The Fertile Unknown

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

Positive Proverbs

A post on a complexity sciences listserve I read today ended with paraphrasing this proverb:

"At home, me against my brother. In the house, me and my brother against our cousins. In the village, me, my brother, my cousins against our neighbors. Outside, me, my brother, my cousins and our neighbors against the whole world."

It got me thinking about the assumptions from which that quote was created...and what it would take to change the word against to with throughout that proverb…and what if that was the basis of the paradigm we lived in the world? Instead of the assumption of fending for ourselves, or fending together against a larger reality, what if we enter the world from an internal construct of being with the larger reality at each level - self, brother, cousin, village, whole world. My thoughts immediately went to improvisational theater - the ultimate with-centered practice - and to yes-and.

Yes-and is the most famous improv guiding principle (and, for all of its simplicity, one of the most misunderstood principles). No matter where on the planet you take improv theater workshops, you will learn this concept. It means you accept a reality that is given to you and then you add something new to it. Not just any piece of random information. You add on specific information that builds upon that first piece of information. It is not just accepting (which is the "Yes" part) and it is not just adding something random new to it - it is adding something that acknowledges what was given, and furthers that story along.

In thinking about yes-anding (which I do quite frequently as I believe we live in an ultimately yes-anding universe, but have gotten a bit muddled up in a no-butting state of consciousness - a story for another time), I think we should develop a new series of proverbs and sayings that reflect a yes-anding, generative approach to life instead of the fear-based "me/us-against-the-world" developmental paradigm upon which so many of our old proverbs and expressions are based. In other words, proverbs that even reflect the positive side of human nature. After all, studies in creativity and the brain have shown you get more of what you reinforce and Positive Psychology seeks to find and expand what works - to "understand and build the strengths and virtues that enable individuals and communities to thrive."

Activity

Positive proverb development makes a good team building and improvisation group activity . Get groups into 3-5 people and have them come up with a positive proverb. Option: Have them do it with each person saying one word at a time. Another option: Have them do it specifically around words of wisdom for their team or organization.

What is Your Brain Dominance?

The words in the left hand column are typically associated with the "left brain thinking," and the words in the right hand column are typically associated with "right brain thinking." These are simple generalizations, designed to get you thinking about the habitual thinking patterns you use to approach your work. The more integrated we are - the more we access and use the elements associated with both sides of this list in any given situation - the more effective we can be at generating elegant solutions and creating new systems. Most individuals and most organizations lean more toward one side or the other. In our culture most organizational systems use more "left brain" approaches and would benefit greatly by balancing out their methods.

Quickly scan the list for the words that apply to you in your work. Don’t think about it or try to figure it out—go by initial gut instinct. Keep track of how many words in each column describe your own. You don't have to choose between the 2 columns - just check off each word that resonates with you as part of your own process, even if they seem opposite. For example, you may find you already use both detailed and big picture thinking in your work. If so, check both.

Left Brain                      Right Brain
   
__ Rational                  __ Intuitive
__ Logical                    __ Metaphorical
__ Fact based              __ Aesthetic
__ Quantitative            __ Holistic
__ Sequential              __ Synthesizing
__ Detailed                  __ Big Picture
__ Plan                        __ Improvise
__ Mathematical          __ Musical
__ Administrative        __ Correlative
__ Language & words   __ Imagery
__ Technical                __ Visual
__ Analytical                __ Emotional
__ Scientific                __ Spiritual
__ Abstract                  __ Conceptual
__ Order                      __ Movement
__ Singular                   __ Complex
__ Preparation             __ Incubation
__ Verification             __ Illumination
__ Objective                __ Subjective
__ Parts                       __ Wholes
__ Evaluation               __ Elaboration
__ Deduce                   __ Expand
__ Accuracy                 __ Randomness
__ Pattern perception  __ Spatial perception
__ Strategies              __ Possibilities
__ Safety & security     __ Risk taking
__ Practical                __ Impetuous
__ Remember              __ Fantasize & envision
__ Adds                       __ Integrates
__ Successive              __ Simultaneous
__ Directed                __ Flowing
__ Convergent             __ Divergent
__ Splits                     __ Connects
__ Sensing                  __ Perceiving
__ Cause and effect     __ Correspondence
__ Straight lines          __ Meandering
__ Verbal                    __ Kinesthetic
__ Isolates                   __ Interdependent
__ Deducts                  __ Expands
__ Distinctions            __ Relations
__ Observes                __ Imagines
__ Discerns                 __ Generates
__ Categories             __ Interconnections
__ Catalogs & labels    __ Incorporates & assimilates
__ Sorts & separates   __ Infuses & blends
__ Figures out            __ "Gets"
__ Concludes             __ "A-ha!"
__ Segmented            __ Contextual
__ Methodical             __ Spontaneous
__ Levels & stages       __ Dimensions
__ List                       __ Story
__ Itemizes                __ Unites
__ Steps                    __ Leaps
   
____Total                ____Total

Add up the totals on each side to determine your dominant thinking patterns.

A variation is to do the same thing with your organizational culture. What does it tell you about the organization's culture? Is there a discrepancy between your dominant thinking approach and that of your organization's culture?

Capitol Creativity Network

The Capitol Creativity Network is a developmental community of catalysts, explorers, leaders, entrepreneurs and creative people - in business, the arts, science, healing, community development - in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. We are a professional network interested in creativity for personal and professional growth; applications in all areas of business and organizational development; creative projects and events; serving the community; and offering accessible and affordable top quality events.

We founded CCN in 2003 as part of a larger mission to mainstream the transformative power of creativity - infusing it into into all aspects of work and life to awaken and enliven the fabric of organizational and societal culture. By integrating various creative processes into mainstream organizational environments, new ideas and solutions to old and new challenges emerge at an accelerated pace, unforeseen connections and interrelationships are born, and the work experience becomes more engaging, enjoyable and meaningful.

CCN meets on the second Wednesday of each month to explore and experience different facets of creativity - from corporate to expressive to scientific and beyond. Each meeting is both content-rich and interactive, designed to have the participants experience their creativity in real time. If you live in the DC area, or are just visiting, please feel free to join us.

For more information, email me at [email protected], go to the CCN website or join the listserve.

Yes...Because...And

I'm in an improv theater performing group and we improvise full-length plays. In improv, information self organizes into meaning (a coherent story) and structure (a 90-minute play) from adhering to the principles, not from planning strategy - see December blog post "Contained by Principles."

Yes And. It is accepting the reality that someone offers, and adding a new piece of information to it: A: "Joe went to the store." B: "At the store (accepting reality), Joe got some bananas (adding something new)." And so on.

Yes And...Because, another popular version, takes it a step further. Not only do you accept and add to the reality, you justify (i.e.,this is important because) what you are adding: "At the store Joe got some bananas because, after the accident, he's been on an all-banana diet"...and a story is forming.

With organizations, I use another version I call Yes...Because...And with their real-world situations. In this version, people have to justify why what the other person said is important. It is the opposite of the current working paradigm of fending for yourself and selling your ideas. In this exercise, you have to justify why the other person's ideas are great, and they justify why yours are.

Imagine being in a brainstorming, visioning, or strategy session, and instead of everyone looking for what is wrong with what you said, they have to give reasons why it will work. This process faciliates people in supporting each other, moving beyond initial habitual reactions, and using the imagination to come up with novel ideas. It allows the ideation to keep moving and new potentials to emerge...and it builds trust and safety within the team (more safety = more original output).

Using Yes...And...Because for new product or strategy development: Each person accepts the feature the person in front of them added, justifies why it is a good idea, and adds a new feature, which then gets justified by the next person.

- Accept
- Acknowledge
- Justify
- Add

When it is over, your team has more ideas, more innovative ideas, and threads for new directions from which to choose. Then, after the new ideas and connections have emerged, you begin the process of discernment.

For more on the uses of improv in organizations, click the Improvisation button on my website and scroll to "Why Improvisation?"

Walking from Uncertainty to Discovery

Research shows that moving differently creates new neurological pathways that free up the brain to think differently - an essential ingredient for innovation and new solutions. Moving in non-habitual ways requires the brain to be used in non-habitual ways which then leads to novel thinking. (That's why improv theater groups use movement warm-ups - to get out of habitual thought patterns). It can also illuminate metaphorical states of being quickly and experientially.

Afterward, participants report that discovery feels the most free, most alive and the most comfortable - and they could be more effective and creative in that state of being. In going about our days, we can develop a new relationship with the unknown. By consciously choosing to transform that which we do not know into a discovery process, we can more easily move through the fear of not knowing amidst the uncertainty around us.

I created a workshop activity called The Awareness Walk which has many variations and dimensions. In it, participants walk and nonverbally interact in myriad ways, each one designed to have them experience the conceptual framework of a certain state of being. For example, they are asked to walk around and engage from a place of certainty, a place where they know the answers. Without exception, inevitably chests pop up, walks become linear and directed, bodies straighten up, eyes focus ahead, etc. Not too much interaction as people move around the room in a rapid, straightforward pace. Focus, yes. Newness, no.

Then they are asked to walk form uncertainty, a place where they do not know the answers. Bodies shrink, movement slows or stops altogether, eyes dart around or look down. Almost no interaction. There is a feeling in the room of fear, trepidation and judgement as they look like deers frozen in the headlights. The energy is stagnant. Neither focus nor newness surfaces.

Finally, they are asked to transform that uncertainty into discovery. They are told they still do not know the answers - still in the unknown - however, they now experience it from a state of discovery. Suddenly, the entire energy of the room shifts and awakens: they look about thoughtfully, they are fluid in their movement, they explore their surroundings with all of their senses, they are content, alert, curious and present. They look at each other. Movement goes back and forth from linear to non-linear as they keep moving ahead. There is a sense of content ease and a feeling of openness. Newness is possible.