Visual Thinking School is designed as a public forum to improve the discipline of Visual Thinking, either through demonstrations, specific topical subjects, or through lively debate and sharing. Once a month we open the doors and invite the public to participate in the Portland/926 Studio.

With Gamestorming in mind, we wanted to use something topical that could act as our stand-in client for the two-hour public session. What could be more compelling than Occupy Wall Street? No matter what your political bent, we could all agree that the Occupy Movement has had its share of communications wins and challenges.  We invited the public to join us, and to act as the ‘client’ subject matter experts. Playing that role, we then could apply Dachis Consulting processes to the challenges at hand.  This would cover the basic modes that we often do with clients, while using an interesting topic to drive lively discussion.

If you want to get to the conclusions we found for the movement, skip on to “The Findings” below.

VTS – from a Consulting perspective

Often driven from a Design standpoint, this month we decided to structure our public VTS from the Consultant’s perspective, which in this case would focus on some of the basic skills from Gamestorming, ones we find invaluable at almost every client session.

• The Post-Up
• Dot Voting
• Thought Mapping
• Who|Do
• Big Head (empathy mapping)

Most Dachis Group Consulting sessions are longer than 6 hours, but for the sake of VTS, we compressed this into a two-hour event. In some cases we had to make a few concessions to the compressed timeframe.  Also be aware that Dachis Group takes no political stand on this matter. We are here reflecting the values of the group in attendance, facilitated by our methods.

The Session

Proposed Session Goals

• Clarify client goals (of the movement)
• Identify core audience constituents
• Generate priority messages
• Suggest message and strategy tweaks

Activities

Post-Up:

We invited the entire room to participate in a guided post-up activity in response to this question: What do you think the Occupy Movement is protesting?

Each person was asked to write individual concepts on a Post-It note, and bring it up to the whiteboard, and to share with the group verball. At the same time we began to organize these posts into affinity groups, looking for similarities or contrasts.  Patterns began to emerge as the group expressed itself.

Dot Voting:

With the large group and the tight timeframe, we resorted to dot voting in order to quickly generate the top four areas of interest for us to focus the rest of the session. Each participant was given three colored dots, and instructed to place ‘votes’ on the areas of interest that resonated most with them. It was possible to vote with all three dots on one topic if necessary.

The result of the voting was clear. The overwhelming majority picked these four topic areas as priorities.

1. Income Inequality (20)
2. The Big Bad Corporation (19)
3. Money in Politics (16)
4. The Dynamics of the Occupy movement itself (12)

Thought Mapping

With those topics in mind, we asked the room to break into groups to individually dig into these topic areas. What is it about each issue that is compelling? What is each topic composed of? What’s important?

The Findings

Income Inequality:

Income Inequality drives the following issues for the group:

• 1% of the population is holding 80% of the wealth in the country
• Lack of opportunity (ie unfair laws) to get there
• Money stays with money, generationally
• US CEOs make more, %-wise than they did before
• CEOs are rewarded evenwhile failing
• 1% is not paying their fair share on taxes
• Workers are not rewarded for hard work/success
• Offshore labor is paid less /Workers let go
• Corporations don’t pay their fair share
• “Corporate Personhood” mean real people are not reated well
• Effort (on behalf of the working poor) does not equal financial gain
• Taxpayers took the brunt of the recent economic downfall
• No reciprocity for the bailout -> no re-investment
• Rules are mad in favor of rich corporations
• 99% wants a return on their investment

The Big Bad Corporation:

In the Big Bad Corporation, multiple influences drive a sense of inequality and inequity

• Unfair access,
• Exploitation
• Influence
• Lack of accountability

Other factors add to this such as

• Corporate personhood/influence in the political process
• Tax shelters
• Outsized rewards

All leading to a sense of this being not sustainable in the long run.

Money in Politics

Money in Politics brought out these priority issues

• This represents the hijacking of democracy
• The government is picking winners
• (Corporate) criminals go unpunished, and are above the law
• Too much Special Interest/ Lobby influence
• Deregulation (gave away) the keys to the castle
• Government representation does not represent the people
• Politics is a revolving door (to influence and money)
• $ in politics is a self-perpetuating problem

The Dynamics of the Occupy movement itself

The Occupy Movement itself has some unique dynamics

• The Mode of occupation itself has meaning
• Non Violence
• Bring back democracy
• Democracy is reclaiming vs. Plutocracy in Government
• The system (as it sits) is broken
• There is passion in the movement
• Questioning the definition of public property
• Subvert the existing hierarchy
• Share power now held by the 1%

Who| Do

With the though maps developed, we worked to understand some of the constituent audiences that are involved with this movement. In a normal session timeframe, we’d take time to evolve the audience members, the WHOs. Since time was short, , we imposed 5 groups based on a quick group consensus:

• Corporations – Corporate groups and the “1%”
• Government – Law and Policy makers
• The Media – Those covering the events, and providing influence to others
• Protesters – The protesters themselves, and citizens identifying with the movement
• General Population – Those who don’t identify with #occupy but is seeing media and protest images/information

After defining the WHO, we would later address the DO half of the equation.

Big Heads

The Big Head is a framework that seeks to understand the internal ‘headspace’ of an audience or group. We can start to define what it is that they think about, and the forces that are at work on their lives.  This is especially powerful if we can do this against a defined set of influences, as we had previously created with our thought maps.

We work to build empathy and define a set of conditions that are affecting their lives. In this case we asked questions along these lines:

Relative to the #Occupy movement,

• Who are the people involved?
• How are they affected by the economy now?
• What are their aspirations?
• How does their role (WHO) relate to the movement messages?
• What is on their mind as they see the movement evolve?

We asked participants to create smaller groups to focus on a Big-Head for each of the constituencies identified above. Each group discussed what a given person is seeing, hearing, thinking, and ultimately doing relative to the #Occupy movement.  We also asked each group to focus on what each Big-Head could DO, either as a result of hearing communications from #Occupy, or to improve their standing among the other groups. We got some surprising results, as you’ll see below.

Corporations:

On the mind of the typical corporate citizen is the pursuit of what’s next. They’re motivated by efficiency and ROI, while attempting to grow or survive in these difficult conditions. They may be focused on short-term profit, finding it difficult to plan for longer-range growth. They are hearing blame, and complaints from either investors, or from the media.  Words from them sound like spin, or may be a form of appeasement to the masses.

What Occupy Wants from Corporations:

• Suspend bonuses until the government is paid back with interest
• Regulation of political donations & Lobbying expenses
• (Greater) wealth/income dispersion
• Incentives to self-regulation
• Paradigm shift to B Corp, from Value to PPP, etc.
• Standard certification label
• Accountability

What Occupy wants to influence regarding Corporations:

• Good Will = Good Business: If corporations can truly invest in good business (sound, ethical, for “good” it makes for a better, more trusting atmosphere
• Integrity = Freedom: If businesses could be seen as having integrity, it would allow them more freedom in the long run.
• Investment in equity and fairness is a good business investment.

Government:

Government is hearing anger from protesters, request from lobbyists, and regional and local interest groups. It is seeing civil-unrest, unemployment and new voting demographics.  (Even smelling an unclean park, and perhaps the fear of the public)* Public spaces are “occupied” and can present a problem requiring a clearer definition of rights and responsibilities.  Government is thinking about the pressures of re-election, policy changes, and its responsibilities toward keeping the peace and serving the public good.  Government speaks about public safety, and shows a mix of support and disapproval over the issue.

What Occupy wants from Government.

• Align policy/rhetoric with protesters
• Recognize OWS legitimacy, (or ignore it)
• Understand/differentiate between constituents
• Coordinate messaging/talking points (Play the political game, and stay on point)
• Specific policy recommendations
• Align political resources with social values (and keep it as a central message)

What Occupy can do to influence Government more effectivelyThe Media

Media is hearing only fractured soundbites: “We are the 99%” But nothing more specific in an organized sense.  They are seeing little or no reaction from corporations. News coverage from their peers tends to show dirty, angry, messy and/or disorganized people at the fringes. There is a rapid, 24 hour news cycle, and if it’s not new, it doesn’t fly.  The Media might be wondering if there is an ROI to covering the Occupy movement, especially as it persists in being from the margins and disorganized. There isn’t a “What’s in it for me”: message being sent.

What Occupy wants from The Media

• See Occupy as mainstream
• Sensationalize (the issues) that Occupy is protesting, not the protests themselves
• Show the economic realities of the ones who are losing all the’ve built
• Pro-bono advertising
• Report more on socially-negative corporate behaviors
• Follow the money
• Promote social responsibility
• Educate the masses on global economic systems, and government.
• Encourage “everyday” participation through branding and icons
• Occupy Poster Children (focus on leading individuals who speak cogently and clearly)
• Develop a media strategy
• Make choices regarding the right places to occupy (and when)

The Public

The average citizen is busy trying to survive this economic crisis. They are seeing hardships of many kinds, news of economic trouble, and news that comes from all sides of the Occupy position – positive and negative.  They are NOT hearing a clear, concise message from the movement, but fragments, intermixed with a number of other sources of information.  This person is thinking about family, healthcare, and worrying about earning a living in these more difficult times.   “Doing the right thing” is important, and the aspiration that “hard work should result in a good life” still remains, yet it seems at odds with the news. This person has seen the value of their house fall, and the prospects for the future become much more obscure. This person has plenty to worry about outside of an obscure movement that seems removed from their everyday cares.

What the Public may be wondering about Occupy:

• Who are these people? Do I have anything in common with them?
• Will this movement have an effect?
• How would my life be different if these demands all come true?
• What changes should I make to make a difference?
• What will this cost me?
• Change your habits: don’t add to the problem, and vote with your wallet
• Identify with the 99%
• Vote, and be active in politics
• Donate to organizations, in $ and skills
• Boycott misbehaving corporations (B of A example)
• Advocate – spread the word
• Provide moral support
• Get educated – do your homework and have an opinion.

The Protesters

Occupy protesters are seeing diminished opportunities, and a greater sense of inequality. The American Dream has become hollow, as corporations and the rich seem to be running away with all the benefits of a hard-working population.  They are thinking about diminished money, and that a majority of influencing Americans “don’t get it”, while the problem is plain to their minds.  Protesters are hearing ridicule, “get a job” and that there’s no future in this protest. People say they have lost, or never had a focused message.

What the Occupy protesters can do:

• Evolve
• Develop a Media strategy
• Communicate ONE idea clearly
• Push a consistent message
• Tie these ideas to politics/ political action
• Identify representatives in Congress who are sympathetic
• Remember that dissent and fighting for values is patriotic. Use patriotic symbols to avoid being sidelined and dismissed

Conclusion

By engaging a group of people to take on a prominent public issue, we were able to demonstrate the use of Dachis | XPLANE tools to help clarify and generate strategies. The compressed timeframe limited the complexity or depth of argument, but we were able to open up topics and generate ideas that might be of use to the movement, but at the very least provided a format for exploring message and audience development.