Most people find it difficult to look a crisis or challenge straight in the eye and do the original imaginative thinking that is required of them. It is human nature in dangerous times (global financial meltdown for instance) to reach for whatever has worked in the past with the hopes that it will vanquish the beast.
But this will not do, especially now. New ways of thinking in which we use every cognitive resource we’ve got are needed to address our shaky futures.
Kinesthetic Modeling (KM) provides that much needed thinking tool. In as little as half a day it gets people unstuck. It frees up their thought processes and allows them to collaborate in totally new territory. A good facilitator can move a team across miles of vexing territory in a day. The group can come up with new big picture understandings, a strong sense of direction and a list of next steps – no matter what they are facing.
KM IS BEST USED FOR…
Understanding Threats and Chaotic Situations
Team Building in Crisis
Visioning and Strategic Planning
Idea Generation and Creativity
Simulation and Rapid Prototyping
Management of Change
Coaching Individuals
Kinesthetic Modeling is an experiential facilitation process. This means that people don’t sit around talking and arguing about how to deal with what is confounding them. They get out of their seats and get physically involved in the building of tangible physical models of their challenge. After a few minutes of modeling people can literally see and touch things that eluded them when they began. The KM process is both playful and serious. It capitalizes on fully embodied thinking, on the triangle of cognitive power that is described by our brains, eyes and hands. Over the past decade John Ward has put a lifetime of business and design experience into the development of Kinesthetic Modeling. It has been used with more than 50 organizations and a thousand individuals.
While the models are the most striking feature of KM, they are merely the springboard for the real show, the extensive debrief where their relevance, significance and implications are captured.
MORE on KINESTHETIC MODELING
Coming soon on the Many Minds, Breakthrough Facilitation Blog