There is nothing on a whiteboard when you begin. Whatever the discussion, it reminds me that you can always start at the beginning.That you don’t need a template to solve a problem or build a foundation around an idea.
Whiteboards have a very powerful way of revealing how flawed our thinking is. As you write things down and draw arrows to connect them something magical begins to happen. Especially when other eyes are focused on the content you create on your whiteboard. They begin to see things that are missing. Or things that are too far from where you should be concentrating.
They have a nurturing way of bringing to life a small, imperfect, and fragile seedling of an idea. That there are cousins, nephews, friends, and sometimes unrelated things that bring clarity and direction to an idea that makes an idea seem more possible.
Some like to color. Others to draw caricatures or stick figurines. Whiteboards do not discriminate nor do they require any special skills. Whiteboards bring out the individual inside of us — no matter what our talents are.
Whiteboards can bring individuals together by driving their distractions away from their minds by focusing on the words written for them to see. The thoughts of many can become a powerful glue when combined into a list written that then unites individuals into collective action and agreement that can be quite powerful.
Erasing a whiteboard, over and over, reminds us just how perishable our thoughts and ideas really are. How quickly our focus can change. Whiteboards remind us how unimportant something can be simply by writing it down today, erasing it, and then starting with something different tomorrow.
There is no tech when it comes to using a whiteboard. Amazing that they can be so useful, powerful, and helpful, as they mimic a lot of life, while quietly sitting on a wall waiting for us to approach them.