Have you been thinking about using visualisation in your training? While it’s true that novel training techniques such as visualisation add interest and help keep people engaged, they can fall short of their full impact if used incorrectly. In this article, I’ll provide some evidence-based guidelines for using visualisation to its maximum potential.
Perhaps the most common form of visualisation used in corporate development asks participants to create a vivid mental picture of their own idealised future, one in which they are achieving all of their goals and living a dream life. While this form of visualisation may help learners to clarify their hopes and dreams, it does not (on its own) facilitate the fulfillment of those aspirations. It’s not enough to simply ask learners to visualise what they want; you need to ask them to take the next step and visualise how they will get it.
Research shows that visualising the steps you need to take in order to achieve your goals has a real and significant impact on what you subsequently achieve1. This form of detailed, process-oriented visualisation is often used by the sporting elite. Serving as a sort of “mental rehearsal”, this tool can prepare one’s mind for the execution of a physical act while helping to reduce or eliminate the self-doubt that often accompanies such activities. A related concept, “muscle memory”, refers to the natural or instinctive tendency of the body to perform an action a certain way, usually due to repetition of that action (e.g., one’s golf swing). The term implies that this tendency resides in the muscles themselves because this is the way it feels. However, the proficiency is clearly a mental one. Visualisation, therefore, can help strengthen and reinforce the mind’s ability to perform these actions the desired way as long as it is focused on the user’s technique. That is, as long as it is focused on what the athlete needs to do.
While visualisation has proven useful in developing physical prowess, the benefits it provides are not limited to this arena. It can can be readily adapted to help bring desired behavioural changes within the workplace2. In addition to serving as preparation for a physical action, visualisation also helps focus one’s attention on the specific tasks at hand. Outlining these tasks in as much detail as possible will help maximize the effectiveness of this process.
By asking your training participants to move beyond simply visualising what they want into the realm of how they are going to get it, you turn mere wish fulfillment into an action plan. Furthermore, visualisation can increase their chances of success in enacting that plan by mentally preparing them for each individual task they need to undertake in order to reach their goals, increasing the likelihood that they will remain focused on and committed to reaching them. Think of it as developing “muscle memory” for achieving success.
