If You Need to Set Vision, Mission and Values, Read on.

visual symbols improve communication

 

Your eyes can engage capabilities of your mind beyond everyday logical reasoning.

You process visual symbols both emotionally and rationally.  The combination gives you the power to clarify and distill issues, focus the collective mind of a group and commit them to action.

You use your spatial reasoning to easily identify connections and relationships. You “see” integration.

Your visual sense connects directly to your intuition and emotional logic.  These are tremendous resources that schools and training programs overlook.  These “instincts” kept our forebears alive in challenging conditions for thousands of years and Metaphor Mapping draws on them to help you resolve complex matters, fast.

You feel a visual symbol’s meaning and relate to it viscerally, outside higher level reasoning.   Your heart may skip when you encounter a threat.

For example, think of a project or other sequential activity as moving along a time-line.  Then, think of that time-line as the flow of a river.  As your project moves down the river, a duck may swim in front of your boat.  That’s a minor annoyance and you remain fully in control of the situation, right?   If around the next bend, a giant crocodile confronts you, that’s a different story.  Your career is mortally threatened and you need to change course.  Place a crocodile symbol in front of someone with whom you don’t communicate well.  He’ll get your message, in a heartbeat!

 

 

 

 

You use words to think every day thought, BUT, visual symbols are the king of communication.

visual symbols improve communication

 

Village Mapping Tutorial

Village Mapping Tutorial

See Village Mapping in Action

Click on the video below for a short tutorial on how to use this tool.


Set clear accountability

Have more questions? Contact us or see the Village Mapping product detail page.

Case Study: WHO and Management Effectiveness

Case Study: WHO and Management Effectiveness

World Heath Organization’s Management Effectiveness Program & Use of Village Mapping

During the 1990′s, the WHO was concerned that public health systems in less developed countries had weaknesses in their organizations and processes and were not serving their populations at the level they were capable of. Problems included a unique focus on treatment rather than on health– including the environment and preventative measures, as well as treatments. WHO developed a Management Effectiveness Program (MEP) with the goal of introducing quality management techniques into public health systems. Village Mapping was a key component of the MEP. It was selected because of its ability to bring together people of varied backgrounds, ensure good communication among them, stimulate big picture thinking about weaknesses, and establish an agreed goal.

A person’s or a community’s health is the result of a system. Understanding that system at a high level is a critical component to being able no manage and improve it. This understanding of the health system comes in three steps:

  1. Knowledge of the people, facilities and organizations who are stakeholders in the health system is the first step to understanding
  2. Comprehending the quality of relationships between the component parts of the system
  3. Forming a view of which areas function well and which are weak

Village Mapping is a workshop process that employs the metaphor of a village to establish a sufficiently high level view so that the whole of the system can become visible, Participants employ a vocabulary of sticker symbols to build maps of the health system, their metaphoric “village”.

The key process participants are brought together for a day, including doctors, nurses, local community leaders, environmental, food, and water specialists, administrators and others. Each workshop participant has only a partial knowledge of the health system, but, the workshop and map building processes generates a complete view of the structure and flow of the system and its weaknesses. The groups then build maps of how they want public health to function when they have solved their problems and met their health and process quality objectives.

Village Mapping was very well received and proved an effective part of the overall quality and change process.  Here are example maps developed at the outset of the program:

WHO - District Health today

WHO - District Health -integrated ideal

 

Change and Resistance in Developing Countries Part 2

Part 2: Guidance for the Change Agent

The Metaphor Language Research Center has taken many assignments to develop strategies for improving processes in developing countries in South Asia and Africa. This is the second of two articles and offers some recommendations to change agents, based on our experiences. (Read Part 1 here.)

Individuals who desire change in their governments and institutions may or may not have a clear idea
of the outcome they want but seldom have a realistic concept of how to achieve it. In particular, they do not comprehend the inertial resistance they will initially face and the countervailing forces that will persistently erode new processes installed.

Prepare

Understand the “lay of the land” and learn what government departments or non-government agencies have full or a degree of control over the target area.

Who are the stakeholders in the issue in question?
Who has what authority?
Who are the key deciders and decision influencers?
What are their beliefs and attitudes?
What problems in the past have been caused by individual attitudes, changeable policy, law?
What are legal or physical constraints?

Draft an approach that considers the needs of all stakeholders and the power structure

What is the incentive to change? Everyone on the planet has other priorities and is the star of their own movie. Why should they be a bit player in your movie?
Knowing exactly what you want to be different and how the change can be effected is an asset and liability.
Very often, change is blocked not because of resistance by the deciders but because the issue is very complex and the benefits of solving it are not fully evident and not a priority
If changes are made, who will benefit and who will not?
What are the foreseeable consequences?
Will some other “good” be compromised by a solution?
What has been tried before, if anything?
Does the proponent have a plan for effecting change or simply a dissatisfaction and a wish that things would be better?

Do you have a compelling case for the government or institution to engage?

Gain engagement: Establish a constructive dialog within the organization

Complaints, protests and other demonstrations of discontent may put pressure on leaders and a leader may be able to use that public outcry to engage the institution. Other times, it will be useful to engage a powerful community figure to help open the door– political, religious, cultural or other leaders may become allies. The goal of engagement is to gain acknowledgment of the issue, its severity and commitment to address it.

Participative solution

Establish a work session with stakeholders who have the authority to act or are key decision influencers. Establish agreement on the need for change, a vision, plan and progress monitoring. Employ methods that lead to sharing ownership of the idea, take account of new information and yield genuine commitment from all individuals.

Change and Resistance in Developing Countries Part 1

Part 1: The Faces of Resistance

The Metaphor Language Research Center has taken many assignments to develop strategies for improving processes in developing countries in South Asia and Africa. This is the first of two articles and offers some observations from our experiences.

Some typical obstacles to change

  • Establishing your right to be heard in the right forum
  • Gaining attention of deciders
  • Personal impact on deciders
  • Absence of an efficient process to gain consensus frustrates all and shelves your initiative
  • Competing priorities, typically for money
  • Limited amount of time change agents have to invest
  • Long held antagonisms between stakeholders
  • Interminable talking

The rhetoric of resistance to change (as compiled by a group of change management practitioners)

– The “Resistors’ Rules of Thumb”– How non-formal, inertial resistance works:

  • Don’t participate, but work on “the boss” off-line, if possible
  • If forced to participate, don’t engage or take any responsibility for action
  • If forced to talk, gently explain why there is no better way of functioning
  • No overt disagreement with the objectives of change
  • No conflict, no emotion
  • If change is mandated, there’s no time to implement it
  • If change is mandated, new problems will arise later to delay or sidetrack action
  • If change is mandated, there will still be other, higher priorities
  • If the change agent is an outsider, s/he didn’t understand
  • If some change takes place, countervailing forces can still be marshaled to bring things back
  • The change agent will eventually go away
  • In a big organization, any force can be successfully resisted, including the “big boss”

Some additional Learnings re: Resistance

  • It is not necessarily powerful bad guys who just want to take care of themselves– The leading problem is more often complexity and inability to characterize the problem in a way that motivates action (make it “Mind-Sized”)
  • A passive form of resistance is common– which results in change being agreed but not ultimately implemented. Apparent causes are lack of funds to achieve the change. Actual roots typically rest in unwillingness to admin current or past weakness in the organization that would result in the leader’s loss of stature or loss of face.
  • If all stakeholders are not participants in creating a vision of how the change would work, it will not be achieved
  • Open discussion among stakeholders must be achieved
  • Clear communication with a common vocabulary is necessary
  • Realistic plans and milestones must be set

Anecdotes re: social and cultural complexities that can compound the problems of change in developing countries

  • Leadership: The population in Muslim countries have no cultural heroes except Mohammed, because of deeply held religious beliefs
  • Hidden power structures can circumscribe solution options (a seemingly obvious change in in health care training was blocked in one country because the health minister owned a building that would be vacated by the change)
  • Westerners education levels are often inversely proportional to their effectiveness in developing country situations (the best ideas in Zambia government restructuring came from tribal chiefs)
  • In some African countries, such as Zambia and Zimbabwe, the impact of AIDS has hollowed out government effectiveness
  • Absence of basics such as clean water, effective transportation, education and health facilities compound difficulties in achieving change, even when all parties are committed. (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs plays a role here too)

Bringing New Energy to Quality Improvement Programs

An I.T. department example

Introduction

A Cambridge, Massachusetts-based software company  decided to launch a TQM program in its worldwide Information Systems (I.S.) department. The principal driving factors were user dissatisfaction with the level of service, particularly problems with the support of global infrastructure of networks and servers. Many I.S. people felt that they were overworked, that management wasn’t setting clear priorities and that their users were excessively demanding and unappreciative.

A small team that was put together to define and guide the TQM program. They identified the underlying problems as being no documented processes, no agreed metrics, little alignment of roles and responsibilities.  Just as the TQM program was being defined, the company was purchased by a larger competitor. Management priority went to urgent business matters and the problems of infrastructure quality quickly became secondary to issues related to the merger of the two companies. TQM wasn’t abandoned but its priority was clearly, if unofficially, reduced by lack of promotion. The I.S. directors did meet with the TQM team to define where they wanted the organization to go but didn’t take personal or public leadership for TQM. The team kept contact with the Directors through hallway conversations and occasional reports.

Designing the TQM program

The team structured the program around the three part model favored by the Center for Quality Management: Customer Focus,  Process Improvement and Total Participation.

Given the changing circumstances, the team decided that rather than investing in TQM training for all staff members, it would go where there was energy on the lower levels of the organization: Bringing clarity to roles and responsibilities, achieving organization alignment around clear priorities, and fixing the Help Desk  cross functional process which was generating a lot of internal customer dissatisfaction. The team decided that training for managers, typically the first phase of a TQM program, would start later, after process analysis was well under way and benefits were becoming evident.

Metaphor Language mapping to align organizations and improve processes

Each group leader within the I.S. organization and the leader of the Help Desk agreed to sponsor a visual language mapping session. Many people were initially skeptical about investing time in this activity while there was so much other “real” work to be done, but they agreed to give the TQM team a chance.

This is an overview of the method used:

Map Today’s Operation

Each leader brought most of his or her group members together for two hours.  They were introduced to the visual language Village Mapping which they used to build a model showing:

  • Their customers, other groups with which they interact and functions in their own group
  • The relationships between these groups
  • A qualitative assessment of the relationships and work flow
  • Evaluation of the environment, statement of their values

 

The metaphor of the Village Mapping language equates a process to a village.  Buildings represent places where work gets done, such as groups, functions or departments. The nature of the connecting road shows the quality of the relationship between buildings. Fires, tornadoes, volcanoes and other symbols show difficulties within the village and its environment.

This is not an actual map segment, but its contents are typical of a Today map:

It shows a hypothetical village from the Systems group’s view. They see themselves as having a good relationship with Operations but a poor one with Applications. Information is often lost when they work with the Help desk.  The symbols provoke discussion about matters that often lie “under the table” but have a great impact on an organization. The maps keep discussion points in context and
record them. Key points in the map are described in a narrative on a flip chart.

Each of eight groups built maps of their current (today) state over a three week period. The TQM team then brought them to a meeting of the I.S. Directors. The directors reviewed the maps and narrative documentation and built themselves a consolidated map of l.S. today. The exercise helped them become
more clear about the depth of some of the problems facing the group.

Voice of the Customer

The maps represented an internal view of how the group was functioning. To have an external view, the TQM team then worked with each group to segment their customers (both internal and external to I.S.), identify people to interview, structure open-ended questions to ask and train them in interviewing techniques.

During the interviews, the main points were recorded in the customers’ own words. Each group member interviewed at least one customer (in teams of two.)  Their charge was to listen and not contest, argue or justify. When all interviews were done (from 5 to 15,) the team got together and rolled the specific points into broader statements of customer concerns and requirements. This told the group
what their customers wanted and had the important impact of building customer focus in the individual interviewers.

Mapping the “Ideal” Process

The TQM team called a meeting of all 25 managers in I.S., including the Directors. Reflecting on both the Today’s Operation maps and the Voice of Customer interview results, they broke into tables of five to build vision maps showing how they thought l.S. should ideally operate. After about 90 minutes, a
representative of each table presented their map to the others. The maps recorded a lot of creative thinking about how I.S. could change itself to solve its problems and meets its customer expectations. Each map showed different ways that customers needs for new computer applications and ongoing support could be met more effectively than today and how a different division of responsibilities could
increase system reliability.

Following completion of the presentations, the managers talked about what they all had in common and the unique merits of each map. The directors stayed into the evening to build a consolidated map. The vision is targeted to bring these benefits to their customers:

  1. Easy to do business with I.S.
  2. I.S. is an international business partner
  3. I.S. is more responsive
  4. Greater value is provided
  5. Improved quality and better service

During the days following, the consolidated vision map was discussed with all the managers who participated. They signed it to show agreement. Each group was then asked to build their own vision map to detail how they would function in the overall I.S. vision. They were asked to report back if what they found to be their ideal in any way conflicted with the overall ideal.

 

Mapping the Change Plan

When the group vision maps were complete, the managers reconvened to verify that there were no omissions or conflicts. They then set out to map the strategies and actions needed to implement it and the obstacles they would have to overcome. The managers followed the same process as with the Ideal Maps, except that this time they employed the River Mapping method described earlier.

They developed six rivers (strategies) that included accountabilities and target dates for:

  • Realignment of functions
  • New functions to be developed
  • International coordination –
  • internal systems
  • TQM program
  • Increased emphasis on people

Benefits

Metaphor Language helped the software company dive into process improvement with 60 to 70% of total staff participating. This and the Voice of Customer technique made an important increase in customer focus. The negative energy inherent in the dissatisfaction with the current operation helped propel the group toward an agreed vision and action plan. The visual language made it easy (and the colorful stickers even made it fun) for groups to work together and follow a disciplined change process. By engaging the group leaders and staff members in Mapping their daily issues, it broadened ownership for TQM.

Within four months of initiating their TQM effort, the I.S. department had put in place:

  • A globally agreed assessment of their problems
  • Clear direction statements from their customers
  • A vision of how they would ideally function in the future, including roles and responsibilities
  •  An agreed action plan that included the entire staff’s ideas about the actions and obstacles necessary for success

 

The TQM program got under way with concept, skill and tool training.  Virtually every person in the worldwide I.S. organization could describe the goals of l.S. and their own roles and responsibilities in reaching it. Within a short time, I.S.’s users were commenting that their service calls were being answered quicker and more effectively and that I.S. attitudes are becoming very customer oriented.  I.S. staff people carried on the action plan and launched more than a dozen process documentation and improvement efforts.

 

Conclusions

  1. TQM can take root even in the absence of strong, driving management leadership by drawing energy from the middle and lower levels.
  2. High involvement in direction setting builds widespread ownership for TQM and should be considered for any program
  3. TQM professionals should consider using Metaphor Language when they need a tool to tap into an organization’s energy
Copyright 2016 - Metaphor Language Research Center LLC