The Excursion Technique

This is a very effective method of persuading a group of people to design and develop new thought patterns to address unique situations and to formulate strategies based on their analyses.

This process usually involves five steps −

● The First Step − The instructor asks the participants to take an imaginary journey to a place that seemingly has no connection with the issue at hand. Some of such places could be a museum, jungle or another planet, etc. After the journey is over, the participants need to draw 8-10 images based on their experience of that place.

● The Second Step − The consultant asks participants to draw similarities and establish relationships between the images of their imaginary excursion, and the real-life issues they are presently facing in their scenario.

● The Third Step − The participants are now instructed to analyze the connections between the problems and the analogies and identify the ones that are the closest and most distinctly linked with all the factors.

● The Fourth Step − Participants share their experiences from their imaginary journey with their team-mates about what they saw, whom they interacted with, what analogies they drew and their solutions.

● The Fifth Step − Like brainstorming, participants discuss each other’s ideas and find out a common solution to the issues, and a common narrative that can include all their ideas.