Examining how you instinctively react in a given situation
could be a path to understanding feelings and thoughts you find difficult
to put into words.
Thus it is useful to find or make up a functional story which has no
parallels to the problem you are facing. According to this alternative
method you would draw your own picture of the relevant story (see Drawing).
There are no requirements for technical skill or for anyone else to
read the story, though it is usually more interesting if you can get
someone else’s understanding reactions.
As the story is clearly not an objective description of your actual
situation, feel free to be entirely subjective. You can make things
happen as you wish them to, you can present things in particular ways
just because they “feel right” that way.
You are definitely not saying that “this is what will happen”
but you are holding it up as a mirror to yourself, and noting your wishes,
expectations, feelings, judgements, anxieties, reactions, etc.
Putting it into written words makes it easier to describe your concern
to others and may increase the range of metaphors and images you can
use in talking to others.
Should some parts of the story summon strong feelings, this may suggest
a need for finding ways to handle similar feelings in the real situation.
If for instance you find yourself being judgemental about someone in
your story, you may need to reconsider your behaviour to that person
in real life.
If you are working with someone else (who preferably has done the same
as you) show thm your story or picture, let them ask questions about
them and say what they find striking. It is fundamental to work jointly
to unpack common wishes, expectations, feelings, judgements, anxieties,
reactions, etc. and to see what needs to be done.
This method can be used by individuals or groups of people. To use it
on your own, pin up on a wall the written story where you can always
see it and leave it there some time. To use it collectively to devise
solutions to a given situation, pin it up on the wall and leave it there
until the project has come to an end.
This method helps to liberate creative thoughts. As a matter of fact,
writing (or drawing) helps to highlight connections between different
thoughts. When ideas freely flow on the paper, stakeholders “plunge”
into the problem.
You can begin by hanging a sheet on a blackboard, which refers to a
given subject, and add other sheets to it which deal with general categories,
remarks, etc. Next to it, you can pin up other cards suggesting ideas
on the same subject and belonging to the same categories.
According to Mike Vance, four major elements underline Story Boarding:
- Planning Boards;
- Ideas;
- Communication;
- Organisation.
During a story boarding session it is necessary to
consider all relevant ideas, no matter how impractical they appear.
Moreover, it is crucial to think positive and hold all criticism until
the final assessment phase.
Sergeinstein, Leonardo Da Vinci and Walt Disney used this method. In
particular, in 1928 Walt Disney and his staff developed a story boarding
system to improve animations. Disney needed to produce an enourmous
number of drawings which were not easy to be managed. They decided to
pin up their drawings on the studio walls, so they could add and discard
scenes with ease.
[Source: http://members.optusnet.com.au/~charles57/Creative]