least the template of the charts – borders, etc) for Humanizing Work‘s 4 sessions
  • Determine key icons, templates, etc to start using each class
• Upcoming:
  • Pre make charts (CSM, CSPO, Training From the BACK of the Room, Client trainings)
  • Once key elements are solid, determine challenge steps

In addition to the plan for the growth of my skills, I have a new story to share for challenging yourself. A story to demonstrate overcoming a fixed mindset. And hopefully over time, a story to highlight how graphic facilitation has made me not only a better facilitator and trainer but leader.

In case it wasn’t abundantly clear already, I highly recommend this training!