The Art of Explanation and Community Engagement

How we engage with the community is an important determinant of success in acceptance of the outcome for what we seek the community’s support. It is as much an art as it is a process. The power of pictures/images is something we all know can be influential in gaining an understanding of concepts, issues, projects or problems.

Arthur Kyron is now applying his many years’ experience as a visual explainer to a new level whereby he will assist leaders and organisations to enhance understanding.

  • People want to be a part of something big
  • People want to feel a sense of belonging
  • People want to go on a meaningful journey
  • People want to know that their contributions make a significant impact or difference

There are many barriers to engagement*:

  • If people feel overwhelmed
  • If they don’t get what it is they are being engaged in
  • If they are scared or feel unsafe
  • If they do not see the big picture
  • If they do not have a sense of ownership
  • If leadership don’t accept the current reality
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* J Haudan, The Art Of Engagement

There are ways to get engagement through:

  • Connecting through images and stories
  • Creating pictures together
  • Believing and trusting in leaders
  • Owning the solutions
  • Playing the entire game
  • Practicing before performing

Connecting through images and stories

  • 1. Learning map visuals
  • 2. Visual metaphors
  • 3. Conceptual illustrations
  • 4. Infographics
  • 5. Drawings or photos
  • 6. Icons
  • 7. Visual Notes

5 steps of discovery

Lessons for creating new and exciting possibilities for engaging people to create results:

  • 1. People won’t change if the need to change is an indictment of their past performance
  • 2. People will tolerate the conclusions of their leaders, but they will act on their own
  • 3. People without understanding of an organisation’s strategy can’t take responsibility for change: people with understanding can’t avoid it
  • 4. People don’t need help in starting new action: they need permission to stop the old ones
  • 5. Strategy is an adventure; even more, it is a purposeful adventure
  • 6. To execute a strategy, people need an honest assessment of where they are and a clear picture of where they want to go
  • 7. When leaders try to create a picture of their strategy, they discover it is impossible to visualize fuzz
  • 8. People must overcome the or and embrace the and.
  • 9. Dialogue is the oxygen of change
  • 10. Competitiveness is not determined by the learning speed of the fastest few but by the learning and execution of the slowest many
  • 11. Success is not about a few people having the better answers; it is about everyone asking better questions
  • 12. The most sophisticated strategy is worthless if humans can’t embrace it or be engaged in it

At ENOSIS we will work with you to develop an inquiring mindset, to suspend judgement and to work on collaborative approaches to problems and situations encountered.

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