NOISE - it’s all around us and influences everything we do. When noise gets into your business processes and procedures, expect trouble! Noise takes many forms, distortion, misinterpretation, misrepresentation, delay etc and the result is a map that describes the wrong territory!

There is an inverse relationship in operation - as noise in any process communication increases there is a consequent decrease in information and/or data accuracy. So the "volume" of noise in any given communication directly effects how clearly others can listen and understand. It’s the classic "Chinese Whisper" syndrome where the original message becomes more corrupted the more it is received, interpreted, then communicated to another.

A typical business example is where a consultant is brought into a business to understand and fix a particular problem. To start with, the consultant my collect information and data and may talk with and observe employees. However, the employees’ "normal" environment has been disturbed as soon as they become aware of a third party. Employees will also work and talk differently as they know they are being observed and/or questioned. Most will respond by behaving and answering in a way they think is best under the circumstances.

All this leads to a misrepresentation of the "normal process" and the inaccurate recording of the process. To accurately "capture" a system, process or procedure, noise must be minimized and this is where video shines!

Instead of interpreting a process as best possible then distilling it into words and still pictures to produce a fragmentary view of a process, video can be used to record in "real time" and "at source" with nothing left out. Screen capture video can record all PC based processes while full motion video records physical processes. By joining the two, a complete end-to-end picture can be built of a "live" process or procedure and with it, a map that accurately describes the territory!

Jason

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Why is it so hard to learn systems and processes from a manual? A large part of the answer is due to the difficulty of "visualizing" or "picturing in the mind’s eye" a particular process!

Wade Roush wrote about IBM’s "Many Eyes visualization tool" and that "With the wrong visualization tools, data can be deathly boring—just think of all the dry, meaningless Power Point presentations and Excel spreadsheets you’ve endured in darkened lecture halls and conference rooms. But with the right tools and context, data can come alive, as Yale information designer Edward Tufte has famously argued"

Visualization is a powerful tool often used in professional sport and in the personal and business success field’s among many others. Tennis and golf professionals use visualization to picture in rich detail their intended shot or play. Successful business professionals often visualize a negotiation or meeting, carefully visualizing the successful outcomes that they want from the interaction.

That which can be visualized clearly can be created far quicker than without a visual "picture". Without "visual" imagination, replication and communication of new systems, new combinations and ways of doing things would be slowed-down immensely.

But just "visualization" in and of itself will not create a systematized business capable of successful replication. Learners will create wildly varying and frequently inaccurate pictures and visualizations in their mind in the absence of rich visual information. What is required is a clear, visual picture of a defined, systematic structure that can then be re-created in the "mind" of the worker/learner. The richer and more "real" the information presented to a worker/learner, the more easily and successfully the worker/learner can picture the exact system or process and actually do it! 

When learners or workers feel confidence when learning a particular system or process, mastery becomes almost guaranteed. Video presentation of information invokes the "law of attraction" powerfully in that a detailed and structured picture is presented which the mind can readily absorb and re-create. The mind then confidently expects mastery of the new process.

Jason

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Do you think they plan their communication by going:

1. I need to begin by identifying exactly who my audience is
2. I’ll then assess their current understanding of the subject
3. I’ll look at how I can best communicate my ideas to the target audience so that they will have the greatest chance of understanding and absorbing the information
4. I’ll use a survey to gain information after the presentation on how effective I was with my communication

Jason

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