Why drawing is your strategic superpower
Creativity has nothing to do with drawing. I say this frequently, when people profess to not be creative because they cannot draw.
Pfft. As if that has anything to do with it.
But wait.
Your drawing capability may not have any bearing on how creative you are, but can drawing help you be a more creative business owner?
You bet your 2B shading pencil it can.
I’m here to extoll the virtues of drawing as a tool to power up your strategic thinking. If it makes you less skittish, let’s call it doodling. No doubt I will be assassinated by fine artists, amateur sketchers and drawing enthusiasts alike for lumping drawing and doodling into the same pencil case, but let’s not worry about that, we have a business strategy to draw. Sharpen your pencils and let’s get going.
Yep, it’s time to draw – or doodle – your business strategy – and this is why.
Making a big picture gets you big picture thinking. It may feel reductionist as a reason, but it’s true. Break out of the confines of your screen when you write your business strategy and unroll a big bit of paper. The bigger the better. Start doodling the essential elements of your business, think of objects that represent the parts of the business you need to focus on for growth and get them down on paper, using different coloured Sharpies or felt tips.
Make the doodles big and bold – no tiddly, timid sketches allowed. Mistakes (or pen mis-steps, as I call them) are very much welcome. No idea arrives fully shaped, so keep the pens moving and don’t fret if one of them takes a wrong turn.
Doodling BIG will encourage you to step back and review what you have drawn, meaning you are stepping back and reviewing the big picture of your business, a much better perspective to get new insights and ideas. And as Sunni Brown, author of the fabulous The Doodle Revolution book notes, doodling also helps you connect over-arching ideas and concepts… the perfect mindset for strategic thinking.
You’ll think differently. Drawing encourages a different way of thinking – one that is open-ended, curious and playful. It’s business as unusual thinking, which is just what is needed when you are plotting the future of your business. It will help you tap into your creative potential and explore more ideas, quicker.
And drawing your strategy isn’t necessarily a solo endeavour- get your team involved (think long table, a roll of paper, mountains of pens and a few prompt questions to get the ideas started).
You’ll use visual metaphors. You know, you’ll be drawing ‘things’ that represent concepts or other ‘things’ in your business to create your strategy picture. And thinking of those visual metaphors is a superb way of being forced to identify the absolute essence of an idea – bringing a real simplicity to your strategy that a 500 word description just does not have.
Better clarity this way comes. Showing ideas and thoughts that can be complicated as visual representation supports quicker decision making, And drawing your business strategy creates simplicity, which brings clarity. Visual elements can create a more vivid message, be easier to understand, and create more impact which means they are remembered more clearly. Quite important when you need to live and breathe your strategy for a year.
So when you are about to embark on your business thinking, turn off your computer and turn to pen and paper instead. It will transform the result. Oh, and it will be much, much more fun.
Get your hands on the Allotment’s FREE Get 20:24 Vision and use our 5 day email challenge draw your way to a vibrant business vision. It will make you think differently about your business. Subscribe here for 20:24 vision.
And draw your story strategy with our Create Your Strategy Story tool which is currently hanging alongside a shed-load of other creative business growth tools in the Tool Shed, our free Allotment membership area. Join here.
And then have a lie down, you deserve it (just remember to put the lids back on your felt tip pens, don’t want them drying out on you).