graphic recording and facilitation

why use graphic facilitation?

If there is tension in the room, this may be diffused because people are not sitting facing each other across a table but are facing a visual record that they are helping to create TOGETHER. This helps take the pressure off individuals and promotes group ownership and group decision-making.

The graphic record is immediate. People may be accustomed to minutes being taken and then typed up and returned a week or so after the meeting. This is an important shift in power because everyone can see what is being recorded and there is a much greater feeling of shared ownership of the plan or record at the end. Everyone has a chance to comment on, amend or add to what is being recorded, so that the record is accurate and really belongs to everyone. In this way, everyone feels more included.

Having graphic facilitation at a meeting will make it run more efficiently. The graphic underlines and clarifies what is said. The graphic facilitator can help people to tease out what they want to say and can cut through waffle to the point underneath. Complex ideas can be expressed very simply using graphic images and it is proven that people remember images far better than words, so a meeting becomes much more of a memorable event with a graphic record.

The graphic facilitator can also help groups of people to reach consensus by getting an agreed form of words or an agreed image. There has to be consensus before something can be recorded, which means that disagreements have to be addressed at the time in order to move on with the process. This is a challenging, but ultimately incredibly useful, function of graphic facilitation.

Graphic recording makes recapping and summarising much easier. After every section of a plan, the recorder can feed back to clarify and recap. Over time, the graphic record can be used to hold people to task when reviewing action plans.

It is a common misconception that graphic recording is used to help people who cannot read for one reason or another. Of course, a great benefit of this approach is its inclusiveness and accessibility. However, this style of recording can help ANYONE wanting a dynamic, creative and effective process. Many of these ideas were in fact pioneered in the Board Rooms of the corporate business world rather than in person centred planning meetings.