The woman who drew this was trim, coiffed and perfectly dressed.  Her blond flip hair-do and “had-to-have-been-a-cheerleader” demeanor did not make ANY sense when she present this map to the group.  She said, “This is me. And I do everything I can to protect my people from all the problems and interference that come down from HQ and senior leadership.  And I’ve got plenty of tools for my people, but they don’t seem to step up to the job.  They are always asking me what to do.  I don’t understand.” People looked left and right, thinking, “you don’t understand?”  She didn’t.  I asked, “Would you be interested in hearing what some of the other characters in your drawing might say?”….I pointed to the chick bottom left, “Can anyone say how they’d feel if they were this character?”  I got several answers, that told the same story, “I can’t do anything because she’s always hovering over me.  So why try.”  She turned in shock. Another said, “She’s standing on the tool box so I have to go through her for everything.”  I pointed out.  “To me, this eagle character looks kind of mean.  I don’t see you that way.”  Every now and then a drawing really packs a punch.  This one had a radical impact on the manager who drew it.  Her positive intent was very strong: to protect and help.  When she saw how much damage her current strategy was doing, her attitude changed – no defensiveness, no bad feelings, just a new opportunity to do it better.

It is frustrating to be the one collecting data.  Quality and Safety managers don’t know what works if they can’t measure results.  Personally I hate people measuring me, and I have a gut resentment against those who think I need measuring.  The person who drew this map drew it for people like me.  I look at it and it helps me remember to chill out.  All of us can do with a reminder that the people that get on our nerves don’t wake up early to plan new ways to make us crazy.  They are usually just as concerned about achieving the vision as we are.

“I’m the HR director standing on stilts because I have to talk to the director, but I don’t really have any power.  Labor Relations (L.R.) and Personnel (Pers) are about to make me fall down.”  This was a state government organization.  Notice that “Labor” is in a turret with a fence around it with a window but no door.  The central turret is open at the top with a person clearly “available.”  The stance of this person reminds me of the woman behind the desk when I needed to change a class in college.  She was the one person who could make it happen, but she really was sick of students asking to change classes.  “Administration” the place you go when you are a problem…have a problem…same difference.  THEN..look at IT.  Information Technology was considered invasive at this agency and they talked like “aliens” thus the UFO.  Try to understand with lots of stupid questions and you get “You don’t need to know that.  Just (insert jargon) and you will be fine.”  This one picture created insight for the HR person about balance and boundaries.  The HR guys who kept agreeing they had to stop using jargon, finally “got it” from seeing themselves portrayed here.  Notice also they are portrayed as lazy.  IT guys simply have a different definition of urgent than most employees.  Fixing your laptop does not equal a system-wide failure.