CoVision uses technology to speed up the process of feedback cycles

Communication is comprised of feedback cycles. Feedback cycles are going on all the time. This is the way we humans come to understand things, through give and take, discussion, and deliberation.

But things that happen easily in small groups – getting questions answered, expressing your point of view, dialoging with others – slow down in large groups. Many cycles don’t get completed – even the critical ones. Communication becomes one-way: down, and out. The large scale often works against everyone.

CoVision’s “fast-feedback” methodology speeds those cycles back up, enabling large groups to effectively engage in a single conversation.

Accelerating feedback cycles enables large group dialogue

Using CoVision's technologies and processes, hundreds of participants can simultaneously give their feedback to information they’ve just heard or read. (Step 2 in the figure at the right). And using the CoVision methodology, hundreds of ideas or points of view can quickly be distilled and disseminated to all members (Step 3). By accelerating the processes of gathering the feedback and distilling it (Steps 2 and 3), it becomes possible for the presenter to respond, in the moment, to the ideas and concerns of the whole group (Step 4) – creating true dialogue in a very large or dispersed group.

Because without acceleration in large groups, only a few members are able to contribute to Step 2, or it may take days or weeks to complete Steps 3 and 4, or as is often the case, they never get completed.

Having true dialogue in a large group builds alignment

As a group moves through a series of feedback cycles the results accumulate. Some clarity breeds more clarity. As more members reach personal understanding for themselves of the critical issues, additional cycles bring about a “mutual understanding” – an understanding of what the whole group is feeling. In this way, repeated cycles move group members – however many or far-flung – up though these levels of understanding - collectively, efficiently, and in short time frames.

Alignment drives organizational performance

• Greater shared understanding of real issues
• Better focus on clearer goals
• More flexibility in adapting to changes
• More actionable strategies
• Better decisions for the long-term
• More depth in planning
• Stronger sense of ownership within the group
• Faster, smoother implementation