The art of complexity: using visual artefacts and dialogue to bridge the gap between strategic plans and local actions in organisations

This chapter looks at the use of visual representations of organisational strategy in combination with facilitated dialogue (’Visual Dialogue’) as a complexity-inspired tool for culture change and organisational development. The process creates spaces for employees and leaders to come together to make sense of what is happening, what needs to change, and what actions are required. At the operational level, the process helps shift the way people talk about change and, as a result, enables the change process to become more meaningful, engaging and effective. We describe some of the cultural challenges of turning strategy into action and show how we have used the Visual Dialogue process as an Organisational Development intervention to address some of the key aspects of these challenges. Finally, we describe the component parts of Visual Dialogue and how each contributes to creating such enabling environments and supporting emergent change.