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2/21/2024

Visual Consulting Helps Orthodontic Clinic to Thrive

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In the midst of the pandemic, Joran Oppelt, a skilled facilitator and executive coach, played a pivotal role in reshaping the trajectory of an orthodontic clinic's business. The clinic faced challenges posed by virtual competitors like Invisalign and struggled to adapt, feeling reactive rather than proactive.

Joran's expertise in team alignment and team building became the catalyst for change. Through an extensive process of re-engineering meeting protocols, creating a clear vision and values, and establishing new communication strategies, the orthodontic clinic not only weathered the storm but emerged stronger and more resilient than before.

Here’s what the Operations Project Manager had to say, “With Joran’s help, I led my team through redesigning our meetings protocol and organizational values. Thanks to his work, our company was not only able to overcome business disruptions due to COVID-19, but we were able to innovate, strategize, train, and synchronize our operations while exceeding financial goals!”

Central to their success was the development of a competitive virtual offering, a strategic response to the threat posed by Invisalign. The clinic morale improved as they went from feeling like a victim to being a proactive player in the market, retaining and even expanding its patient base.

The visioning process led by Joran played a crucial role in setting the clinic up for success during the challenging and isolating time of the pandemic. By defining clear vision, mission, and values, coupled with a comprehensive Team Charter, the clinic was able to ensure that everyone knew their roles and responsibilities.

Most importantly, they identified and empowered the right person for the lead administrative role. Throughout the process, the team realized the need for an integrator – someone with the ability to drive these new systems and keep everything organized. This strategic shift not only streamlined operations but also accelerated the clinic's growth.

Two years post-peak pandemic, this orthodontic clinic continues to thrive. Expanding their team with multiple calls for new assistants and hygienists, they are not just surviving but actively growing. The focus has shifted to marketing and patient base expansion, with a new social media and marketing plan in place. Their collaboration with a marketing company attests to their commitment to staying ahead in a competitive market.

This success story is a testament to trusting in the process and the transformative power of facilitation and coaching. Joran's guidance not only helped them navigate the economic risks and cultural challenges posed by the pandemic but also set them on a trajectory of sustained growth and prosperity.

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1/26/2024

The Four-Step Formula for Team Alignment

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At Illustrious, we’ve claimed to be the Leader in Team Alignment since 2022. 

We know what it’s like to turn the pain of transformation into the adventure of a lifetime. We’ve seen first-hand the amazing results that our clients get by working with us. And we always find it difficult to explain them to people who are curious about what we do – or curious about whether engaging us would be a good fit. 

So, during our recent 2024 Power Visioning Retreat – where we took a look back at what we accomplished in 2023 and imagined what we will accomplish in 2024 – we asked ourselves the question, “How are we specifically contributing to Team Alignment?”

After exchanging some quick blank expressions, we got to work brainstorming the process we see our clients go through all the time – as they move from confusion to clarity, or from a milk crate full of tangled cables into a compelling and well-organized stage show.
THE ILLUSTRIOUS FORMULA FOR TEAM ALIGNMENT:
  • I'm Curious
  • I'm Interested
  • I'm Oriented
  • I'm In
EVOKING CURIOSITY

What usually happens first with the teams we work with is they are somehow exposed to the visual tools and frameworks we use at Illustrious – whether that’s graphic recording, The Grove’s Strategic Visioning or Team Performance models, or the various visual frameworks found in Gamestorming or Liberating Structures. 

Either way, there is a ‘Woah!” moment that leads to curiosity. This curiosity can look like excitement or skepticism. And while we’d prefer everyone be excited right away, it’s OK for the team to be skeptical in the beginning. One particularly resistant client said, “Hold on! We’re deciding our strategy based on cartoons?!”

Few people have experienced the science of visual thinking proven out in a business environment. Few people have been through a process that starts out as stickies on the wall, moves into tension and groaning and pushback, and ends up as humans witnessing each other and hearing each other without judgment. But each small win helps make the process easier for even the most resistant in the room.

INTEREST

Next, the visuals tend to create a focused attention. People lean in, either to learn more about the tools (usually posters on the wall or canvases in apps like MURAL), or to pick them apart and tear holes in them. It matters little to us, as long as they’re leaning in and engaged. 

At this point, either in the spirit of herd mentality (agreement) or pushback (disagreement), we see two camps emerge – “I’m interested in learning more” or “I’m interested in proving this wrong.” Again, the group’s interest and engagement is what matters.

Once most fears are addressed, defensiveness is taken down a notch, and people are assured that no one wants to do their job for them, the group usually starts to lean in the same direction.

ORIENTATION

This is when the fun starts to happen. I liken this stage to a pile of metal shavings being activated by a magnet. Slowly, and one by one, the shavings will start to wiggle and vibrate. Then, they turn in the same direction, sometimes piling on top of or crawling over each other in order to answer the pull of the magnet. And, suddenly, in a rush, they are like one body – or a murmuration of birds – having one shape, one energy, one purpose. 

That stirring of energy and positive provocation is what it looks like when a group is oriented together and facing a problem or objective arm-in-arm. 

INSPIRING COMMITMENT

Finally, once the team is curious, interested, and facing the same direction, the primary aim of any visual tool or communication is to inspire commitment. The team moves away from dependence and resistance, gets clearer on their roles and responsibilities, has a better grasp on the resources they need or lack, and discovers new ways to plan and make decisions. 

This confidence fills the team’s sails and creates a renewed feeling of camaraderie and teamwork. Culture improves, communication improves, productivity increases. Because the team is saying “Yes” to each other – and to the mission.

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If you have questions about how this looks in action or would like to see this kind of alignment happen on your team, let's schedule some time to chat.

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3/14/2022

Visual Leadership in a Complex World

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In complex business environments, leadership cannot be off-boarded or outsourced. As leaders and executives, sometimes we blame the bad things happening around us on others, or the market, or circumstance.

Things like ineffective meetings, staff turnover, teams not hitting their goals, people holding back, lack of work/life balance, and not sticking to the strategy. These have nothing to do with other people and everything to do with the way you show up as a leader. 


It’s been said that “people don’t leave bad jobs, they leave bad managers.” The opposite is also true. People don’t follow ideas, they follow other people. Is your mission confusing and convoluted? Are there too many initiatives to remember? Have you made your vision of the future (and their role in it) crystal clear for the team? If not, chances are they will burn out. If they stop believing in your capacity to lead, you will no longer be their leader. No amount of bonuses or self-care days will undo it.

Executives and leaders experiencing complexity and overwhelm can do two things to establish leadership in complex environments: 

  1. Simplify business principles and involve your team in the use of visual communication methods and practice. 
  2. Align your teams around a cogent and balanced approach to short-term thinking (quick wins) and long-term thinking (innovation).

This alignment will look more like group storytelling than strategy. It will involve all of your people and involve them in visualizing things like retrospectives, journey maps, and cones of plausibility.

Consider how the diversity of voices, perspectives and competencies you convene and empower today will impact, amplify, drive, or disrupt your work in the future. Visionary leaders prepare for this long tail and are able to manage the business along multiple horizons.


The emotional benefits for leaders who can do this include: 

  • The confidence of knowing they have involved their team members in the process of "painting done" (being explicitly detailed with their vision or expectations) and have set them up to do the same.
 
  • The wisdom and clarity to know the difference between long-term innovation or development projects and short-term projects that will keep the team fired up and inspired.
 
  • The strength that comes from a team’s ability to wield the superpower of visual vocabulary in concert – which accelerates the thinking and communication inside your business. 

Some measurable results we have seen in leaders and businesses that can enable this kind of thinking and behavior in those around them include:

  • A global A/V integrator narrowing down a list of 13 strategic initiatives and “must-win battles” to three concise and memorable objectives that the entire organization could focus on over the next 90 days.
 
  • A Fortune 50 software company providing their sales team with a Deal Journey Map that engaged more stakeholders during discovery, optimized coaching calls, and increased adoption of and adherence to the sales process.
 
  • An increase in storytelling and visual thinking skills on an Agile coaching team tasked with training their clients how to build with speed and quality in the face of rapid change.

As mentioned in our book, Visionary Leadership, these types of leaders are able to do three things well:

  1. Take ownership of the problem - Take a hard look at your communication, planning, systems, and processes. Does everyone have access to the tools and software they need to become visual thinkers? Have they been provided with the necessary training? Do they celebrate and debrief after a launch or finished project? Does everyone know what success looks like for their role? If not, it’s on you. Own it and start doing better.
  2. Break the big thing into smaller things - Imagine you are cleaning out a closet. What are you keeping or tossing? How will you organize the work effort? Use a whiteboard, sticky notes or spreadsheet but start (visually) putting things into smaller and smaller buckets. You can then prioritize and start implementing.
  3. Ask for help - Don’t let your need for control keep you from greatness. Don’t work too far outside of your Zone of Genius. Surround yourself with people who are more capable than you are. The art directors (those in black t-shirts and glasses) aren’t the only creatives in your organization. Scrum masters aren’t the only ones who can put stickies on the wall. Innovation teams aren’t the only people who can test and validate business ideas.

Raise more visual leaders. Celebrate them. Watch them shine.

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    ABOUT THE Author

    Joran Slane Oppelt is an international speaker, author and consultant with certifications in coaching, storytelling, design thinking and virtual facilitation.

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  • Home of Illustrious Consulting
  • About
    • About Us
    • How We Work
  • Services
    • OKRs
    • Executive Coaching
    • Visual Storytelling Workshop
  • Blog
  • Resources
    • Books
    • Video
    • MURAL Templates
  • Contact
  • Schedule a Discovery Call