When you have no words

🙊 Sometimes, you have no words.

😖 Sometimes, your team deals with obscure or hidden relationships while working on a complex project. And the pain team members are feeling while sitting in the situation can freeze their verbal abilities. And asking the team directly what needs to change the problem could be too confronting for all parties in the room.

🫥 And if you would ask, what’s your feeling or need? It would be a struggle to get the right words out. Or only the loudest voice will speak up, leaving the rest of the team feeling unsafe.

🤷🏽‍♀️ Why not instead ask the following?

💭 Self reflect. Imagine the team you are today and the team you want to be. What transformative event occurred, bringing you from now to a dream team?

🛣️ Describe the *before*, *during*, and *after* of the inspiring transformation.

🎨 But describe without using words!

🖼️ Instead, make a drawing only using these symbols (no art skills required, it doesn't need to be a masterpiece)

• ⭕️Circle = wholeness;

• ◼️Rectangle = support;

• 🔺Triangle = goal;

• 🌀Spiral = change;

• ⭐️Star person = relationship

👥 Once everyone on the team has finished drawing their scenario, move them to pairs in breakout rooms. They will interpret each other's drawings using only their drawing (not words) as references.

❤️‍🔥 You will be surprised by the deep understanding resulting from these discussions.

💡 Afterward, your team will have many ideas for actions the team could take to grow.

Drawing together: https://www.liberatingstructures.com/20-drawing-together/

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🐉 I'm Sarah, Techi, Liberator, Complexity Buster, and Motivator - let me help you go from misunderstood to understood. ❤️‍🔥

#avagasso #liberatingstructures #drawingtogether #misunderstood #understanding #transformation #complexity