More Than Words

As a coach, trainer or facilitator, the more information you can have about your participants, the better.  You are able to connect more easily, use your language and imagery more effectively and pace the session better.

In our CCS Expert interview series I have had the pleasure of sharing some of these insights from our experts in the field. I found out that many people are using the cards, not just to hear what the participants say about their choices, but also noticing how the participants make their choices, which provides another layer of valuable insight.

The CCS allows us to find out more about our participants in a very short space of time – in more ways than one.  If you have used the cards, you will know that the use of the images allows participants to tap into their tacit knowledge, to connect with their inner most thoughts and feelings, and to express those safely and freely.

The other benefit we get as a leader of the session, is that we see how they choose the cards, how they talk about them, and the group dynamic around the choosing of the images.  This can add another dimension to the information we gain about the individuals and the group, which can help inform how to best facilitate effectively.

Let me share some of the insights and thoughts from two of our experts.

Mary O’Keeffe, owner and founder of the Blue Fox Group, shared her NLP expertise combined with the use of the CCS.  She describes how observing the participants choice of cards, combined with how they describe the card, offers another layer of information about their learning style.  For example, someone who chooses highly coloured cards and images, and also then describes them in highly visual terms, may have a visual learning style. It is important to listen to how the card is described, as well as the choice of card, when making some assessment about the learning style. listen to the interview

Roger Norton, co-founder of Norton-Crumlin and Associates, describes the interesting group dynamic that happens when the CCS Jumbo cards are used.  He uses the Jumbo Vision cards in the vision creation process – throwing them on the floor, and having the participants stand up and make choices.  He describes the process as valuable in a number of ways. Firstly, and probably most importantly, simply by changing the physical environment changes the thinking of the group. It breaks the pattern of the usual ‘corporate speak’ and logical thinking, to a more creative and intuitive way of thinking. By having the group stand and discuss and make choices, the dynamic of the group becomes very obvious – who is the leader, who is more dominant, who becomes disengaged.  All of which is very useful when facilitating a group. listen to the interview

Observing how our participants choose their cards is just one more opportunity we have to gather more information about how our participants think and behave and therefore how they may learn and receive information more effectively.

Hear from more of our experts in the interview series – sharing how they use the CCS and more about the valuable work they are doing in leadership, coaching, mentoring and research on our website.