Tool No 8: Placing Hands
HOW? Use your hands to place topics in a particular space (and remember to use lingering hands to mark it).
“There are two potential solutions to our problem.” Imagine that your hands are a set of old-fashioned scales. Put the first solution on one scale, which you indicate with your left hand, and then the second on the other scale, which you indicate with the right hand. If you’re talking about three things, use your hands to mark three parallel tracks in the space in front of you, and place one topic in each. If you want to discuss four topics, imagine a hob in front of you, and put each topic on a separate ring.
You can also do the same with time – imagine a timeline extending out from your stomach, with the point furthest away from you marking the future and the point closest to you the present. Use your hands to mark the end goal and the various milestones along this line to illustrate the chronology of the project.
You can place lists – e.g. for agenda items – by gesturing as if to indicate shelves in a bookcase. You can even do it for contrasts – when referring to a bad version of something, push down with the palms of your hands, as if pressing a beach ball into the ground; when referring to something good, flip your palms so they face upwards and imagine that you’re are lifting up the ball.
