Presto Sketching

A book to help you think and communicate better with drawing

coaching

Here’s how your pen can break down walls

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In the last post, I showed you an effective way how to chart out a goal and how to get there, using the simple ‘Build a Bridge‘ visual framework. It included a way to plot out the different steps you’d need to take to reach that goal, and the distractions you’d have to watch out for.

You might have been thinking: “What about the things that get in the way of achieving that goal? How do I show those?” And well you should. We come up against barriers all the time, don’t we? I’m always a fan of not loading too much into one sketch to explain something, otherwise it loses clarity. So here’s another type of sketch that might come in handy for you or your team. This is the Goal Barriers visual framework. Take a look, and have a go at sketching it yourself:

It’s pretty simple, but as you’ll see it will communicate a lot. On the left is you. On the right, the target is your goal. That goal could be losing 10Kg, or launching a campaign at work… whatever is meaningful for you. The idea is that you can shoot your metaphorical arrow and hit your target. Now I’m going to add walls in the middle, getting in the way of you hitting that target with your arrow:

It can be incredibly insightful simply thinking and visualising exactly what barriers there are to your goal. Try it yourself, and try to be specific: draw a wall representing each barrier you can think of, and write what the barrier is above each wall. Is it lack of time? A special stakeholder who won’t get on board? Another project in the way, that needs to finish first?

Let’s take this a step further. Just like a wall is made up of bricks, each challenge is probably made up of smaller parts. Draw a few lines across each wall, like this:

We can now add a question below each wall about how we can break down that wall. For example, if the target is to lose 10Kg, and the first wall is “No time to exercise”, the question can be “How might I get some time to exercise?” Now – and here’s another useful thing about visualising barriers and cutting them down – you don’t have to remove the wall entirely, but just enough for the arrow to go over it.

Visualise what are some things you could do to start chipping away at those walls. You might even want to sketch those on the same piece of paper, too. Pretty soon, your walls could look like this, and you can then hit your target:

So go ahead and visualise (1) your target; (2) your barriers; and (3) how you’re going to knock those barriers down. Once they’re out of your head and onto paper, you’re one step closer to knocking them down in real life.

Was it good for you?

I’d be delighted to hear any feedback or questions you have about this Goal Barriers visual framework. Imagine if your whole team could do this together, and start busting down those barriers together?

See a clearer path to your goal with the Build a Bridge framework

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One of the best things about sketching is how it can help clarify your thinking. I’m sure you’ve had times where your head is swirling with thoughts, questions, worries and maybes… it could be about that important meeting tomorrow, or that prickly situation with stakeholders at work, or maybe something closer to home.

Whatever it is that’s keeping you up at night, getting your thoughts out of your head and onto paper is always a great idea. I want to show you a simple framework I’ve picked up along the way (I forget where I first saw it now) that has helped un-muddle my thinking a lot, and I hope it helps you too.

Visualising your goal with a simple bridge sketch

Take a look at the Build a Bridge framework sketch below, and why not grab a pen and some paper, and try drawing it yourself. It’s a really simple sketch, but I find it communicates a lot.

On the left side is you, and where you are right now. On the right side is your goal. That goal could be something quite tangible (like losing 10Kg, or launching a book by next July), or it could be more intangible (like a stronger team, or a healthier marriage).

Whatever your goal is, try to make it specific and realistic (hello SMART goal framework). You might want to even try drawing what that goal is, rather than a flag like I’ve done.

Next, draw a curved line from one side to the other. As you do that, visualise yourself reaching that goal. This is your bridge to your future. Now draw a few lines on the bridge, like this:

Those little lines across your bridge represent specific steps you can take to get to your goal. Think about these steps, and make notes above the lines about what each step could be. Don’t worry too much about the order and effort needed in each step; just get all those thoughts out as words on the paper, because you can worry about order and effort later on.

Next, draw a couple of crocodiles under your bridge. These are the things you’ll happily avoid now that you have a bridge to your goal (rather than swimming across, geddit?), but can still be distracting for you, as you try to reach that goal. Take a look at my crocs; they’re never going to win a Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize, but they look enough like crocs to represent distraction.

Now, name each crocodile with a specific thing that could distract you from reaching your goal, like – oh, I don’t know – Toblerone chocolate, or too much scrolling on your phone at night rather than getting a good night’s sleep (guilty!).

“Ah, but what about the things that get in my way, Ben?” I hear you muse. It’s a good thing not to overburden one drawing with too many things. Plus, we’ll deal with barriers in another post…

And behold – this is a map to your future. Look at your drawing, and think: how can I get to each step across this bridge? Keep that drawing taped up in your bathroom, or on your fridge… anywhere where you’re likely to see it every day, as a reminder of what you want to achieve.

It works super well for businesses too. Here’s a variation of the bridge drawing, this time with a building representing an organisation:

I’ve drawn the steps as financial quarters, but these could be anything that represents meaningful progress for your organisation. Why not give this a go in your next project planning meeting, or company strategy meeting?

How was it for you?

Try drawing this visual framework yourself, for a goal of your own. Or, you might like to try it at your next project kick-off meeting, as a way to help everyone get a clear, shared understanding of the project’s goal and major stages, before digging into the detail. If this is useful for you, either for yourself as an individual, or at work, why not drop me a line and let me know?

Until next post, happy sketching!

3 ways to visualise psychological safety for better team performance

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Think about you and your team at work for a minute. How supportive would you say it is for everyone to speak their mind, try new things, and learn from mistakes? Is it a pretty open, encouraging team, or is it rife with politics? Do you feel like you can be yourself there?

This is what psychological safety is all about: having a culture where you and your team can bring your whole selves to work, speak your mind with respect for each other, trust each other, be curious, be assured that it’s okay to try new things, and not be penalised speaking out, or for taking small risks. Psychological safety is essential if an organisation wants to have a culture where inventing and implementing breakthrough ideas can thrive.

Using sketching to promote and embed psychological safety

That sounds like a pretty good culture to work in, doesn’t it? So how can you promote and embed that sort of culture? By using more sketching and visualising in your team, of course! Here are 3 ideas to get you going.

1. Draw project ‘horror movie’ posters

I’m a big fan of awesome movie posters, as well as pre-mortem activities, where a team can discuss what they think could go wrong in a project at the beginning of the project, and then discuss what they can do to avoid those things. This is a great way for everyone to be more real with each other, air those anxieties, and be more connected by realising that everyone probably feels the same anxieties.

At the beginning of a project as part of a kick-off meeting, ask everyone to imagine (in silence) the project as a horror movie or disaster movie, where everything they think could go wrong HAS gone wrong. Then, give everyone a sheet of paper and a pencil or marker, and ask them to each draw a promo poster for that movie, showing what has gone wrong.

The drawing doesn’t have to be good at all; just enough to get their idea across. And like all visualisations, just getting those vague thoughts out of people’s heads and out in the open can be really clarifying. You can put everyone at ease by showing them a rough drawing you’ve done yourself, earlier.

Once everyone has finished (after 5 or so minutes), get everyone to stick them up on the wall, and let everyone tell each other about what they’ve drawn. Then, discuss as a team how to avoid those things going wrong. It’s fun, it’s really revealing, and it bonds the team a bit closer together.

2. Do a ‘Circle of expectations’ sketch

Another good activity to do during a project kick-off, or whenever someone new starts on the team, is to do a ‘Circle of expectations’ sketch. Draw a big circle on a whiteboard, and write ‘IN’ in it. Outside the circle on one side, write ‘OUT’.

Set the scene by saying that everyone has a part to play in the culture of the team, and this is the opportunity to state what behaviour expectations we all have. It’s a good idea to demonstrate what you’d like everyone else to do, so go ahead and write something like ‘WE DO THE TASKS WE SAY WE’LL DO’ inside the circle.

Ask everyone to grab a whiteboard marker and write what behaviour they think everyone should have in the team inside the circle. And then ask everyone to write what they don’t want outside the circle.

Discuss as a group how to make sure that everyone does what is inside the circle, and avoid what’s outside the circle. This is a great way to foster honesty, and having each others’ backs.

3. Draw a superhero drawing of yourself

This is a fun and very insightful 15-minute ice-breaker activity to do with your team. Ask everyone to draw a simple outline of a superhero on a sheet of paper (you can use something like the image below as a template if you want).

  • Ask everyone to imagine themselves as a superhero, and then write or draw their own SUPER POWERS around the outline. It’s totally fine to be a bit silly with this; it gives people a chance to get past any awkwardness about drawing and sharing this sort of stuff.
  • Then, ask people to write or draw what they really value inside the outline; this is the POWER SOURCE of you as a superhero. You might want to drop hints by including things like authenticity, honesty… things that reveal what really motivates you.
  • Thirdly, ask everyone to write or draw their KRYPTONITE, the things that make you anxious, annoyed…the things that sap your mojo.

As with all of these activities, get everyone to talk through what they’ve drawn, and discuss as a group how you can support each other to stay connected to your power sources, use your super powers to help each other, and avoid the kryptonites.

Your turn

The only way these activities will bring better psychological safety to your team is for you to actually do them. Maybe try them alone first to get the hang of them, and then do them with your team. I’ve used these over and over again, I’ve seen them bring great benefit to teams, and I guarantee you that they will improve your team’s psychological safety too.

So if you do try any of these activities with your team, let me know, send me a photo… it’d be great to hear how they’ve worked for you!

Sketch the resource Tank for better team efficiency

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I’m sure you know the feeling of being absolutely overwhelmed. You’ve got so many things going on in your head, and then one extra simple thing comes along, and you’re just flummoxed. Stressed. Jammed. Stuck.

Welcome to cognitive overload.

Not fun, is it? But hey, aren’t you glad there’s a sketch you can try, to visualise all those things, and then work out how to make sense of it all? I know, right?

The Resource Tank visual framework

I’d like to introduce you to my friend the Resource Tank sketch, and it basically looks like this:

You draw a tank, with a wavy line to show that it’s full of liquid, and then some straws coming out of it, going to various things that are drawing on that resource. The resource itself – the liquid in the tank – can be different things, like fuel, or time, or attention, or patience, or money.

When we run into a problem, or have to make a decision, it draws from our ‘cognitive fuel tank’. A few things or a few decisions are okay, but when there are more and more, it can drain us dry. Visualising it on paper (or on a whiteboard) like this is a great way to bring all those unseen things out of the fog of your mind and into the light, and then think about what we can do about them. But wait, there’s more:

By putting levels in your ‘tank’, and straws that go to different depths, you can also explore how different things can drain more of the resource, whether we want them to or not. This is a really neat visual metaphor that you can adapt and use in a variety of ways, e.g.:

My ‘attention map’ – what are the things that matter the most to you? There should always be ‘fuel’ for those things, which is why they get the deepest straw. There are things that matter a lot less, so we should only let them have a shallow straw.

Budget and expenses comparison – what would it look like if you compared what your budget expenditure should be, to what it actually is? Are there types of expenses that are crowding out other types, draining resources away from the things that matter?

Team resources and expenditure comparison – What would the fuel tank look like if it were your team? Say you manage a support team; are you leaving enough fuel in the tank for your premium clients? Or is energy being sapped by lots of seemingly urgent and important tasks?

These are just a few examples of how you can use the Resource Tank visual framework, and I’m sure that if you applied it to your own situation, you could probably think of (and sketch!) some more. Whatever happens, we all want to move away from this situation (below)!

So have a go, and have a think about how deep all of those straws are sinking into your valuable energy and attention, and then have a think about what changes you could make to set those straws at more – ahem – fuel-efficient levels!

Get your problems all MOPT up with this problem-solving method

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In the last post, we looked at an easy way to sketch out various aspects of a problem, according to three parts:

  • Rational – What do I understand about this? (objective, facts and data)
  • Emotional – How do I feel about this? (subjective, feelings and stories); and
  • Political – Who else is affected by this? (associative, connections and systems)

These three lenses give us a more structured way to approach and better understand a problem space.

Step 1: look for clues

So where does the MOPT come in? I’ll get to that. Firstly, you get the sheet you sketched before, where you jotted down notes and pictures about the rational, emotional and political parts of your problem. Then you go back over it, looking for clues that could give rise to ideas to solve that problem.

For this example, I’m going to change my initial problem to: I’m always late filling in my timesheet. Here you’ll see I’ve circled a few clues:

You might notice from my sheet that the two things I’ve circled in the rational space are like sub-problems, or problems within the larger problem. That’s good to highlight. You might also find connections that you hadn’t seen before. Notice the arrow in mine, where I’ve connected the fact that I don’t know how to classify all the things I do in the timesheet, with Sarah the Project Manager, who certainly does. This will lend itself nicely to an idea for a solution.

If you’re lucky, you might also find the odd valuable insight. One of the things I wrote in the political part of my sheet is that it’s hard for the business to track where time is spent. Afterward it occurred to me: if the business knows what projects we have on, and who is occupied on each project, then it should already have a pretty good idea of where people’s time has been spent, rather than starting each week blank.

Understanding MOPT

At the heart of this method is the now-famous innovation question: “How might we [solve this problem]?“. ‘How might we’ as an approach was invented by Procter and Gamble, and popularised by companies like IDEO and Google. I’m a big fan, because it’s a great way to have a positive mindset about any problem, and it moves ideas in more useful directions.

The things is, the ‘we’ in ‘How might we…’ is sometimes left out of that ideas-generation mindset. In other words: ‘we’ are the ones coming up with ideas, but ‘we’ may not be in the final solution. And that’s where MOPT comes in. MOPT stands for:

M = Me

You – either you individually, or the collective ‘you’ as the team taking on this challenge – might indeed be the one to solve the problem. Often those closest to the problem itself are the best qualified to solve it. For example, Kathy Bowles was a nurse (now at University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing) who was concerned that patients were five times more likely to be readmitted to hospital than those who received proper post-acute care when needed. This drove her to spearhead RightCare Solutions, where she and her team designed an end-to-end software solution simplifying the post-acute care referral process.

O = Others

Sometimes it’s clear that you (or those you work with) are not the ones to solve a challenge, but you can alert, support, and encourage others who certainly can, with some initial thinking about your perspective on the challenge.

P = Processes

When we try to come up with solutions to challenges, sometimes we think the solution lies in something completely new, ‘blue sky’, or radical, while the solution(s) may well lie in improving the humble day-to-day processes everyone takes for granted. Toyota has always made a name for itself with its focus on process optimisation. Its Toyota Way puts great emphasis on Lean principles of minimising waste (muda) and kaizen (continuous improvement).

T = Tools, technology and systems

This is often the first ‘idea territory’ that people reach for when generating ideas. Tools! Apps! A new website! Any solution you come up with will typically sit within a system of other solutions. It’s worth zooming out a bit, and noticing other adjacent parts of whatever system the challenge is a part of. Whatever you think of McDonalds, Ray Kroc – the man responsible for turning it into the global fast-food juggernaut it is today – can be credited with tons of great system improvement ideas. By focusing on systems improvement, he was able to streamline and scale not only how the kitchens and menu processing ran, but all other parts of the business including quality control, partner relations, and real estate tactics.

Step 2: draw up a MOPT table

Now that we have our heads around the idea of different territories of solutions, we can move on to step 2. We transfer our initial challenge over to a new piece of paper (or whiteboard, or area on an online innovation space like Miro), and draw up a table, with a row for each clue.

There are four other columns, for Me, Others, Processes and Tools:

Now, either by yourself or as a team, you can tackle each cell of the table separately, and come up with a range of ‘How might…’ questions, depending on the clue, e.g. “How might I improve this so that I can recall everything I do?” or “How might I solve this so that I don’t even need to recall everything I do?”

I really like this because straight away I’m going to get more ideas than I otherwise would have, because I’m setting up all these different cells to fill. And like all good brainstorming, not all the ideas need to be practical yet; it’s always good to go for quantity first, and see if some ideas lead to other ideas.

There’s not a lot of space in those little squares, so treat each cell as a placeholder for your thinking, a springboard to another piece of paper, or another part of the whiteboard. Here’s where I got to with mine:

Note how a couple of cells in my example above just didn’t apply, and that’s fine. Mixing written notes and pictures is also fine. What this does is it arranges our thinking spatially, rather than just as a list… or with no form at all. Once you fill your MOPT table, you can go back over it and pick out the ideas that are most resonant and relevant.

How was it for you?

Go on, give it a go, you might be surprised by the insight this reveals to you. If you do give it a try, let me know how it goes, and if you think it could be improved upon.

How well does your team make decisions? The Decision Tree can help

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A good friend of mine once said that a team is running well when it’s moving at the speed of trust (which is a classic Stephen Covey line). I’ve always found that trust at work has so much to do with how a boss delegates work, and empowers team members to make decisions themselves. Liz Wiseman’s book Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter is a huge help in this area.

Easy to say, but hard to do, right? If you’re a manager, how do you free up your team to make decisions without you getting in the way? Or how do you try to change the behaviour of a micro-managing boss so that they will trust you more?

Draw a Decision Tree

One way I’ve found that really helps is (surprise surprise) using drawing and visualisation. More specifically: drawing a Decision Tree*. The Decision Tree is from Susan Scott’s book Fierce Conversations, and looks a bit like this:

Go ahead and sketch a tree yourself**. Think of your project, your team, or your company as a tree that grows and bears fruit. For this tree to thrive, countless decisions are made every day, week, month and year. But there are different levels of decisions:

  • Leaf decisions – Make the decision and act on it. You don’t need to report the action you took. There’s no real risk here.
  • Branch decisions – Make the decision, act on it, and then report the action you took (daily, weekly or monthly). There might be some risk, but it can be mitigated.
  • Trunk decisions – Make the decision, but report on the decision to check before you take action. There could potentially be high risk of harm to the project, team or company.
  • Root decisions – Make the decision with input from other people. There could be great risk of harm to the project, team or company if these decisions are poorly made and/or implemented.

Example: if you yank a leaf off a tree, the tree isn’t going to die. In the same way, a ‘leaf decision’ poorly made won’t really impact the company. But if a wrong action is taken at the root level, it could really damage the tree.

How to use the Decision Tree

The Decision Tree has tons of uses:

A way to figure out autonomy – To help you and your team think about and clarify what ‘autonomy’ means in their context (this was HUGELY helpful for me in a previous job!), so that everyone knows exactly where they have authority to make decisions and take action.

A way to chart professional development – To help articulate clear paths for professional development. The more senior an employee gets, the more their decision-making power moves from leaf to branch to trunk level.

A way to free up senior management – To help senior management release control appropriately, and develop grassroots leadership within the organisation. This frees up senior management to focus on the more strategic decision-making, while providing more learning and development opportunity to employees at various levels.

A way to help a team work better together – To help a team and/or management articulate where team dynamics and leadership feel wrong (micro-management, anyone?), and where changes can be made in how decisions are made and acted on.

A way to coach junior managers – Junior managers are typically on a journey of relinquishing control and empowering people around them (I’ve been there). The Decision Tree is a great way to coach a junior manager on how to delegate more to others.

Here’s an example way to use the Decision Tree in your team

Do you manage people? Are you a project manager, change manager, or product manager? Here’s a step-by-step way you might want to try using the Decision Tree in your team:

Draw the Decision Tree on a whiteboard, and use the Root / Trunk / Branch / Leaf structure to explain the four different types of decisions to your team.

Get everyone to list the various decisions that need to be made in the team. My favourite way to do this is to capture them on sticky notes, one decision per note (you’ll see why in a second). Ask each team member to read out what they wrote, and ensure that everyone understands each one. Here are some examples:

  • Leave request approvals
  • Quarterly ad-spend changes
  • Commits and pull requests (for the developers amongst us!)
  • Stationery orders

Map the decisions on the Decision Tree. Everyone can then place their sticky notes on whichever level they think each decision belongs. You can always combine any duplicates as you go.

Discuss the map of decisions on the Tree. Are all the decisions placed where everyone expects? The interesting insightful parts of this discussion should be about any decisions where people don’t agree on the level at which they should be. Why do different people expect specific decisions to be at different levels? how can they come to a common understanding about the appropriate level? This can be particularly insightful for a team manager.

Finally, discuss what specific actions can be taken, to change the situation to be more favourable.

As always, I’m keen to hear if and how you use this visual framework, or any other techniques included in this blog.

* I should say that this Decision Tree visual framework is different to the boxes-and-arrows decision tree drawings you might have seen before, which are still great for analysing decisions and outcomes.

** I probably went a bit overboard on mine (above); a simple bunch of lines is completely fine!

Here are 4 lines to help you understand any problem

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As Albert Einstein might have said*, “Given one hour to save the world, I would spend 55 minutes defining the problem and 5 minutes finding the solution.” It’s so important to understand the problem before jumping in to tackle it, isn’t it?

When it comes to understanding (and solving) problems, we tend to think of ourselves as rational creatures, who form opinions and make decisions based on facts and logic. But as you probably know, our emotions play a much larger role in opinion-forming and decision-making. We have all sorts of unconscious biases and emotional triggers**. What’s more, a lot of problems don’t really exist in isolation, but are connected to other problems and solutions. We might come up with a solution to a problem, that then upsets something else. A great example of this holistic thinking in action is how pet stores in San Francisco (and other cities) can now only sell rescue animals, to combat the spread of inhumane ‘puppy mill’ breeding.

So there’s actually three parts to any problem:

  • Rational – objective, facts and data
  • Emotional – subjective, feelings and stories
  • Political – associative, connections and systems

So, how do we use only 4 lines to understand a problem? I’m glad you asked. Trying to understand all parts of a problem in your head is just too hard. Let’s look at how you can do a simple sketch to help. To start with, write a succinct sentence about your problem in the middle of a page, and draw a cloud around it, like this:

Next, draw three lines radiating out, pretty much equally spaced, and write these questions:

Now, fill each of those three spaces with whatever you think is relevant, to answer each question. You can write bullet points, or draw pictures, or maybe even a mind map of connected thoughts. Go nuts.

This is a simple visual way to explore a problem space. To really do this properly, I’d take Albert’s advice and spend at least 55 minutes on it, and I guarantee that you will have a much deeper, nuanced understanding of whatever your problem is. And feel free to adapt the prompt questions to your context.

Depending on the problem, your page should start revealing some insights to you. Maybe you don’t have much in the ‘rational’ space, but a lot in the ‘political’ space? Or maybe there’s SO MUCH on the page, that you need to scope the problem down a little bit?

Try it out; I hope you find this technique useful, for you and your team.

See, don’t you feel smarter already?

* There are so many of these sorts of quotes around, citing Albert Einstein, that I’m sure he couldn’t have come up with all of them. I mean, how would he have found time to work, in amongst all that brilliant commentary? Oh, yeah that’s right, he was a genius. 😉

** My go-to books on this topic are:

(These links have a referral code)

Get to grips with your Inner Critic

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We’ve all heard it, and you might’ve said it yourself: “I can’t draw!” You can, you just have to kick that inner critic. Here’s a great way how.

I’m afraid there’s an elephant in the room. I’ve been putting up these tips and techniques about using simple sketching to help you think better for quite a few weeks now, but all along I’ve ignored a very important factor in helping you sketch. You know what that is?

It’s your inner critic.

Yeah. That thing inside you that holds you back. That voice that silently says things like:

  • “You’re going to suck at this”
  • “You should be doing more productive things with your time”
  • “People are going to think you’re stupid” 
  • “Just give up”

You get the idea. Not fun to be around, hey? But we have to tame our inner critics if we’re ever to get ahead. Here’s a true story about making mistakes in front of bosses:

A true story about making mistakes in front of bosses

Once I was in a meeting with a couple of very senior executives and my immediate boss. While they were talking, I was trying to capture a summary of what they were saying on a whiteboard. I was really nervous and hesitant in front of these guys.

At one point, I drew a few boxes and arrows that I thought described their view of the technical system they were talking about. One executive looked at what I drew. He immediately blurted out, “No, that’s wrong, that’s not what I meant.” But then he paused, still looking at the boxes.

And then it happened. He asked me why I drew the boxes the way I had (it had to do with what part of the system conceptually ‘contained’ another part), so I explained. It turned out that I (and others in the room) had been carrying an assumption about the system, and once that assumption was called out, it unlocked a whole new – and much better – conversation about how the system should work.

See? Even though the sketch itself was ‘wrong’, it was a catalyst to a better conversation.

Never ever be afraid of other people seeing your sketches. Your sketches will be viewed through a different lens than your lens, and the catalytic potential they have is huge.

But back to that inner critic.

Your inner critic is just trying to keep you safe

There’s lots of advice around about kicking the inner critic, but to me it’s all mind games that don’t really work (at least not for me). But what is important to understand that as fun as it might be to externalise this urge for self-editing and self-criticism, it’s still actually an integral part of you. And what’s more, it’s being critical because it’s the part of you that is just trying to keep you safe from harm.

Safe from physical harm, sure. But also safe from judgement, safer from failure, and safe from disappointment.

Sketch your inner critic

A big part of taming the inner critic is to face up to the negative talk. Not dismiss it, ignore it, or manage it, but acknowledge its value to you, and deal with it as if it was a real conversation with a real person. And this is where sketching your inner critic comes in. When you make it ‘real’, on paper, in front of you, it’s out of your head and in front of you, for you to talk with it, and have true command over it.

It goes like this:

Think about your inner critic. What does he/she/it/they (insert fav pronoun) actually look like? Sound like? What does it say to you? What habits does it have? Think about the times it has held you back from something, anything.

Now sketch that critic in all its safe-seeking glory. No-one else is going to see this sketch, so go nuts. Is it small and dark? Big and pale? Horns? Bad teeth? Droopy eyes? Big mouth? Bad acne? Really pour what you think of it into that sketch.

Write a name there, too.

Take a good look at that inner critic that you have now made real on a piece of paper, and listen to what it’s saying. Try to find the gift in what it is saying; there might actually be an inner strength or a super-power hiding in there. For example:

  • From: “Your drawing looks dumb” – To: “I have great visual taste, and my drawing abilities don’t match my great taste yet“
  • From: “This is useless” – To: “I get to draw, which exercises my imagination and helps get ideas out of my head and into the world“
  • From: “Nobody is going to like this on social media” – To: “I like to share who I am and what I care about on social media, and people will appreciate my authenticity“

You get the idea? Bonus points for turning each critical statement into a power statement.

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got about getting rid of negative self-talk is to talk to yourself like you would your very best friend.

Once you’ve had this heart-to-heart with your (now visualised!) Inner Critic, you can thank it for its contribution, reassure it that you’re in command now, and that you don’t need it anymore.

Now screw up that piece of paper, and put it in the bin.

Go ahead and try it. It takes 5 minutes, and it might be the best 5 minutes you have today. And if you’re brave, why not share a photo of your inner critic sketch on social media? 😉 Let’s normalise being authentic about our drawing abilities!

Make your transformation happen with the Superhero Booth visual framework

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It’s well known that visualisation helps us achieve the success we want to go after. This has been documented especially in sports performance, but visualisation – imagining your intended goals and how it feels to achieve them – is a skill available to anyone. I was at a meetup the other night, and I had a great conversation about how drawing is a really effective way to visualise goals (d’uh!).

And it reminded me of this great visual framework that you can use to clarify exactly what would turn ‘Regular You’ into a ‘Super You’. And it goes a little bit like this.

Step 1: Draw ‘Regular You’

Like other visual frameworks I write about, this is all about using a 2-dimensional space to organise and connect your thoughts, to explore a challenge or solve a problem. Grab a sheet of paper and a pen, or a whiteboard and a whiteboard marker, and draw the following simple pattern:

Draw a picture of you on the left, as you are now. You can draw a simple figure like I have here, or something that looks more like you… that’s completely up to you.

Step 2: Draw ‘Super You’

Now, ask yourself: if you were a superhero, what would your super-powers be? Have fun with it, and let your imagination go wild. Here are a few that tend to come up with groups I’ve done this with. Super strength? Maybe. Flying? Being invisible? Being able to clone yourself? Now you’re talking.

On the right, draw a ‘Super’ version of you (another way to think about it is ‘Future You’):

The Super You can be showing the super-powers you’re thinking of, but if that’s too complicated, just a simple figure that looks a bit super-ish is perfectly fine. Feel free to copy my one (above). It helps to put your initials on the chest, too. Example: I remember one guy in a workshop just wanted to be super PUNCTUAL, because he was late all the time, and it frustrated him. So when he drew the Super Him, he just drew himself with a massive clock hanging around his neck!

Write your super-power(s) above the ‘Super You’ figure, and now think about why you want those powers. Why would you want to clone yourself (for example)? This can be really insightful for you, because it shows what you truly value. We can never be invisible*, but maybe if we dig into why we want to be invisible, there might be something that we could do to achieve some benefit of being invisible. But let’s get to the next step first…

These super-powers are a bit of a metaphor for how we really want to be, and you may well see how they could become goals for you to pursue.

Step 3: Draw the Superhero Booth

Now, draw a big box in between the two figures, and draw an arrow to show how ‘Regular You’ stepping into that Superhero Booth, and another arrow out the other side, showing how you come out as Super You:

Can you see how this ‘Superhero Booth’ works as a visual metaphor? It makes you think: “what goes on in this booth that turns me from Regular Me into Super Me?”

Step 4: Stop I Start | Continue

Here’s where it gets interesting. Draw 2 horizontal lines in your Superhero Booth (see mine below), and write STOP, START and CONTINUE, like this:

Now, jot down what you think you need to (you guessed it) stop, start and continue, to become that Super You. Remember how I said to think about why you would want each of those super-powers? Think about the benefits of those powers that appeal to you, and what you could stop, start, and continue in your life and work, to achieve those benefits.

Be bold and set yourself challenges, and let this Superhero Booth be your map, to remind you of what you need to do. Improving yourself is hard, and there are sure to be some challenges in your way… but never fear; there’s a visual framework to help you with that, too. 😉

Try it as a team

Discussing (and sketching) what your super-powers are as a team is really insightful, too. What needs to happen inside that Superhero Booth, to take your team to the next level?

Here are some other ideas about how to use this visual framework:

  • Are you a designer or product manager? Try envisioning the Super Version of your customers (i.e. what would make them better), and let the Superhero Booth be a catalyst for connecting their needs with your offering.
  • Are you a project manager or scrum master? Try it with your team to help everyone improve each others’ performance
  • Are you in change management? Try it with different parts of your organisation, to see where they’re at, where they want to be, and what is going to resonate with them to get them there.