The Fertile Unknown

Leadership Theater at the Capitol Creativity Network - 11/11

Leadership Theater: Using the Principles & Practices of Playback Theater for more Clarity, Connection & Creativity as a Leader

Presented by Kimberly Ratterly, founder of Creative
Synergy Solutions, LLC: www.csynergysolutions.com

Host: Capitol Creativity Network
Date & Time: Wednesday, November 11 ~ 7:00-9:30PM
Location: Cleveland Park Club House ~ 3433 33rd Place, NW ~ Washington, DC 20008
Registration: $20 at the door
RSVP: Michelle@CreativeEmergence.com
 
Leaders today need to be self-aware, agile and innovative. They also need a safe places to de-stress, recharge, and put things in perspective in order to stay on track. In this fun and engaging workshop, you will learn simple yet powerful tools to dramatize personal stories through movement and improv techniques. By playing back your truth we practice looking objectively at our present circumstances, speaking authentically, listening with presence, being more adaptive, and quickly building sincere rapport with others - core competencies needed to be an effective creative leader. No improv or acting experience is necessary to rapidly integrate these skills. Prepare to leave refreshed !

 

Presenter Kimberly Ratterly, founder of Creative Synergy Solutions, LLC has honed the ability to demystify emotionally charged topics into enjoyable, motivating, and transformative learning experiences for practical results in the workplace. She has partnered with public and private companies including Washingtonpost.com, Clark Construction, Habitat for Humanities, and Imagine Charter Schools to engage even the most reluctant participants to become engaged and active learners. As the founder of 4 Playback Theatre companies she has traveled extensively nationally and internationally training others how to bring the unique synergistic power of Playback Theatre into their everyday work and lives. You can reach her at http://www.csynergysolutions.com
 
We also have 4 great book give-aways this month: 1. Conscious Entrepreneurs: A Radical Approach to Purpose, Passion & Profit donated by one of the authors, Cheryl Harris  2. POP! Stand Out in Any Crowd by Sam Horn  3. Personal Leadership: Making a World of Difference by Sheila Ramsey, Barbara Schaetti & Gordon Watanabe  4.Da Vinci and the 40 Answers: A Playbook for Creativity and Fresh Ideas by Mark Fox

 

CCN website: http://www.capitolcreativitynetwork.com
CCN listserve: http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/CreativityNetwork
CCN on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=20567331752 

Creativity in Business: My Interview with Russ Schoen

My next interview in the Creativity in Business Thought Leader Series is with Russ Schoen, partner at New and Improved, LLC; adjunct faculty member at the Center for Studies in Creativity; contributing author to innovation-related materials including the Foursight and Ingenious Thinking suite; and improv theater performer.

For the past 11 years, Russ has helped entrepreneurs, teams and organizations adopt a mindset, toolset and skillset to unleash creative behavior. He has delivered creativity, innovation and leadership programs worldwide for clients such as Discover, International Fragrance & Flavors, S.C. Johnson and  Leo Burnett. In addition, Russ is co-founder of the Creative Youth Leadership Academy.

Q: What do you see as the emerging paradigm of work?

There is no stopping change. It is happening faster than ever. Those who can anticipate and deliberately engage in change productively will thrive. In my opinion, the new paradigm of work requires that individuals and teams to work together to identify the right challenges to solve, to generate novel ideas, and to turn the best of those ideas into robust solutions that can be implemented.

In short: creativity, problem-solving skills, willingness to learn and try - and even fail - and the ability to work collaboratively. The old paradigm is more siloed. In the new paradigm, the boundaries are blurring. Truly novels solutions require crossing boundaries, and the only way for that to happen is for people to learn how to really collaborate, and especially co-create.

Q: What do you see the role of creativity in this the new paradigm?

The complex challenges that businesses are facing require novel solutions that can be implemented. Businesses can't afford to just wait for people to shower! What I mean by that is that when asked, many people report that they do their best thinking in the shower or driving, or someplace other than work.

Leaders need to cultivate a psychological climate that encourages all people to share their ideas at work and leaders would be wise to support individuals in developing their personal creativity skills.

Q: What attitudes and behaviors do you see as essential for effectively navigating the new work paradigm?

Wow! There are so many good ones. But here are four of my top ones:

1. Individuals need to learn to view problems as opportunities, to look for what is possible as opposed to what is not.

2. People need to learn how to manage their "gator" brain - the part of their brain that retreats at the first sign of "danger" - and truly learn to defer judgment and seek new ideas. Fear shuts down to the new. If you are aware of how the reptilian brain operates, you can monitor your thinking to say, "I need to be deliberate about looking for the new here."

3. When evaluating a truly new idea, people need to first look for the value in the idea, the build on the value...and THEN look at how to constructively point out concerns.

4. People need to take responsible for their own creativity and realize that they can learn to be deliberately more creative. The do this through awareness on how they express their own creativity, and through the learning methods and tools and practicing it. Everyone has access to their creativity, it is just matter of practicing it and unleashing it.

Q: What is one technique or approach that people could start applying today to bring more creativity into their work or their business organization?

Here's one of my favorites, and don't be fooled by its simplicity. When faced with a problem or challenge, instead of getting frustrated, phrase it as an open ended question starting with the words "How might...?" And then try phrasing it a different way.

So, for example, lets say you are working on a project and it looks like you are going to be over budget. Instead of just saying, "There is no way we can afford this; we're out of money," try rephrasing it as a question such as: "How might we reduce the cost on the project?" or "How might we get more funding?"

Notice what happens when you ask an open-ended question: Instead of being stuck, your brain will try to answer it! Now you can use this for yourself, or pose a challenge to the folks you work with and ask them for their ideas. Try it. It is a simple creative habit that can change the way you work and bring positive results.

Q: And finally, what is creative leadership to you?

To me, creative leadership is the capacity to solve complex challenges that bring about positive change in good times and bad. How? By building trust and creating a work climate that encourages people to be engaged and to put forth new ideas and ways of solving problems.

Creative Leaders model the way and set the context, for example, telling the story of why they need creativity. And they model being open to new ideas. So, when ideas are floated to them, they react by looking first at what is valuable. They hold a space for, and help facilitate, co-creation. That fully engages the people working in their organization.

Instead of saying, "Here is what we are doing. You do this," they say, "Here is where we are going. Here is the space we are playing in. What should we do to get there?" That is the engagement. If they help create it, they will drive it.

You can reach Russ Schoen at the New and Improved, LLC website. He will be a presenter at the upcoming Creativity in Business conference in Washington, DC on October 4, 2009.

Creativity in Business: My Interview with Mike Bonifer

My second interview in the Creativity in Business thought leader series is with Mike Bonifer. Bonifer is the co-founder of GameChangers, and author of GameChangers: Improvisation for Business in the Networked World. He writes about and teaches improvisation for business. He's helped clients such as
Disney, Universal Studios, Frito-Lay, Merril Lynch, DreamWorks and MBA programs to evolve their processes and brands to better participate in the global economy.

How does your work relate to creativity?

Mike: GameChangers uses the techniques of improvisation to help clients build environments that liberate creativity across their enterprise. We do it in five steps: Listening, Connecting, Collaborating, Adapting and Performing. Each of these steps is vital to the creative process.  

What do you see as the emerging paradigm of work?

Mike: A culture of continuous innovation and the improvised brand narratives of the Networked World replace the hierarchical structures and inflexible scripted narratives of the Industrial Age. Work and play become inextricable. Personal lives and working lives co-habitate. Mobility begets serendipity. Communication leads to learning which results in transformation.

Yes, when creativity is unleashed in a system, it is by its nature integrative and transformational, not just transactional. What do you see the role of creativity in this emerging paradigm?

Mike: The role of creativity is to inform every cell in the body of work performed by an organization or brand. In particular we focus on disintegrating what we call 'the tyranny of the Creative Class,' which inevitably involves ego, status games and subjective judgments - all toxic to the creative process. We believe that everyone has the potential to be creative, no matter what their role in the organization is, as long as the working environment permits it. If you establish an environment that is receptive to creativity, that invites it, creativity will flow from it. Act on environment, and environment will act on you.  

An ongoing feedback loop. As you act on the environment it changes, and as it acts on you, you have the opportunity to change, and the cycle continues to evolve. What attitudes and behaviors do you see as essential for effectively navigating the new work paradigm?

Mike: For a conscious and disciplined focus on the five steps of the GameChangers methodology listed above, the most important attitude is openness. In the Networked World, business opportunities are more abundant than ever, but they are also more fleeting.  It takes an open mind to see and act on these opportunities without pegging them to an existing paradigm, scripting the outcomes before the outcomes manifest themselves, or acting on prior assumptions. The open mind allows for the most productive behaviors in every scenario.

What is one method or technique you suggest to begin to cultivate a more open, adaptive and creative mind?

Mike: Begin with listening. Don't waste time and money trying to inflict your brand narrative on the market. Instead, listen to what's happening. Hear what your customers are saying (or not saying). Let your brand's themes, and the actions that explore those themes, emerge organically from your skill at listening. When it comes to branding, your story is not your own, it is a narrative you create in collaboration with your audience. The collaboration can only be effective if you listen to, and honor, the realities of the marketplace. 

To practice, go anywhere and listen for what is unfamiliar, what you do not normally hear; what is not part of the normal environment. Close your eyes and listen for what is audible beyond the sphere of what you expect to hear – listen, especially, for the unusual.  If you want to think in unusual ways, listen to what is already unusual. Creative thinking requires picking up on what is different - and it’s almost there right in front of you. If you are fully present, you will tune into the “different” things that already exist.

Yes, you find a wellspring of creativity just by being present in the moment and listening below the surface – two behaviors all improvisers are trained to embody. And finally, what do you see as Creative Leadership?

Mike: Quickly identifying the 'productive games' and casting the team best suited to play it. Even more quickly identifying and editing the unproductive game. This can mean re-designing the game, re-casting the team, or eliminating the game altogether.

You can reach Mike Bonifer at the GameChangers website. He will be a presenter at our upcoming Creativity in Business Conference in Washington, DC October 4, 2009.

Creativity in Business Conference ~ October 4 in DC

http://www.creativity-conference.com

Join applied-creativity thought leaders, pioneering entrepreneurs and business innovators from around the country - in the fields of creativity and innovation, organizational change, social media and transformational leadership - for a full-day event focused on:

* Harnessing and focusing individual, group & organizational creativity
* Organizational structures/business models conducive for creativity & innovation
* The integration of creativity, purpose, business & serving the greater good

New ideas, new innovations, new systems and new structures depend on accessing new levels of creativity. At this event, we will explore different facets of creativity as the key driver in navigating and thriving in the new work paradigm.

Conference: 9:00-5:30 Festival: 5:30-7:30

CONFERENCE:  - Lively, Content-rich, Experiential Break-out Sessions each with a different focus related to the theme of Applied Creativity in Business  - Engaging Thought Leader Panels explore the creativity-centered work paradigm through the lens' of leadership, social media and creative thinking

FESTIVAL:  Comedy, Live Music, Networking, Book Signings, Give-Aways and hors d'oeuvres from award-winning Mie N Yu restaurant

ALSO INCLUDED:  Arts and Business Services Silent Auction - all proceeds from the auction go to ProjectCreateDC. For more info on how to donate a work of art or a business service, email info@creativeemergence.com.

REGISTRATION:  Earlybird discount through August 21: $149 ~ Regular rate after August 21: $197 ~ Sponsorship: $500. Seating is limited - early registration is recommended. http://www.creativity-conference.com

SPONSORS: - The Center for Creative Emergence - Capitol Creativity Network (CCN) - Center for Digital Imaging Arts (CDIA) - Teratech - Timothy Flatt Studios - Mie N Yu - Over The Horizon Consulting, LLC - Associated Producers - Brandwithin - Integral Company

ALL THE DETAILS:  http://www.creativity-conference.com

Hope you can join us! :-)

Culture of Creativity

If you are leading or managing a work team tasked with "being creative" the following are a few  practices you can use to establish a creative working culture and get the ball rolling:

1.  Try out and then modify; explore; test in reality. Act on gut feelings even if uncertain where it will lead. Start something, then use real-time feedback to create what's next.

2.  Anticipate natural resistance to new ideas as normal - the contraction found when anything new is about to emerge - and work through discomfort. Become aware of how it surfaces.

3.  Encourage exploration of ideas; expand on them; diverge and converge; use various creativity techniques for the whole brain. Allow the ideas time to generate other ideas.

4.  Commit time for regular, real-time imagination/innovation sessions. Clearly understand deadlines and projects, but leave room to maneuver within them.

5.  Allow time to be in uncertainty, and let the process incubate, before rushing to solutions. I call this time "emergence time" - when the parts have space to unexpectedly come together as evolved - and often expanded - outcomes.

6.  Look inward (at inspiration and intuition) as well as in the external environment for answers.

7.  Take risks and use mistakes. Avoid neither, and keep in mind a mistake is often a risk that did not pan out the way you hoped. See it as an invitation, letting it lead you to other ideas.

8.  Use the "Yes and" way of co-creating. Learn from other's ideas; accept them; build on them.

Michelle James©2008

What's Mine to Do - No More, No Less?

In improv theater, there is a concept called "Serve the good of the scene." I have expanded it in my work to what I call, "Serve the good of the whole." In order to do that, you neither impose your own agenda on a scene, nor do you shy away from being a collaborative contributor to the scene. You seek to serve what is best to keep the scene supported, creative and moving forward. Sometimes that means standing back in a support role. Sometime that means taking the lead. It is about what is yours to do - no more (by not taking over) and no less (by adding something new) - that will help contribute to the good of the scene.

I have found this concept universal and applicalbe in most, if not all, situations. One of the questions that has guided my life's work over the years since first emerging my Creative Emergence focus is, "What's mine to do - no more, no less?" in any situation - from working with a client, to designing a program to navigating my personal life. 

That question - if seriously asked and truthfully answered - narrows the fertile field of all things possible into to that which is most relevant and resonant at the given time for the particular circumstance. It simultaneously prevents one from over-controlling a situation or not taking enough initiative. I use this question with my Emergence coaching clients and my role in supporting them, as well as in my own life to help guide me to creating/unfolding what's next. I find it ignites and focuses creativity, and it keeps us in a co-creative – not controlling – role with those we serve.

Two of the (seemingly opposed) prevailing thought camps are (1) the Just-Do-It thinking - set a goal and go for it and (2) the What’s-Meant-to-Be-Will-Be thinking - let go of control, get out of the way and let it happen. I see both as true and neither as complete. By asking, "What is mine to do - no more, no less" we can discover know what is ours to actively create, and what is ours to release and let unfold - an any situation, and with any person or group. The both/and (or in improv terms - the Yes And) is the interdependent dance of the emergent creative process – the "yin/yang" of both stepping up and letting go based on what is calling to emerge in the situation.

Michelle James©2008

Brilliant (and fun!)

Unleash your artiste in real time online:
(click for color)

www.jacksonpollock.org

Creative Presentations

Ways to Enliven your Presentations 

1.  Increase you own energy to present from an energized state
2.  Break patterns - before and during the presentation
3.  Expand out of the norm (in inflection, movement, tone, etc.)
4.  Change your own uncertainty to discovery; interest into fascination
5.  Be willing to feel uncomfortable as you change you habit and hone your new skill
6.  Speak from your passion or something you are learning that is new to you
7.  Involve the audience – they are part of the journey

Integrate "right brain" multi-sensory methods with the more conventional "left brain" processes to support your points and bring your message to life

- Visual: pictures/graphics/colors/conceptual models/visual words
- Kinesthetic: movement/body use/feeling words
- Auditory: music/vocal changes/listening words
- Metaphors and Analogies
- Sensory descriptions: sight, sound, touch, taste, smell descriptors
- Both thinking and feeling words and images
- Storytelling/poetry/myth
- Games/improvisation
- Interactive experience with the audience

Colorers and Advancers

Color/Advance is a popular improvisational theater technique. I have seen it done many ways, but the basic premise is, in partners, one is the director and the other is the storyteller. The director gives the storyteller the tile of the story and the storyteller starts telling a story. The director intervenes frequently, saying either “Color” or “Advance.”  Color means the storyteller it so start adding details - to describe more fully sensory details, thoughts, and feelings – deepening the story.  Advance means action – going forward, moving along with the plot – advancing the story.  In either case, the storyteller adapts the instruction the story in real time, either coloring or advancing, until the director gives the next cue or the story ends. In using Color/Advance as a storytelling techinque, stories become richer, deeper and more inventive.

We all have a colorer and an advancer within ourselves, and every organization has colorers – those who deepen into the everyday experience, indulge details, appreciate the finer nuances of situations, focus on the journey, and advancers – those who focus on end-goals, move forward, stay on target, and forge ahead. In pursuing the gifts each aspect brings - sensory experience and action - you access more of your creative potential and vibrancy in any situation.

Improvisation for Leaders

I am conducting a workshop on July 20, 2006 in the Washington, DC area called Improvisation for Leaders - using the practices and principles of improvisational theater for leadership effectiveness. (See "4 New Workshops" posted on this blog June 21). It blends improvisation with business skill building. Improvisational skills, once learned, stay with you for life. They form the foundation for improving a leader's ability to be a great mentor, coach, manager, and leader.

Today's business world requires leaders and entrepreneurs to be open to new ideas, flexible in thought and action, take risks, work within ambiguity and uncertainty and still boldly move forward -- just like improvisers. Effective leaders and good improvisers both have to make in-the-moment decisions, quickly integrate information, make others look good, see things form different perspectives, create and innovate, make relevant connections, and serve the good of the whole. Improvisation is an accelerated approach to breaking past old, limiting patterns and paving the way for new, more versatile ones, even through difficult terrain and with "difficult" people. And:

. The paradox of making it safe to take risks
. Thinking on your feet and responsiveness
. Adapting as new information and situations emerge
. Discovery - new and surprising solutions to old and new situations
. Resourcefulness - using the unexpected as opportunity
. Influence - getting buy-in and support for your initiatives

Details and Registration