Images of Organisations® are visual metaphor cards of organisational and business situations used as an introductory, ice breaker or closing activity to encourage discussion and sharing of experience, feelings, and perceptions. These popular images are highly versatile and can be used with individuals or teams to generate rich discussions.

Since its introduction in 2005, Images of Organisations® has been one of the most popular tools in the RSVP Design range. It contains three copies of 16 carefully designed and selected images that have been drawn in an attractive cartoon style. The images represent a range of experiences and emotions, many of which will be familiar to anyone working in an organisation, sitting on a committee or attending regular meetings! This should be no surprise as they are all based on descriptions that real people in real organisations have given to us over the years about what it felt like to be part of a team or an organisation at a particular point in time.

The images include a wide variety of strong, negative emotions, eg:

Frustration
Confusion
Isolation

Through to very positive shared experiences, eg:

The successful achievement of a challenging task
The satisfaction of working in a skilled and specialist team
The motivation of working in a competitive and stimulating environment.

This physical deck now comes with an online viewable image of all 16 x cartoons that can be used with virtual learning teams and groups. If virtual teams are to succeed there is an increased need to develop a sense of relatedness or connectedness, as well as ensuring each person contributes. Using the included online image collection to allow people to choose a personal relatable image provides an opportunity for everyone to contribute to 'maintaining the team' as well as developing the ability to complete 'the team task'.
Click here for an example of using this activity online during the COVID-19 lockdown crisis!

Watch the Webinar on the right to learn about using Images of Organisations as an ice-breaker activity

Webinar video

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Learning Objective

Management & workplace communications
Team & organisational development
Personal or team development planning
Approaching otherwise difficult topics in a sensitive manner
Giving and receiving feedback
Ice breaker activity, or closing exercise
Working with conflict within a team

FAQ's

In April 2020 we included a digital image of all 16x cartoons to be used with remote learners / groups. This recognises the additional difficulties in building remote teams, and the need for them to be able to quickly build a sense of relatedness despite the challenges posed in communicating via onle meeting software.
During the COVID-19 crisis we used this product internally during our regular online team meetings and you can view the video here: Images of Organisations use during COVID-19

Some suggested uses of Images of Organisations:

• At the start of a conference or training programme in which delegates do not know each other.

Asking delegates to choose an image that means something to them as individuals - this elicits far more information than simply asking them to state their name and job role as part of a 'creeping death' introduction!

• As a way of finding out about different perspectives amongst team members.

Are different individuals experiencing very different things at the same time? Is one person’s exciting change another’s nightmarish upheaval? Two people can look at the same image yet feel/imagine very different possibilities.

• As a lead-in to team action planning at the end of a team development programme.

The positive and negative nature of the images allows teams to choose an image to aspire to and an image to avoid.

• In exploring organisational values.

What do the individual images that team members have chosen say about their individual values? What is important to them about working in this team/on this project/ as part of this organisation? Values are more than words, and the use of metaphor can begin to explore what values really mean to people, and deepen their shared understanding.

• In performance appraisal.

The positive and negative nature of the images allows managers and subordinates to explore images that might reflect times and activities when things were going well, as well as those when things were more difficult.

What's Included

Activity Contents:

48x High quality laminated A5-sized images (3x of each different image)

Full facilitation notes including suggested uses, topics and review areas

16 x individual cards with a wide range of further suggested questions relating to each cartoon image

A digital images of all 16 x cartoons (numbered) for sharing/use with remote learners

Package Weight: 0.65kg

Suggested use:

• At the start of a conference or training programme in which delegates do not know each other.

Asking delegates to choose an image that means something to them as individuals - this elicits far more information than simply asking them to state their name and job role as part of a 'creeping death' introduction!

• As a way of finding out about different perspectives amongst team members.

Are different individuals experiencing very different things at the same time? Is one person’s exciting change another’s nightmarish upheaval? Two people can look at the same image yet feel/imagine very different possibilities.

• As a lead-in to team action planning at the end of a team development programme.

The positive and negative nature of the images allows teams to choose an image to aspire to and an image to avoid.

• In exploring organisational values.

What do the individual images that team members have chosen say about their individual values? What is important to them about working in this team/on this project/ as part of this organisation? Values are more than words, and the use of metaphor can begin to explore what values really mean to people, and deepen their shared understanding.

• In performance appraisal.

The positive and negative nature of the images allows managers and subordinates to explore images that might reflect times and activities when things were going well, as well as those when things were more difficult.

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Product prices shown do not include delivery costs We use international and local courier services to provide a fast, secure and traceable shipping service to our customers. Typically we will ship within one working day of receiving your order (if received by 14.00 local time), and your goods should be with you wherever you are in the world within one week!

Returns

We provide a 12 month unconditional guarantee. If you have any problems with our materials, we will replace any defective parts, or you can return the product for a refund.

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Images of Organisations®

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