The Fertile Unknown

The Answer lies not in the Box ~ The Answer lies in Paradox

The process of emergent creativity is paradoxical...and deeply practical. It contains opposites that, when working together, form intelligent, coherent, next-level outcomes:

~ Using “impractical” methods to achieve practical solutions

~ Engaging multiple dimensions of activity to achieve focused results

~ Methodically practicing spontaneous creativity

~ Going into the unfamiliar and the unknown to increase understanding of the familiar and the known

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