VTS - The Empathy Building Technique

VTS or Visual Thinking Strategies was one of the highlights of my learning path this year.

I was so lucky to participate in the IRG 2024 program in Oxford/St. Paul de Vence, where I was introduced to Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) under the guidance of my instructor, Dabney Hailey.

Together with over 100 global marketing leaders, we discovered the joy of looking at art for extended periods.

And we loved it!

What is VTS

VTS is a powerful educational approach that encourages profound observation and discussion of visual stimuli. This method builds critical thinking, empathy and communication skills, making it applicable across various business domains, especially marketing.

Dabney Hailey, a museum curator, MIT lecturer, and founder of the Hailey Group, has dedicated her career to bridging the gap between art and modern learning techniques. VTS emphasizes engaging with visual materials to enhance understanding and collaboration in groups.

My first glimpse of VTS

During a memorable training session, 50+ marketing leaders spent over 45 minutes looking at a single painting. Rather than being a waste of time, this exercise proved to be a profound discovery experience. It allowed us to practice observation, listening, empathy and interpretation—skills essential for a business leader.

By taking the time to reflect on art, we learned to appreciate nuances that can easily be overlooked in fast-paced environments. Our facilitator taught us how to engage with everyone who contributed without judging or projecting our views on their comments.

How To Implement VTS in Marketing

Here are three actionable ways to incorporate VTS in your daily marketing life:

1. Start Meetings with Visual Analysis: You can begin meetings by displaying a visual of your current project. It can even be a PowerPoint slide or even an Excel report. Then, ask open-ended questions like, "What do you see?" or "What emotions does this evoke?" This encourages diverse perspectives and stimulates creative discussions. After all, every document we produce, even a lousy Excel report, should grab attention and generate some emotion from a diverse group of people. If it doesn't, it's not working.
2. Analyze Feedback Visually: When reviewing consumer research, try using visual data representation. Instead of just reading comments or statistics, create visual maps or infographics that illustrate trends and emotions. This will help your team gain deeper insights into customer needs. Sometimes, the beauty is hidden between the rows of numbers.
3. Create Content with Visual Storytelling: When working on your next marketing campaign, utilize VTS principles by examining successful past campaigns visually. Do a gallery walk (Design Thinking technique), make a visual collage of what you like, and use your eyes more than your memory. Discuss what is effective and how similar strategies can be applied to new content.

As marketers, we always seek to capture people's attention in a world full of distractions. Yet, we can become so focused on our brands that we overlook the details around us. By applying VTS techniques, we can train ourselves to observe more thoughtfully and engage more meaningfully.

Marketers are uniquely positioned to understand human behaviour. We can become better marketers and business leaders by honing our human attention skills through VTS.

Dive deeper into VTS and get in touch with Dabney: https://www.haileygroup.com/dabney-hailey