010: Risked Based Thinking & Visual Facilitation

Carin Donald is a South African based management consultant, currently working for a leading Engineering Consulting and Advisory firm where she combines her technical expertise in risk management, human centered design and facilitation skills to assist teams in unteasing complex challenges. She’s married to her best friend and together they are raising two young boys in the sunny city of Johannesburg. She loves the rush of traveling to new and different places and when that cannot happen, she attempts to keep her garden alive.

When did your visual thinking first get activated?
During school, although obviously at the time I didn’t realize it; I was taught how to do a mindmap as a learning tool, which was quite some time ago. The change in mindset was quite the ‘thing’ about 25 years ago 

How are using your Visual Facilitation skills? 
It began while I facilitated what could be considered very ‘technical’ workshops using visual facilitation tools to identify risks in an engineering advisory space and evolved as I developed my toolbox and added things like design thinking too. Now I facilitate sessions with a variety of people, from the C-suite right through to labour unions, trying to solve their most complex challenges. Visual facilitation is the backbone in achieving my session’s desired outcomes in a simple and memorable way.

What breakthroughs have you seen in your work as a direct result of your work as a Visual Facilitator? 
I’ve seen people from outside my usual clients (both internal and external) approach me to help them ‘think things through and make the complex simple’. It has expanded my exposure within the engineering advisory industry and created a network that is much richer that I would have had before.

What tips do you have for people just getting started? 
You don’t have to apply visual facilitation in workshops or in your professional world only; I use these tools in team meetings, in capturing the body corporate where I live’s minutes, in breaking down my son’s weekly timetable (for us both to understand and remember). Also, you don’t have to be an artist, so stop being your own worst critic! There is so much on line to practice with, soon you’ll find your confidence growing.

What are favorite visual thinking tools? 
My Neuland Markers, plain old flipcharts, and a good ‘flipchart capturing app’. Through the Institute for visual facilitation I saw the value of great markers, but also in using the flipchart in different ways like re-using cut-outs of icons. The ‘flipchart capturing app’ that I use is CamScanner and I love it because it edits the flipchart pictures I take with my phone much better than merely using the camera function and it in formats that are easy to share with clients professionally.

Click the link below to connect with Carin Donald on LinkedIn:
www.linkedin.com/in/carin-donald

Whenever you are ready, there are 2 ways I can help you:

✏️ 1. The Visual Facilitation Online Course + Playbook: Unlock an engaging toolbox filled easy-to-use visuals. You will learn how to create memorable visuals for your coaching calls, in-person events or even your online course.
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✏️ 2. Private Coaching Sessions: Are you feeling stuck in your business? Do you feel like you have hit a plateau or can't seem to grow? Or maybe you are just starting out and you're not sure how to get your business off the ground. Whatever your situation, I'm here to help. 
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