Power of Visual Thinking in your Visual Workplace

If you follow my blog you know the respect I have for the David Armano and the Logic & Emotion Blog. David had a great blog post on the power of visual thinking and also shared this slideshow presentation. A clear demonstration of visual thinking.

An excerpt from the Blog Post…The Value of Visual Thinking

Educating
So what’s the value of visual thinking for business? For starters it can help educate, especially if you are launching a new product, initiative or idea.

Communicating
It doesn’t matter if we’re talking about consumers or employees – attention is becoming scarce. If you want to communicate something, you need to capture attention and communicate your point quickly.

Training
In the design of business, visual thinking will be key in the design of new processes, systems, and structures. Expect to see the mapping of ecosystems, flows, org charts, social systems and data visualization.

I think Visual Thinking is a powerful tool. For evidence, look at the tools I surround myself with, Value Stream Mapping, The Lean Marketing House and Mindmaps. I believe it is the most effective way to learn. As David said in his last paragraph of the blog cited above: “We’re not all visual thinkers (though we all have the potential). However, we are all visual learners. Don’t believe me? Simply pay a visit to any grade school and you’ll see evidence of it everywhere. “A is for Apple,” showing both the letter and a picture of an apple next to it. The cognitive recognition of the image often happens first.”

I have an upcoming podcast with Gwendolyn Galsworth of the Visual Workplace. She is author of the book, Visual Workplace/Visual Thinking, a Shingo Prize Winner. Gwendolyn has a fall webinar series on Implementing a Visual Workplace. The next webinar is this Thursday, November 5th. She begins her book by stating: “The technologies of the visual workplace represent a comprehensive strategy for installing vital information as close to the point of use as possible.” Now, when you think of a visual workplace are you on the same page? If not, maybe you should take a look at her book, Visual Workplace, Visual Thinking: Creating Enterprise Excellence Through the Technologies of the Visual Workplace?

I would enjoy hearing some comments and suggestions on your thoughts about a visual workplace.