Infographics may save my (GC Entrepreneur) life.
Summary:
— — You can skip the text introduction, and scroll right down to some working-draft visual aids I’m developing — — I’m hoping they will help me explain my new gig as a Government of Canada Entrepreneur (GCE) and highlight the many, many opportunities that I see in this work
— — Also, a sketchnote!
I have always struggled to be succinct.
One of my biggest professional lessons learned (read: fails) had to do with a discussion paper that had been requested by the very-senior management of the department I was working for at the time. Being new to the file — I took the same approach that had served me well in writing papers in university:
- review all the relevant research /existing documentation,
- start an ‘outline’ by listing all relevant facts, arguments and points of interest from all the material,
- add in all my thoughts and ideas on all of the above, and
- then whittle it all down into a cohesive narrative that would *just* come under the maximum allowed word count.
As I was halfway through this outline (around page 4 of…) my Director General (DG) stopped by on his way to a meeting and asked me to email him a copy so he could see my progress.
After his meeting got out, my DG called my manager and I into his office. In the 15 minutes since his meeting ended (and I’m being generous here with the 15 minutes), he had prepared a one-page gaps analysis chart on the very issue of the discussion paper I had been meticulously toiling over for more than a day — drilling down to what stakeholders were asking for, what currently existed, and any difference between the two. 15 minutes and straight to the point.
He asked us for our feedback — but would only accept changes if they kept the chart on a single- sided, letter- size piece of paper. He briefed senior management with the one-page gaps analysis that day.
No one ever followed up to see the discussion paper.
Takeaway: Placemats, dashboards and infographics as the way of the future
There were a lot of takeaways out of this — about knowing your audience, delivering what’s needed over what’s asked, getting to the heart of the matter, etc. But what’s stuck with me the most is the one-page visual aid.
Our team got so much more mileage out of the one-paged chart than we would have ever had on a thorough and comprehensive discussion paper.
Our partners on that file had limited time to give us. Most would not have been able to read a discussion paper, let alone provide us meaningful feedback. Instead, we used our chart as our ‘placemat’ for consultations — — as we would speak our intro-blurb, partners could quickly scan the chart to see where we were coming from, what options were being considered, and the linkages to their work.
Having a simple, one-page visual allowed us to drive the discussion to be about priorities: if something was missing in our analysis, or context needed to be added — — what got taken out? What was expendable?
And as much as the visual aid helped our partners focus their feedback, keeping to the one-page format helped us to be strategic about our messaging and clear about our proposals.
[As I write this — I’m distinctly aware of an 8-page paper I’m circulating on a project… clearly, I need to revisit this lesson.]
The GCE experience in 5000 words or less
In my new role as a GC Entrepreneur, I am meeting new groups both inside and outside of my department, in a variety of contexts. I’m struggling to describe this incredible opportunity that myself and my fellow GCEs have been given — who we are, what we’re doing, where we’re engaging and why. So instead I’m trying to show it.
I’ve been working on some visual aids — my perspectives on the GCEs, our projects, and where we could fit in amongst the network of Government of Canada communities striving to change how we work for the better.
Disclaimer:
- again, these are just my views (not my colleagues’ or official GCE material) and in progress — welcome comments.
- they are wordy — but you were warned that I’m not succinct (See the first line of this blog).
** I’ve created a text version of the content in the slides for those who might have trouble reading the images **
Graphic #1: A placemat (the GCE origins story) –to explain how we are anchored in a Deputy Ministers Task Force, and our ties to PCO’s Impact and Innovation Unit:
Graphic #2 –There has been lots of discussions between GCE team members about how to define this role and what are the key attributes. The slide that I built this on only had room for 5 features — forcing me to make some choices.
Graphic #3 — The intersection of the two Task Force work streams: it’s where the most engaged discussions have happened at the Task Force meetings (to date), and where I think the GCEs could bring home the most value to departments by prompting these cross-functional discussions (if they aren’t happening already).
Graphic #4 — None of our projects were created equally, and they are all starting from different places. All of them will have us playing a different role in leading, identifying or supporting partners. I believe for many — if we are successful — we won’t have ownership of the ‘project’ in the end. This will be a challenge for demonstrating value-add to others (and the return on investment for home departments).
Graphic #5 — Good God, there’s a lot of people I still need to talk to.
Graphic #6 — Where do we fit given all the cool things that others are making happen? How can we help?
Graphics 7–9: I’ve decided to try and document our Nesta learning experience via Sketchnotes that I can display on my cubicle walls (while I still have them… eek Workplace 2.0). This was my first attempt, from our 4 day session in April:
Cheers,
Leanne
