The Everyday Experiment

By Martin Johnson on January 14, 2026

A Small Start It began as a quiet idea. A team member asked if they could rotate who opens their weekly meeting. Such a simple idea. No initiative. No policy. Just curiosity. They wanted to see how a small change might shift who feels heard first. The first time, it felt awkward. The second time, […]

The Door That Wasn’t Locked

By Martin Johnson on December 15, 2025

Finding the courage to walk through unseen opportunity. The Unseen Barrier It started with a promotion board, a wall of names that hadn’t changed in years. Maya stood beside it after another internal workshop, listening to a colleague quietly say, “I didn’t even know I could apply.” The sentence lingered, not as complaint, but as […]

The Meeting After the Meeting

By Martin Johnson on December 15, 2025

When listening turns from moment to movement. The Words Left Unsaid The team meeting had ended, but the real conversation began in the corridor. Two colleagues whispered about how a proposed change “didn’t feel right” but neither had said it aloud in the room. The People Capability Professional, walking a few steps behind, paused. It […]

From Knowing to Seeing

By Martin Johnson on December 12, 2025

Most teams say they want “shared understanding.” Few know what it looks like. The Learning Professional helps them move from knowing to seeing — turning abstract intent into visible alignment. “Once we mapped it, we finally saw what we meant.” Externalise the Thinking She asks one simple question: “What surprised you?” In that small silence, […]

The 5-Minute Debrief

By Martin Johnson on December 12, 2025

In every project, the moment just after the work ends is the one most often lost. A meeting closes. Tabs shut. Everyone moves on. The Learning Professional pauses here — five minutes that turn experience into insight. “That quick reflection saved us weeks next quarter.” Pause to Notice She asks one simple question: “What surprised […]

The Invisible Thread

By Martin Johnson on December 10, 2025

In every hybrid space, rooms lit by screens and voices that echo from afar, there’s an invisible thread holding the work together. It isn’t policy, platform, or process. It’s the quiet act of connection. The Learning Professional sees it, not as something to manage, but to notice. We've had this feedback from BIG PICTURE sessions: […]

Agency via Shared Language

By Martin Johnson on June 12, 2025

From Mind Maps to Movement “You’re in a dirty prison cell with one call. Who do you ring — and why?” If you're on our Newsletter then you'll have seen me introduce the video shared with me from Nick. This question is one of the 'Artful Questions' posed in the video. Since then, I've been […]

To the Tools You Already Know

By Martin Johnson on April 12, 2025

How we've seen BIG PICTURE wrap around other well-established the frameworks you're already using to drive collaboration, and outcomes. In the world of organisational development, tools like KPIs, psychometric profiles, Lean, and NPS are everywhere. They’re helpful. Familiar. Proven. There are lots of books about them. But we've spotted there’s often a catch: they tools […]

SIPOC Meets BIG PICTURE

By Martin Johnson on February 11, 2025

Focus Engagement, Collaboration, & Outcomes Ever found yourself knee-deep in process mapping, staring at a SIPOC (Suppliers, Inputs, Process, Outputs, Customers) diagram, and wondering—what now? SIPOC is a solid framework for breaking down how work flows in an organization. But what if we could go further? What if we could not only see the process […]

Heavy Lifting

By Martin Johnson on December 12, 2024

Comprehension: Exploring Facilitation Methods In facilitation, one of the key challenges is helping people move from complexity to clarity. Recently, I’ve been reflecting on a simple but powerful metaphor: an axis running across the page labelled Comprehension. This line represents the spectrum of approaches used in facilitation, ranging from open-ended creativity to structured clarity. Mapping […]

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