With organizational success comes more, not less, complexity. This leads to issues like siloed teams, broken communication, project creep, meeting fatigue, and an overall lack of alignment. We can help. In our Modeling for Clarity Workshop we will give your people a better framework to see, explain, and work together to identify and then solve their complex problems. It’s a skill that will bring continuing value to your organization.
YOUR TEAM WILL…
• USE our framework to SOLVE PROBLEMS
• COMMUNICATE IDEAS MORE CLEARLY
• Save time on future projects
• BETTER APPRECIATE EACH PART IN THE ORG
• ALIGN THEMSELVES FOR PROBLEM SOLVING
joe elmendorf, Information architect
WHY JOIN US?
My name is Joe Elmendorf, and I am a lead teacher of the Modeling for Clarity Workshop. My colleagues and I at The Understanding Group have spent a lot of time crafting a new framework for problem solving through the use of models, and now we want to share and teach this skill to others. In my opinion, an intentional model is the best way to invite the kinds of conversations that lead to the understanding that your teams need. Investing as little as 12 hours of your time (flexible scheduling), your team can learn this framework and be on your way to making every communication you have and project you’re doing…better.
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?
The Clear Models Framework (CMF), that we teach in this workshop elevates modeling to be your team’s superpower in understanding and explaining complex ideas. We all use models both knowingly and unknowingly, but the CMF will teach you how to be intentional with them and get the results you need. It guides your team through the process of establishing clear intentionality and discovering the important levers you can work with to bring clarity to your communication practices both within and across teams. We will equip you to better explain ideas and gain the alignment you need.
“Independent of roles or job titles, I’d recommend this to anybody who has a need to collaborate and align with other humans on shared ideas or areas of focus.”
WHAT ARE THE DETAILS?
The Workshop has 4 sessions that can be split up into 4 weeks, multiple weekends, or even 1 day intensives. This workshop is very hands-on making it perfect for multiple learning styles across your team. It allows them to actively produce models and then talk about them with others using the framework introduced in class. We’re very inclusive, so everyone has something to learn from this workshop. The 4 sessions are listed here below. We hope to hear from you soon.
PART 1: INTRO TO MODELING - You've likely heard the term "model", but what does it mean for us and why do we bother making them? We explore this valuable practice, both in theory and through class exercises where everyone makes their first models for understanding.
PART 2: MAKING MODELS - We learn about the Model Program Phase, a planning tool that allows us to model more efficiently and have a clear criteria for when a model is “finished”. We then introduce the five steps to making any model and practice them as a group.
PART 3: SHARED MODELING - We highlight key benefits of sharing a model and talk about ways a modeler can make their models work for both the model-maker and for an audience with less context. We introduce Context Priming, a set of tactics for helping make a model more understandable and helpful for those who didn't make it.
PART 4: MODEL CRITIQUING - The Clear Models Framework is not only a tool for helping make good models; it also provides a framework for how to give clear targeted critique for other's models. We’ll learn how to take our model-making skills and apply them to help critique and make others’ models more clear.
“Highly recommend. Joe and Dan are doing a great job, the content and tools are well planned, and interactivity with other participants is really helpful”
“I learned a lot! The framework and terms are useful in many different venues, and as a business leader I feel better prepared to engage with and communicate concepts with my peers and organization.
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“I realized during this course that I have subconsciously been doing a lot of modeling, but I hadn’t had the tools to use this skill productively enough with clients. The workshop is helping me to better integrate modeling into our company’s processes.”
