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Posted by Michelle on September 01, 2020 | Permalink
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For the Program Structure, Registration, and more information go to:
Posted by Michelle on August 03, 2020 | Permalink
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I run a group on Facebook Applied Creativity Network (open to anyone if you'd like to join) where someone asked, "What's next? How is the world going to be with this coronavirus? How are the remaining people going to relate to each other...social life?"
Kay Ross, a member of that group wrote: "I don't know how it will be. The question is: How do we WANT it to be? What kind of world/life/society do we want to design and create?"
I really resonated with her answer, and "yes-anded" it with some thoughts of my own. Because they're directly related with the work I do with my clients, I thought I would share them here:
Also don't know how it will be. I don't think anyone can know at this time, but we can make choices about what's ours to do now, even in this big unknown. We can discover where what we are inspired to do meets what is needed now, even without knowing the whole picture.
We do have agency and, like Kay Ross said, can ask what we want, and what we can design and create. Our feeling of creative empowerment comes from looking at what we CAN do in any given situation...what calls to us, what inspires us, what we want to do, what needs we can meet, what can we create, and how we can serve the situation, etc.
As far as relating, while challenging now, I imagine people will adapt as they always have to find ways of connecting - or create them - even within these unprecedented constraints. I don't think we can know what the will look like...so that means being OK (or at least accepting) being in the unknown for a while - without knowing how it will look - and creating that as we go, like in an improv. And not needing or expecting it to look exactly like it was in the past. It won't be the same. If we can accept that, and not fight it, we're more empowered to create what's next.
I have faith in the creative life force in each of us, and the universal creative life force that animate all of life (why I created my business around that)...so I have faith in humans capacity to find or create ways of staying connected until we can gather again in person, and faith in those who feel called to create new ways of connecting we don't even know of yet. We're seeing that already. That doesn't mean it’s not hard to be these isolated now (or that there is not real suffering, fear, pain, and deep loss in the world right now - there is!), but it is just about switching our focus to what we CAN do within the constraints - looking beyond what is to what we imagine can be, and discovering what is ours to do in the process. That is an emergence process. If everyone did that, I think we’d see a modern creative renaissance during and after this situation.
Sometimes our deepest fears about what will be lost (as well as the reality of what IS being lost) can lead us to create something new to meet those needs. Historically, people have always used their creativity to move beyond even the most challenging situations. That's where I put my trust when in the unknown...in the creative alive spirit in each of us that is infinitely rich with alive potential for creating new ways of engaging. So, while we can’t know what’s next, we can meet the moment and ask what we are called to do or create, and help create what's next.
Michelle James ©2020
Posted by Michelle on April 22, 2020 | Permalink
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Picture from last Sunday's hike at Bearfence Rock Scramble in the Blue Ridge Mountains
Trying to take on the healing of the world is a daunting task, which can leave people feeling hopeless. Focusing instead on on what’s ours to do, in our own life - with our own unique set of gifts, skills, talents, and experiences that no one else can possibly have - to serve the betterment of the world in the unique way we're destined to serve makes our soul’s work accessible, and empowering. And it will help the healing of the world, because embedded in every soul’s calling is always some way to serve that is for the greater good. It’s not limited to the small palette of choices that others put forth for us.
We can create life-giving work outside those lines that serve our hearts and souls and spirits as we serve others. We’re not limited to jumping on pre-existing bandwagons - though we can choose that if we’re called to it. Yes, and…we always have the ability to create our own ways of serving, and they doesn't have to fit neatly into the conventional norms of what it looks like to serve. Creativity is messy, but there can be order in the chaos if we care to delve into the unknown to find it:
We can stay in a fight-flight-freeze reactive mode to the world’s harshness...or we can acknowledge it, and choose a proactive, procreative stance in the face of it…and choose to discover and uncover what's ours to do anyway, even in the external chaos, to serve and steward our own little corner of the world (humans, animals, the earth) in the ways we can - creating a healthier new operating system from new paradigm aspirational energy instead of reacting only from the outdated familiar one.
If enough of us do our part in cultivating and doing soul/heart/aliveness/creativity-centered work in our own corner of the world (whether it's locally, nationally, or globally; with individuals, group, organizations, or communities; with people, structures, or systems; high tech or low tech; for profit or not for profit), and level up into a new aspirational story, it can't help but impact the good of the whole. #my2cents #newparadigmwork #creativeemergence
Michelle James ©2020
Posted by Michelle on March 03, 2020 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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I love Improv's Yes-And principle because it's how nature organically creates...one thing building on another to create something new. It's nature's creative emergence. We just need to unlearn everything that got in the way of us being easy improvisational creators and co-creators before we were "trained" into the pass-fail/right-wrong systems that stripped away a good bit of our natural co-creative playfulness, exploration, and ways of being. When we Yes-And, we have nature on our side.
#creativeemergence #yesand #creatingwhatsnext
Posted by Michelle on November 19, 2019 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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So often in our emergence process, what emerges does not fit neatly into our pre-conceived expectations. That's because the creative unconscious - the which is below the surface - contains more wisdom and information and creativity than that which is consciously known to us at any given time. So what emerges can be surprising, disjointed, nonsensical, seemingly ridiculous, or messy as it is emerges.
But don't discard it just because it's not what you thought, or hoped, it would be, or should be. Engage it, play with it, learn from it, and cultivate it out until it starts to look like something. Instead of needing it to fit our vision, we're often called to expand who we are and how we think in order to be with the new emergence.
It can be messy and scary, but it is always more life-giving and generative - and more coherent when it is done emerging - than what we originally imagined, if we let it lead us and don't cut it off because it is not exactly what we planned. If we follow what's emerging, we start to make sense of it as we go, and often find it's something that that includes out original vision or idea, and far exceeds it.
#creativeemergence #creativeintelligence #creativityismessy
©2019 Michelle James
Posted by Michelle on November 11, 2019 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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The improv principle, Yes And, is a doorway to creative new worlds.
Yes And is generative, divergent, expansive, and opening.
It’s accepting the reality that’s presented AND adding something new.
Newness upon newness creates unimagined new worlds, ideas, visions,
possibilities, option and choices - in our business and our life.
We can Yes And our own ideas and creative impulses
instead of Yes Butting them out of existence.
©2019 Michelle James
Posted by Michelle on October 11, 2019 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Emergence is a process found throughout the natural world where the new whole emerges as greater than the sum of its parts. In improv theory, there is the concept of "Yes And" which accepts and includes that which already is, and add then adds something new. Using an Emergence-centered approach in the workplace includes the acknowledgment of problems and the need to focus on desired outcomes...AND expands beyond that to include new ways of approaching the situation, generating new patterns of solution-finding, immersion in the discovery process, as well as engaging that which is not yet known as a source of new information. Our unique Creative Emergence Process™ includes various whole brain and creativity approaches to cultivate the new ideas, thought patterns, and states of being which lead to new (and often surprising) innovations and outcomes. Emergence accepts and uses what already is - and adds a new dimension.
Posted by Michelle on August 14, 2019 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Posted by Michelle on August 06, 2019 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Posted by Michelle on July 31, 2019 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Henri Fayol was a French management theorist whose theories in management and organization of labor were widely influential in the beginning of 20th century. He was known for his 14 Principles of Management and 5 Elements of Action (referenced in left side of the graphic). They represent a paradigm that's still prevalent - yet not fully effective - in most organizations today. There's little room for creativity, individuality, meaning, and purpose amidst these ways of being. In that mechanistic model, the internal state - and creative contribution - of the people in the system can't fully flourish. The new, integrative, creative paradigm of leadership acknowledges and includes these elements AND recognizes them as incomplete - a useful as part of the whole, but not the driver.
The emerging paradigm is more BOTH/AND. I created this graphic to add balanced counterparts to the conventional elements. #my2cents. Together, these seemingly contradictory parts establish an environment for positive change and creativity to emerge. The dance of opposites - and what is in between, and emerges from, the polarities - expands the playing field for creative systems (which are living, human systems) to have more possibilities of flourishing.
Posted by Michelle on July 29, 2019 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Michelle [email protected]
Posted by Michelle on July 06, 2019 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Love this quote. It's one of the reasons I use arts/movement based appraiches in my work - it helps us bypass the habitual-linear-sequential, left-brain dominant conscious thinking to access more our ourselves, and our creativity, insight, and intuition. By going into the non-linear part of our consciousness first, we mine the fertile playing field of our 'right-brain' imagination to get novelty and the unpredictable, then after we spend some time there exploring and unearthing, we bring it back to the 'left-brain' to make sense out of it, organize it, structure it, and create actionable steps from it. And we can discover new and forgotten parts of ourselves and bring them to life.
We're socialized to start figuring out something first from left-brain thinking. Arts-based engagement brings an added dimension of creativity to it. By first diverging with in the "right brain" then converging with the 'left brain" (in quotes because it's not exactly that binary) we discover new options and choices for our work and lives that we previously couldn't have imagined. The creative process of taking something abstract and making it concrete generates novel ideas, solutions, and directions. #creativeemergence #miningtheinnerrichness
Posted by Michelle on June 26, 2017 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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I was recently interviewd by Michael Smith, President of TeraTech, on the Conscious Software Development Telesummit on Whole Brain Thinking and Applied Improvisation for Innovation, Ideation, and Creative Problem Solving. Below are excerpts from the transcript of the interview. For the complete interview, along with some techniques to apply, sign up for the Conscious Software Development Telesummit for FREE at http://conscioussoftwaredevelopment.com
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Michael: What do you mean by "whole-brain thinking" and why is that important?
Michelle: Whole-brain thinking, or the way I would describe it, is using more of our innate capacities. We were born to both think in linear/logical ways as well as holistic/intuitive/metaphorical ways. Integrating whole-brain thinking is just bringing more of our natural thinking into the workplace, for our intuitive thinking, metaphorical thinking, our capacity to see both the big picture and the details, our capacity to both think from synthesis and integration as well as sequentially, imagining and observing, being able to envision beyond what is, plus in addition to more of the left-brain/linear, proving and verifying, expanding and reducing.
It's using complimentary types of thinking - thinking both in terms of possibilities and strategies and in terms of context and interdependencies…using the visual mind and the verbal mind, not just left-brain/linear-dominant thinking only. By integrating multiple ways of thinking, and using more of our whole-brain capacities even in ways we haven't been socialized or trained or educated in the workplace to do, and by bringing more of arts-based and other different types of thinking into the workplace, it's easier to create new ideas, and create new ideas much more quickly. It accelerates the learning and creativity path that we might be on and expands the mental playing field so we have more options and choices.
Michael: A lot of organizations are pretty left-brain orientated, so how do you integrate this into a company culture?
Michelle: In some ways there's some cultural specificity around it, and in other ways it's more general. I'll speak to the more general ways. For example, resistance. Understanding that once you try to integrate new ways of thinking into any group, individual group, team, or culture, you're going to naturally have some resistance. I call it "natural resistance" because it's the same kind of resistance that you find in nature.
In nature, all systems are designed to maintain the status quo until the new birth starts to emerge. For example, the chick coming out of the egg doesn't feel the resistance of the shell until it's ready to be born. Similarly, you find that as soon as people start to integrate more whole-brain thinking, different kinds of thinking, or different types of practice in the organization, you might initially find some resistance, because there's always those trying to more maintain the status quo while others try to bring in the new thinking.
One framework I like to use is divergence and convergence. Divergent thinking is going big and wide, building on things, engaging possibilities, visualizing, seeking out what's unusual. We hear about it often in brain-storming…suspending judgment as you're expanding the playing field - expanding what's possible - but you do it for a certain amount of time, not indefintely. Then you bring it back into a convergent thinking where you're narrowing the playing field, you're selecting from the ideas, contracting, honing in, discerning, focusing, rating by criteria, making sense of…
Unfortunately, what happens is many people don't leave the convergence to go into convergence. They will get meetings and say, "All right, now let's organize what we have," but they haven't stepped out beyond their current framework to play with and expand possibilities first. When you play with possibilities, it is messy, and it might not make sense for awhile, and it can look a little crazy. Like Einstein said, "If at first the idea is not absurd, there's no hope for it," and while that doesn't mean all good ideas appear ridiculous at first, it really speaks to oftentimes the seed idea is the instinct for something new, it's messy, it's just a seed, it's not refined. It needs to be nurtured into fruition to become something viable. So before you evaluate it and start to converge, begin to explore with it, play with it, build on it, add to it…taking something beyond just convergence and adding in time for divergence.
I'll give an example of how this looks in one organization I worked with, a very large organization, where they used to have meetings that they felt the creativity wasn't their problem, but everybody was vying for who's idea was better. They started applying some of these principles and practices and giving this process lot more divergent space. They started calling their meetings "Discovery Sessions." They allowed for a certain amount of divergence time. If they had an hour, maybe twenty-five minutes was in divergence first. They started finding that they were creating better ideas, more novel ideas, more collaborative ideas…and when it came time to get the convergence, the convergence went so much more quickly because they allowed themselves some divergence first.
I would say allowing conscious time, consciously creating a space to diverge, where no one can judge or evaluate ideas, you just build on them, explore them, and expand them, before you go into the convergence where then you rate it...then you connect it to the criteria and the objectives of the problem that you have. Then, just knowing that sometimes you have to practice low-risk, low-stakes exercises, practices or games, they might seem frivolous, but by practicing low-risk, low-stakes
exercises, then that better prepares you for high-risk, high-stakes problem solving. With this practice, you become more nimble and flexible and adaptive inside yourself. That piece is connecting to, looking at new, perhaps non-conventional principles and practices to sort of break those patterns, so you begin to think differently.
Michael: Earlier you mentioned using applied improvisation and you talked about you take part in improvised plays for 10 years. I'm not sure everyone here has even attended an improv session or knows what that means. When you say "improvised plays" does that mean there's no script whatsoever for the play and the actors just make up the play on the spot?
Michelle: Yes, I'm glad you brought that up, because that distinguishes improvising, like improv theater, like you might see on Whose Line, or improvised plays like our performing group used to do which the goal, the objective, was to entertain the audience using improvisational theater principles and practices. We would use the improv principles, but there was absolutely no script. We would completely improvise a full-length play, and that's when I discovered the power of the improv principles…because by adhering to the principles and the practices of improv, you truly could self-organize and create something out of nothing, and you'd begin to learn that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, which is a big facet of Emergence.
Applied improvisation, in the way we use it in organizations, is taking the same principles and practices, but with a different goal or set of objectives. The goal isn't for entertainment, the goal isn't to be improv theater performers for people who go out on a Friday night to watch you. The goal with Applied Improvisation is whatever your business goals are: better leadership, solve problems more quickly, think more creatively, adapt, have more cohesive co-creative teams, reduce turnover, more novel ideas if you're doing product development, or any kind of development, etc.
Your applying improvisational theater principles and practices to something larger than performance. For example, in my work with organizations I don't throw people up there to perform improv because the goal isn't to teach them to be performers. I often get them working either as a whole group or with partners or in small groups using various improv practices and games, but, most significantly, embodying principles to work on real-world issues or problems they're solving or visions they're creating.
The practices are simply a way of embodying the principles, but it's the principles in action that are what's transformative. For example, "yes, and" except most organizations live by "yes, but". So "yes, and" is very good in the divergent space. Heighten and explore, allow yourself and your ideas to be changed by what's said and what happens. Those, and may more, are a big part of improvisation. You're up there and something new emerges and you have to adapt instantly. You don't fight it, you don't resist it, you just adapt to it, and you allow your character to be changed, you allow your ideas to be changed, you allow the direction to be changed. That's a real significant part of the creative process when developing anything.
Another thing about improv, because it happens in real time, you're focusing on presence over polish. Oftentimes, in brainstorming sessions or ideation sessions, people are afraid to speak up or they wait until their idea's fully formed. In improv, literally the practices force you to be so present, you have to say something, you have to say something right away, and by practicing that, you truly bypass the editor, and you become more comfortable with throwing things out there. If people have to, for a certain agreed upon amount of time in the divergent space, "yes, and" it, go with it, explore it and expand it, the first idea thrown out often isn't the best idea. It may be, but in many cases, it's just a seed idea
or it's has a messy fragment of a good idea, and by expanding it and exploring it, and "yes, and-ing" it, you give it the chance to become something new and different.
There are many more, but one other very significant part of doing a lot of creative activities and improv-based activities with people and organizations is that you begin to have a different relationship to failure and the concept of making mistakes. Mistakes become invitations to create. Mistakes are simply iterations in the creative process. They're not binary finalities, like "yes/no", "good/bad", "right/wrong". They're invitations to modify, to explore, to grow. A lot of people know that when you're prototyping, you then try it out and you modify it. One of the things that improv-based practices allow you to do is get a lot of practice in realtime with instant modification, instant trial and error, and so then you become less resistant to change, and more adaptive when you're doing it around a real world project.
Michael: Do the principles, in your experience, make a difference? Does it really make a difference whether you literally say, "yes, and" to someone's idea instead of "no, but"?
Michelle: Literally saying the words "yes, and" can be helpful at first, and is simply a good way to remind your mind to do it, but it really is more the concept of "yes, and-ing" - the concept of accepting an idea as it is offered and building, adding onto it, before you negate it, before you hone in and say, "Well, that won't work, because…" that makes the huge difference. That, to me, is the difference between generative thinking - which is connected to the divergence process, and critical thinking - which is often connected to the convergent part of the creative process.
Both are essential, but the key is not to go immediately into the critical thinking, until you've gone into some generative thinking. I like to think of it in terms of the way nature generates and creates. The branch "yes, ands" the tree, the leaves "yes, and" the branches. Nature creates generatively. Our mind is designed to create generatively, and unfortunately, we are not socialized and educated into doing that. But we have nature on our side - remember back to when you're a little child or watching kids play…someone throws out an idea, and others instantly add onto it. They start creating fantasy worlds and they're "playing pretend" and they're building on each other's story. Then all of a sudden, we go to school and we get thrust into binary thinking, so we leave our natural beautiful, multidimensional way of creating and making associations and connections, and we get into binary thinking - right/wrong; good/bad; yes/no.
People begin to associate that if you get the "right" answer, you're a good person or a smart person - so then people freeze up, afraid of saying something wrong or silly. "Yes, and" is simply a way, a tool, of getting back into your natural generative, creative self. Then, you generate more ideas, you think of them and then you can use some of the more critical thinking to put it up against, "What are the criteria we're trying to beat here? What are the objectives we're trying to create?" Absolutely. "Heighten and explore" is another big improv principle which fits into that.
The principles, it's been my experience, are what create the container for new ways of thinking, new ways of interacting, new ways of being, and therefore, new and more accelerated ideas to emerge. It allows people to be safer, to put ideas out there, so you do get the most of your teams, and you get the most of yourself.
Michael: Is this more a team or co-creative way of solving problems vs. a hierarchical way as well?
Michelle: It's very much a team and collaborative and cocreative way. It can also be a very individual way. You can "yes, and" your own thinking. Often we, in the shower or running or doing something, get an amazing idea and in that moment we get excited. Then all of a sudden, before we allow ourselves to "yes, and" each other or "yes, and" our own idea, we find all the reasons it won't work, and we start "yes, but-ing" our own creative ideas, so individually it works.
Even within a hierarchies this can work if the leaders are embracing the principles. It becomes challenging if you have a "yes, and-ing" team and a "yes, but-ing" leader of that team. I think it's less that hierarchy impacts it, it's more the way of being in the mindset and the principles that the leaders within the hierarchy embrace - that creativity is there available for anyone, no matter who you are in the organization. It always behooves a leader to be able to embrace principles and practices that will allow the most creativity to emerge from their employees.
Michael: How do the rules of improv fit in with a more conscious way of being and creating software?
Michelle: I love the improv principles because they lend so well to a collaborative work culture, a collaborative team, and collaborative groups. First of all, you don't have to agree with someone. There's a difference between accepting an offer and agreeing it, and the idea of acceptance allows an idea to be heard before you jump down on it.
You don't have to necessarily like everything about a particular person, but if we agree on some principles of engagement - that for the next twenty minutes or the next two days we'll apply them - or that we want to embed in part of our ongoing culture that we're going to do, then it creates more spaciousness and more safety for people to think of ideas.
A big part of consciousness, in general, is becoming conscious of what is in front of you. It helps you become very present. You listen more. You listen more deeply, you listen more generously, and by that meaning you're not listening for what you're going to say next, you're listening to what the person really has to say, and in that, if you are completely present, you then have so many options of how to respond. If you're present within yourself, which improv principles and practices help you access your own presence, when you're more present within yourself a well wellspring of options and possibilities emerge that you know would not have previously imagined.
You are not trapped by a pre-designed agenda, although that can be a guide and a starting point, but you're interacting with truly what's happening in the moment, whether it's in your own creative unconscious as you're generating ideas or if you're collaborating with others. By being completely present, you have access to an abundance of creativity that you don't have, if you have an idea you're going to be set on the idea, and then your only goal is to push that idea forward.
It may happen that you have a great idea and you do push it forward, but by being present it becomes much more clear if there are other options and other people can contribute better to that idea. I think presence and consciousness go hand-in-hand, and these principles are simply a way to help activate more presence in a group or a system. Another thing is, by practicing a lot of these in low-stake, low-risk environments, you begin to naturally embody it more in your everyday life.
For the complete interview, along with some techniques to apply, sign up for the Conscious Software Development Telesummit for FREE at http://conscioussoftwaredevelopment.com
Posted by Michelle on November 24, 2014 | Permalink | Comments (0)
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For the next month, we're offering the Creativity in Buisness eBook to download for FREE!
(regularly $9.97)
In it, 32 Creativity and Innovation Thought Leaders explore navigating the new work paradigm, applied creativity and innovation. Each content-rich interview includes a "Making in Real" section with juicy exercises to apply to your work!
Includes interviews with Dan Pink (A Whole New Mind), Michael Gelb (How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci), Kat Koppett (Training to Imagine), Dr. Win Wenger (The Einstein Factor), Julie Ann Turner (The Creator's Guide), Stephen Shapiro (24/7 Innovation), Dr. Paul Scheele (Natural Brilliance), Peggy Holman (Engaging Emergence), Mike Bonifer (Game Changers), Gregg Fraley (Jack's Notebook), Sam Horn (POP!), William Smith (Your Creative Power), Jeff Klein (Working for Good), Annalie Killian (Chief Magic Officer at AMP), Michael Margolis (GetStoried), Robert Richman (Zappos Insights), Dr. Stan Gryskiewitz (Positive Turbulence), Larry Blumsack (Face-to-Face), Brian Robertson (Holocracy), Frank Spencer (Kedge), Corey Michael Blake (Round Table Companies), Leilani Henry (Being & Living Enterprises), Seth Kahan (Visoinary Leadership), Tim Kastelle (Innovation for Growth), Seth Kahan (Visionary Leadership), Cathy Rose Salit (Performance of a Lifetime), Jay Rhoderick (Bizprov), Marci Segal (Creativity Land), Russ Scheon (Creative Leadership), George Por (Collective Intelligence), Doug Stevenson (da Innovise Guys), Rick Smyre (Communities of the Future) and Michelle James (The Center for Creative Emergence)
Click here to download your free eBook.
Posted by Michelle on January 22, 2013 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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In a Facebooks group I'm in, someone posted a
comment wondering about designing for
breakthrough innovation. I offerred my response and thought I'd share it here as well since it is relevent to the theme of this blog:
It's been my experience that you can create/design conditions - via generative principles, "whole-brain" practices, shaping the plysical environment, cultivating new cultural norms, etc. - that dramatically increase the chances for breakthroughs to emerge. While I believe a breakthrough can't be forced, we can design the "fertile soil" and engage intentional acitvities that make its emergence more likely.
That includes vastly different ways of thinking, being, embodying, perceiving, and expressing than we currently see in most work environments - which are designed on foundations for control and maintenance - not so much for change, emergence, transformation and breakthroughs.
Designing for breakthroughs includes the willingness for the unpredictable messiness of emergence...and that can be scary for a lot of people. While there is no way to design for comfort in creaitvity and emergence, we can design for emotional safety...that helps open the field and tap into the creative potentiality-in-waiting.
Also, while one might design for breakthrough, the breakthrough may occur seemingly randomly several iterations later...and may not immediately seem connected to the initial design, even though it is a result of it. It's more like we can co-design in partnership with the natural creative process to allow for more change of breakthroughs..but we can't control it. I believe if the designer is not surprised by what emerges, and has lots of space for the unknown embedded into the design, he or she is not necessairly designing for breakthroughs.
Posted by Michelle on December 19, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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I am excited to host this FREE Creativity in Business Telesummit!
REGISTER at http://www.BizCreativitySummit.com/
Featuring 15 Pioneering Creativity & Innovation Leaders, Explorers & Practitioners!
October 22-31 ~ Calls at 12pm & 2Pm EST daily
The theme is Applied Discovery - setting the stage for discovery, generating new ideas and insights, and using your creativity to apply your discoveries in your work.
This event is for entrepreneurs, leaders, executives, managers, learning and innovation officers, facilitators, trainers, OD and HR practitioners, consultants, coaches and anyone who wants to be more innovative, adaptive, resilient, and expressive in the changing world of work, or facilitate that for others.
Leave with principles, practices, techniques, approaches, and frameworks you can start applying to your work, life or business right away to help you discover, create, and innovate!
http://www.BizCreativitySummit.com
Plus, you'll get a free Creativity in Business ebook when you register through October 21st, in which 32 thought leaders explore applied creativity and making it real at work.
Hope you can join us!
Posted by Michelle on September 27, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
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By now, most people have heard of the "Diffusion of Innovation" bell curve, first introduced by Everett Rogers in the 60s. I remember learning about in college, and it seems to still be a relevant model today. According to wikipedia:
"Diffusion of Innovations is a theory that seeks to explain how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technology spread through cultures. Everett Rogers, a professor of rural sociology, popularized the theory in his 1962 book Diffusion of Innovations. He said diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system. The origins of the diffusion of innovations theory are varied and span multiple disciplines...The book proposed 4 main elements that influence the spread of a new idea: the innovation, communication channels, time, and a social system. That is, diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over time among the members of a social system."
Here is an image of the bell curve that I got from blog.pcnsinc.com:
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For a recent client program, I wanted to use the model to illustrate some points about their own innovation culture. I went searching online and compiled a bunch of information that I read about the different groups, then created this little chart (below) based on what I had been reading on the different sites, the book, and my own experience of facilitating creativity in organizations. This shows characteristics of each of the 5 main segments of the population:
I'm bringing this up because I see so many groups/work teams still trying to reach consensus and get buy-in at the front-end from everyone as they attempt to change their work culture, introduce a new innovation, or co-create/co-develop a new product or process.
Form a facilitating co-creativity perspective (whether a day-long short workshop or a long-term culture change), I have found that it is much easier and quicker if you recognize the differences, and let people join into the creative process wherever along the bell curve they are. Not only will their resistance go down, their contribution will go up. The adoption bell curve is at work whether a leader or facilitator wants it to be or not. We can learn to use the natural trajectory of this adoption process in co-creative work teams, instead of fighting it.
In facilitating a creative process, instead of trying to get everyone in a group comfortable with the "blank canvas" thinking that innovators love, let the innovators play there. Then invite in others to join along the way. That takes the pressure of those who really can't go there, and they no longer feel the need to resist - with defenses up - because they are less threatened. The early adaptors are great bridges. They help make it accessible for the majority to buy in. The early majority needs to see something tangible or in action before they will buy in. Instead of force them to dive into the unknown with the innovators, let them enter into the process as they see something already starting to form and shape You get much more creativity and collaboration out of them that way. The laggards, too, will be less vocal in their resistance if they are not forced into change up front. They may ultimately self select out the team, group or company...or they may come around later.
The key is that it is a big waste of time to try to get everyone on the same page at the beginning. Resistance, which is going to happen anyway as is natural in the creative process, skyrockets when everyone is expected to be in the same place at the same time. A new idea emerges emerges and immediately gets shot down, mostly out of fear or discomfort.
Instead, we can acknowledge that each segment has much to offer in the creative process. Just like each has a role in nature. In nature there is always that dynamic tension in the birthing process between something new wanting to emerge (expansion) and the status quo wanting to maintain (contraction). Creative breakthroughs happen in the intersection of that dynamic tension. Healthy creative birth happens by learning to work with that tension.
The same is true in organizational systems. Each role plays a part in the creative process...and that tension between the segments is part of the natural creative process. They are all correct - just incomplete. The late majority likes to organize and maintain the system in a way the innovator or early adopter would not care to do. Everyone is, of course, infinitely creative (whether they know it yet or not). Everyone can activate and unleash more of their creativity through pattern breaking with a variety of approaches and awesome practices at any time. But not everyone creates the same way, and not everyone comes to life at the same point in a group creative process. By USING the differences, we get more creativity out of a group.
If we work with how nature unfolds and creates, and appreciate the differences in pace and timing for people to jump in the ways THEY know they can best contribute (allowing them to self organize along the creative in a way they are more alive to do so), I believe we will experience an easier transition into the blank canvas of the new paradigm 21st century workplace being co-created by all of us.
Posted by Michelle on January 12, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
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It took me a few weeks to get to this post, after integrating what unfolded at and after our Creativity in Business Conference a few weeks ago. On October 23, we produced a (sold-out - yay!) conference in Washington, DC with the help of many amazing, generous souls. It was gratifying that people seemed to get a lot out of it - I think the feedback reflects a juicy and alive day. Everyone really stepped up, took risks, pushed their edges, had fun and engaged fully. Photographer, Alexander Morozov of Photography by Alexander, captured the energy of the day with these pictures.
It Started with Principles of Creative Engagement
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Improvisational Storyteller session |
Posted by Michelle on November 22, 2011 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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http://www.creativity-conference.com
Come learn, think, create and engage with 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 and organizational creativity
* Organizational structures/business models conducive for creativity & innovation
* The integration of creativity, purpose, business and serving the greater good
* Bringing your whole brain - and whole self - to work
This new breed of business conference conference is about going beyond talk-only into exeperiential immersion - immersing you into the experience of creative process and your own creativity. The content is is designed to be informative, intelligent and practical. It will expand your knowledge and understanding. The experiences are designed to be rich and revelatory. They will expand your self.
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.
Come engage your whole brain with practices such as applied storytelling, improvisation, visual thinking, creative inquiry and dialogue, movement and embodiment along with innovative business models and approaches you can apply right away to your work or business.
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. There are no keynoters - just thinkers, leaders and facilitators in service of YOUR creativity and your business.
IMAGINATION FESTIVAL: Improvisation, Live Music, Connectworking, Book Signings, Give-Aways and tasty hors d'oeuvres.
REGISTRATION: Earlybird discount through Friday, September 16, 2011. Seating is limited - early registration is recommended. http://www.creativity-conference.com
Hope you can join us! :-)
Posted by Michelle on September 13, 2011 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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The following are lessons learned and insights gleaned from the trial and error of facilitating creative process with hundreds of individuals and organizations over the past 12 years. It requires a different focus, skill set, way of being and "container creation" than facilitating analytical processes. Below are some of the many principles and practices I've learned or discovered. Take what resonates and leave the rest :-)
Dynamic Balance and Facilitating Creativity in the Workplace
1. Set intention and embody purpose. Get clear on your intention - not only from a business perspective, (i.e., leave with a Strategic Plan), but also from the human element. Creative process in human beings is organic, and contains emotional energy. In fact, the more passion and inspiration, the deeper and more coherent the creativity that emerges. If you intend to support the growth, creativity and awareness of those you serve, you facilitate from a more meaningful place than if focused only on the business goal. If you take time, both in the program design and in the room when facilitating, to think about what is the service you are providing - the gift you are offering - it frees up your own creativity more to support that in your facilitation. Focusing solely on the task limits the creative potential. By genuinely focusing on what is yours to GIVE, (not how you come across doing it), participants pick that up – either consciously or unconsciously - and are more receptive to trying new things with you. Creative Facilitation adds some new “yes-ands” to what already works.
2. Focus on awareness in addition to what happens. Focusing on the awareness aspect allows it to be transformative. In all facilitation, the debrief can be one of the most powerful parts. It integrates the learnings and serves as a bridge to what’s next. In debriefing creative process, focus on what was going on INSIDE of the participants as well as what actually was created OUTSIDE in the room. This leads to self-awareness, which increases the chances of continued creativity and co-creativity after the workshop, program, or process is over. The more aware participants become of what emerges within themselves as they create - both what was most alive as well as what was most challenging - the easier it is to continue to navigate and cultivate their creativity beyond the workshop setting.
3. Understand the normal resistance that occurs with navigating the unfamiliar. Resistance is a healthy, natural part of the creative process. It only becomes unhealthy when it is allowed to block the process (by overemphasizing it and spending too much time engaging it, or by not acknowledging it all and trying to barrel past it). Be prepared for resistance to show up. It's usually a result of fear of entering the new territory, and it can show up in a myriad of forms - deflection, sarcasm, distraction, disengagement or, most often and most subtly, talking about what is already known. It's not something to be pushed down or avoided, but rather something to be acknowledged and moved through if it shows up. Acknowledgment ahead of time gives it permission to follow it natural course when and if it emerges. It is the natural “contraction” to balance the creative expansion. You find this in all of nature’s creativity. The flower feels the resistance of the bud most just before it blossoms.
4. “Fail” gracefully - be comfortable with messing up. This is a great lesson from improv theater. Improvisers do not see mistakes as static failures. Instead, we see them as dynamic invitations to learn in real time and an opportunity to create something new. To authentically learn how to deepen your experience in facilitating a transformational creative process requires you to be the explorer as well. Unlike facilitation that relies on what is known, creativity depends elements of the unknown. You can better facilitate that which you're willing to experience for yourself. Applied creativity has vulnerability attached to it as being experimental means being vulnerable. And, that means something you try may not work, or may work differently than you had anticipated. Go with it. USE that information as feedback to either refine for the future, or, in that moment, to take the group to another place. The facilitator’s discomfort with the challenges of creativity can inhibit the group's craetive process. (If you can take an improv class, do it…it's the quickest way I know to free yourself of the “the fear of failure” and develop a comfort with thinking on your feet.)
5. Adapt in real time. There's always a dynamic balance between creating enough structure and releasing. If you as a facilitator need to control the process, do whatever you can on your free time to get comfortable with letting go, shifting gears, and modifying the agenda in real time. Use the real-time feedback loop: engage, get feedback, modify; engage, get feedback, modify, etc. It’s an ongoing process, and like with all things, takes practice to embody. Do this enough and it becomes comfortable and easy…and alive! In fact, you will get to a point where it takes more energy to try to stick to the exact plans than to follow the creative aliveness of what is trying to emerge in the room. Be ready to adjust your "agenda" at any time for what is REALLY going in the room. Otherwise, you can get engagement, and even expanded perspectives, but generally no real novelty. Novelty contains an unpredictability within it, and to facilitate creative process means adapting to that unpredictability in real time. May as well have fun with it :-)
6. Work from your own Creative Edges, not your comfort zone. This creates a palpable dynamic aliveness in the room. You are all in it together. This may seem antithetical to our "expertise" culture. The paradox is that you must still deeply know and understand what you are doing before you enter the room, but then once in the room, hold it loosely and respond in real time. Be in your own unknown - a co-discoverer instead of the expert on their creativity. Allow yourself to be surprised. Don't limit them, or yourself, by your creativity experience or pre-existing assumptions. While you are the one creating the container and holding the space, this role is balanced with your own openness to what emerges. Creative facilitation is an open system.
7. Respect creative style diversity. To further expound on #6, one size, approach, method, technique, or even paradigm does not fit all. One creativity model definitely does not fit all. Understand that each person in that room is at a different comfort level, and will have a unique relationship with the creative process. Each carries unique and different stories of creativity in his or her consciousness. You give them tools and techniques as entry points, but be ready to let their creativity show you ways of creating that you can’t imagine. This expands your own Creative Practices repertoire.
8. Understand patterns found in the creative process. This allows you to facilitate during times of resistance. Another paradox: while each person has different creating styles and approaches that work for them, there are also re-occurring universal patterns that tend to emerge in a creative process. The deepest understanding comes from your OWN experimentation and learning, and will most likely be refined over time. Start with what you know, and open up to being "yes-anded" all the time. Look for patterns, not just techniques. Techniques only get you so far…patterns and principles allow you to create new techniques on and ongoing basis. Start where you are, be gentle with yourself as you learn, and learn from direct experience. Insights that emerge from experience and observation are give you a real-time agility that book learning alone cannot offer.
9. Embrace dynamic balance. Divergence AND convergence. Left AND right brain. Structure AND flow. Reflection AND action. That is one of the re-occurring themes in this post because it permeates all of creative process...and the complexity of being human. Creativity is filled with paradox. Setting up conditions for creativity is as well. Like with all natural systems, every situation, project, and group has a dynamic balance that will allow the most amount of creativity to emerge in that situation. Too rigid keeps the creativity bound; too loose, it gets unfocused. There is a balance between structure and flow. This is why whole brain practices are needed...the right brain to access NEW levels of ideas and information, and the left to discern and organize it.
10. Allow for self-organization when facilitating a group project. Inherent in the creative process is a self-organization found in all of nature. You see this all the time in improvised jazz or improv theater...something larger than the sum of the parts emerges and it is a coherent whole and unexpected. It is similar to the experience you have in those moments when everything just seems to effortlessly come together in a brilliant, yet totally unexpected, way. This possibility always exists in any group. One key is to not over-control the experience and allow enough space for the next level of creativity to emerge in the room. This takes some trust in the creative process itself...and practices recognizing, like in an improv performance, when you need to step up and lead, or step back and follow. Without question, groups have the capacity to self-organize around a creative task - a collective creative intelligence can take over that is larger than any one person's idea. You have nature on your side. We are natural meaning-makers, and creativity is naturally self-organizing. By balancing both directing and following in real time, you can more naturally moving to higher levels of coherence, meaning, and sense. (All “Aha’s” are deeply grounded in common sense at their new level). We have simply been socialized, educated, and trained to over-plan. Instead, we can learn how to work WITH the natural creative process.
11. Seek to make it safe, not comfortable.
Safety will allow people to open up and move into
unknown territory without the fear of criticism, failure. Too much stability, and nothing new emerges. Asking people to share what they already know is different than guiding them into their unknown. On the other side, without doing the “container creating” to make it safe, taking people in too deep too soon can throw them into chaos and they will shut down – and they lose trust in you. In either case, nothing new emerges. Find the balance of the Creative Zone - the place of creative potential between stability and chaos. Create a safe space AND guide your participants into new territory, which can be uncomfortable. Discomfort is a normal part of the creative process. In fact, if everyone is the room is entirely comfortable the whole time, chances are you did more
of an information gathering process than a creative one.
12. Fun is functional. There is more research emerging all the time that shows how fun, play, and “lightening up” have a serious role to play in increasing creative thinking and establishing creative work culture - not just as an outlet to do on your free time, but as a driver to navigating change and working on serious challenges in work and life. It frees the brain to think more creativity, and frees the energy in the room for more effective and safe collaboration. In fact, I have not come across any research anywhere that points to not having fun and not being playful as a more effective way of living and creating. To facilitate creativity requires accessing and being comfortable with having fun yourself. And, knowing how to bring it in purposefully, and in a way it can be accepted (and not shut people down). It's different for every group and every culture. Once you access your own "deep fun" self, you have more choice on what methods to use and how. As with all facilitation, know your audience.
13. Your inner stories directly impact the container you create for others. Check out all the stories you carry around creativity, fun and play. Do you hold them as separate from a business bottom line? Most of us grew up with the programming that creativity is something you do on your free time after the “real work” is done. Facilitating Applied Creativity carries a new story – that it is an essential part of the real work. It is more than something fun to open up a group, but actually something to help transform individuals, groups, teams and organizations; create a thrivable work culture, and feed the bottom line. Do you carry a story that creativity is for the domain of the arts...or do you know it to be present, in infinite abundance, for every person, group and system? What stories do you carry about yourself as a Creator? In knowing yourself as a Creator, and knowing that you are walking into a room filled with other Creators (whether they are aware of it or not) allows you to help facilitate a new story for those in the room.
14. Diverge...and Converge with discernment.
Facilitating transformational creativity requires your presence, adaptability, agile thinking…AND
discernment. Discernment keeps whatever
emerges in the room focused on the objectives, relevant, and purposeful…not just random creative expression (unless that is your goal). This means having processes for Convergence as well as Divergence. Divergence explores, discovers, yes-ands, and accepts to expand the playing field – the increase the field of potential from which to draw. Convergence discerns, focuses, fleshes out, uses what is relevant and leaves the rest. For a visual with more on Divergence and Convergence click here. As with each of these points, the dynamic balance is the key: expand, contract; explore, refine; value logic and intuition; planning and spontaneity. Most people naturally gravitate to more comfort with diverging or converging…find out which is your preference and practice giving more time and attention to the other.
15. Prepare yourself with pre-workshop creativity rituals. Creativity, by its nature, contains a lot of energy and newness. Facilitating novelty is not "business as usual." It's about leading a group into the non-habitual. It requires being resilient, agile, compassionate and an "expedition guide." Taking some time to do whatever you need to enter your own non-habitual state first can makes a significant difference. One of the best ways to do that is by taking some alone time before the facilitation, to do pattern-breaking exercises to increase your own energy and become present, alert, and responsive. The more of the whole-brain - and whole-body! - you bring in, the better. Like an athlete who warms up by stretching muscles, you’re a creativity facilitator who warms up by stretching beyond your familiar patterns. Try different things, like moving in non-habitual ways around your living room before you leave your house. You'll be alone, so the more “out there” you can be in the privacy of your own space, the better. Surprise yourself at how “out there” you can get! It will also help you be more comfortable when something “out there” emerges from a participant. Do it until you transform any negative self-judgment or evaluation you have into the joy of exploration. It will increase your energy and aliveness, and help you be more attentive and at ease with what shows up in the room. Creativity is messy. Non-judgment of self and others during the process is essential!
I am so passionate about this topic that I could go on ad infinitum :-) I have covered some of the basics here. It's challenging to use words-only to describe a fullness of whole-brain experience. This is not about one right way - it's a loose guide and exploration. My hopes is that something in here gives you food for thought, inspiration or validation.
~ Michelle James ©2010
Go to http://www.creativeemergence.com/wbfacilitation.html for more on our next Creative Facilitation Workshop. Offerred once or twice a year since 2005 in the Washington, DC area.
Posted by Michelle on September 28, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)
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Posted by Michelle on September 15, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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Here's a little diagram I put together to highlight the differences in the creative process between divergent and convergent thinking. Like all models, it's not comprehensive, but meant to serve as a general guideline. (Convergence and Divergence are used in some form in most creativity models). The key is engaging BOTH types of thinking in a creative process. Next-level solutions emerge from engaging the unpredictability and expansiveness of divergent thinking first, and then applying the narrowing of convergent thinking to ground the new ideas into practical understandings and action steps.
Posted by Michelle on February 01, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
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A Professional and Personal Development Program spanning the course of 6 weeks. Led by Michelle James, CEO of The Center for Creative Emergence and founder of the Capitol Creativity Network and the Creativity in Business Conference.
“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” - Dr. Seuss
This course is not about writing out lists. It is about delving in,
whole-person creating, breaking patterns, and cultivating new ideas,
structures and directions - that are both creative and practical. It's
for you if are truly committed and ready to birth something NEW into
the world that serves others and is aligned with who YOU are!
Posted by Michelle on January 28, 2010 | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
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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 [email protected]
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 (Conference Producer) - Capitol Creativity Network - Center for Digital Imaging Arts - Teratech - Timothy Flatt Studios - Mie N Yu - Over The Horizon Consulting, LLC - Associated Producers - Brandwithin - Integral Company - Thoughtlead -Photograhy by Alexander
ALL THE DETAILS: http://www.creativity-conference.com
Hope you can join us! :-)
Posted by Michelle on July 16, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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Using Whole-Brain Creativity Practices and Principles for Vibrant and Engaging
Learning Environments ~ www.creativeemergence.com/id47.html
4-week Program ~ 4 Tuesdays in July: 3 live workshops plus 1 follow-up teleclass
Tuesdays, July 7-28 ~ 6:30pm-9:00pm
Led by Michelle James, CEO of The Center for Creative Emergence
NEW 4-WEEK EVENING FORMAT!
This workshop is for professional facilitators, trainers, OD practitioners, coaches, consultants, educators and anyone else who wants to facilitate creativity, dynamic learning and positive culture change for their participants.
Join the creativity training revolution! In this workshop you will learn and experience a variety of both right and left brain creativity approaches and techniques designed to enliven your workshops and accelerate participant learning.
You will learn how to * Quickly and easily engage participants * Modify activities for the particular group and learning objectives * Draw forth the energy, passion, and assets already in the room * Cultivate the attitudes and behaviors for using whole-brain approaches * Create a safe and receptive learning environment
Effectively getting groups to open up to experiential creative approaches begins with increasing your own comfort and flexibility with the techniques you facilitate. This workshop will focus on two levels at the same time - you as a professional, authentic facilitator and you as a creative individual. You will have the opportunity for personal expansion as you gather useful tools.
You will experience whole-brain training activities based in storytelling, improvisational theater, visual imagery, somatics, accelerated learning, ritual, systems thinking, Socratic and analytical processes...and more! You will learn key creative facilitation principles, creativity training design guidelines, and whole brain approaches to design and facilitate innovative learning environments.
You will explore using whole brain methods to:
* Get your own creative juices flowing
* Draw forth your natural gifts as a facilitator
* Explore the applications of these new tools
* Have fun. Surprise yourself and each other
* Let go of controls; think and respond spontaneously
You will leave with creative activities for:
* Icebreakers
* Energizers
* Creating group story
* Innovation & idea generation
* Team & community building
In this pattern-breaking program, you will learn how to let go of controls and mindsets that otherwise inhibit your creative thinking. As you facilitate this for your participants, they will experience a deeper level of meaning and learning.
When: This program meets in person the first 3 weeks, and then has a follow up phone session the fourth week. Live workshops: 3 Tuesdays 7/7, 714 and 7/21 - 6:30 -9:00pm. Group follow-up teleclass: 4th Tuesday 7/28 - 6:30-9:00pm. Where: McLean, VA, one minute off the beltway. Directions will be provided.
> Registration: $325 Early bird discounts: $250 if registered by June 25. Space is limited - early registration recommended.
> Details: Includes the Creative Facilitation Workbook with handouts, light snacks and spring water.
> To Sign Up: To register, please send a confirmation email to [email protected] and go to www.creativeemergence.com/id47.html
Contact information:
email: [email protected]
phone: 703-760-9009
web: http://www.creativeemergence.com
Posted by Michelle on June 12, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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Posted by Michelle on June 03, 2009 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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I am totally surprised - and completely honored! - to be named one of the Visionary Leaders in the Fast Company Blog, Leading Change Truly honored to be in such inspiring company:
http://www.fastcompany.com/blog/seth-kahan/leading-change/visionary-leadership
Posted by Michelle on December 18, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
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This morning I was reflecting on creative thinking for my newsletter and decided to make a list of what came to me as it emerged, stopping after the first 50 concepts:
Posted by Michelle on December 18, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
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If you are around the DC area December 10, join the Capitol Creativity
Network for an evening with best-selling author Dan Pink and a panel of
social media pioneers.
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The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You'll Ever Need - A Dynamic Presentation with Dan Pink (www.danpink.com), NY Times best-selling author of The Adventures of Johnny Bunko, A Whole New Mind and Free-Agent Nation. In this provocative and entertaining presentation, Dan will discuss the medium and the message of his latest book, including how to convey ideas in a crowded, chaotic media landscape. And he'll discuss the book's six lessons - six crucial, creative and counterintuitive secrets to fashioning a successful and fulfilling career.
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A Creativity and Innovation Panel on Social Media will follow with Dan and leading social media industry experts who are part of a movement that is changing the business landscape and our career choices: Nick O'Neill, founder of www.socialtimes.com, Jesse Thomas, CEO and founder of www.jess3.com, and Frank Gruber, founder and publisher of www.somewhatfrank.com and founder of www.techcocktail.com. Moderated by DC's Marketing Navigator, Jeremy Epstein.
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Afterwards, stick around for socializing, networking, book signing and some book give-aways!
We'll have good food, music and fun!
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Date & Time: Wednesday, December 10th
7:00pm - however long you stay!
.
NEW Location! Center for Digital Imaging Arts (CDIA) in Washington, DC.
.
RSVP BY REGISTERING ONLINE
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Registration: Online: $25 ~ At the door: $35
We expect to fill up. Register now to reserve your space!
.
Register Here: http://www.capitolcreativitynetwork.com/id6.html
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This event is sponsored by The Center for Creative Emergence, the Center for Digital Imaging Arts, The Sales Lounge and Job Matchbox.
Posted by Michelle on November 21, 2008 | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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