The Fertile Unknown

NEW Workshop: Connecting with Your Creative Source

December 28, 2021 • 1:00-2:30 EST on Zoom
Register at http://www.creativeemergence.com/creativesource

 

Register Here Kick off a creative new start to your new year!   Hi all. I had a client ask me to do a workshop last weekend on Connecting with the Creative Source. It was such a joy, it inspired to offer a 90-minute version of it this month open to the public. I'll eventually turn this into a multi-session workshop but wanted to offer you a dive into it now as a way to start the new year off feeling more connected to this vibrant, generous, and unique part of yourself...and your full-on creative partner in your visions, goals, and whatever it is you feel called to create.   Over the past 20+ years I've centered my coaching around the Creative Source in our sessions as part of creating what's next - from ways of being and embodying to creating products, services, and workshops to whatever is calling to emerge. I would like to offer this part now to the public, and offering it a discounted introductory rate.    Once we have a trusting relationship with our creative source, we see options and choices we wouldn't have previously imagined; we see more openings when some doors close; we're more resilient in the face of adversity; we find inspiration and motivation more easily; and we can access creative flow states more often.   Working consciously with your inner creative source helps with: vision creating, problem solving, discerning, decision making, ideation, resolving seeming opposites, moving through resistances, expanding thinking and constructs, understanding others views...and feeling more alive, fertile, trusting, lightened up, and more empowered and confident in our own creativity, intuition, and sense of purpose. And, it's FUN!   Hope you can join us for this juicy dive into our creative selves on the 28th!    With love and hope, Michelle Register Here www.creativeemergence.com •  creativeemergencecoaching.com [email protected] • 434-995-5077

NEW Creative Body Workshop! September 9th

NEW Creative Body Workshop on 9/9! 10-12 EST on Zoom.
https://www.creativeemergence.com/creativebody/

Many of us are sitting in Zoom calls, or at our desks, for much of the day. It can be energy draining, and we can lose touch with our creative flow. I take frequent "pattern breaks" to get in my body in energizing and enjoyable ways to be able to stay "on" with the work I do. When I take the time to move differently, it opens up my more of my creative energy, focus, and resourcefulness. I do body-centered practices every day to keep me present, engaged, and co-creating with my clients. It's been a life-saver for me doing all my work online these days, and I would love to share some of the practices for you to do yourselves or with those you coach or facilitate.

 

Your body is an amazing creative resource. It has it own creative intelligence. Using your body in ways aligned with this natural intelligence increases adaptability, creativity, and resilience. When you move and embody in new ways, new perspectives and thinking emerge. Breaking patterns of movement and opening to new ones create space for novel ideas and insights.

 

This highly interactive workshop integrates different interrelated body-centered modalities that work together toward a cohesive whole. The convergence of somatic philosophy and techniques with other creative practices help you experience a deepened awareness of, and connection to, your body intelligence and unique creative expression. We explore and experience using our bodies to overcome blocks to creativity, create new visions and solve problems, feel more empowered, generate feelings of aliveness, hopefulness, and more ease of movement, and more.

For more information or to register, go to: https://www.creativeemergence.com/creativebody/

Cultivating Creative Energy Using Your Body

It is hard to generate creative flow when you
are in a contractive state. While contraction
is part of any creative birth process,
staying in that place too long becomes an energy block - it prevents the creative energy from flowing more freely. Divergence in creative process needs the open energy of expansion. When we are in expansion energy state, we think, act, perceive, respond, and create differently than when we are in a contractive (more closed) energy state.

So how do we get into a creative energy state when those around us may not be not there? There are infinite ways to engage our creativity, thankfully, but I’ll talk about a couple that involve the body. My next public online workshop is The Creative Body workshop, where we will explore many ways to engage the body creatively. We don’t need to wait for others to change our internal states - we can start anytime.

Creative Ways to Get the Creative Juices Flowing Using Your Body

Here are a couple of the many ways I play with moving energy based on my own ways of creating, and what I need that day. Try the ones that resonate for you. And definitely try modifying these in real time - as you are doing them - to get into Discovery to make your own. You may need tweaks to get them to resonate for you. We’re never limited to anyone else’s way of doing anything. :-)

Dancing the Creative Alive Energy in

Movement. Loosen up your body. Have fun in your body. Play with the non-habitual. When I start moving my body differently, my entire mood and energy shifts. I do this before every session I facilitate, and most days in some form. One way to do this is play upbeat songs you love and dance around the room as you breath our tension and old energy. I like to play songs that are silly and fun to uplift my mood, so I literally have a playlist list called “Goofy Playlist.” These are songs that help me not take myself or anything so seriously so they help me move to a different energy state. They are not necessarily songs I listen to on a daily basis - though sometimes I do that. I just know that that when I am having more fun in my body, I feel more alive, expansive, and it is easier for me to be present and creative.

Moving Non-habitually Break Patterns

I also like to move in non habitual ways - trying new moves every time I dance - to be in that “Improv” discovery state, which always feels move alive( not to mention scientists show that creating new moves creates new neural pathways in our brain). I literally do this every day. Whether I am dancing or just sitting at my desk, I play around with all kind of ways to move my body non-habitually (new for me), whih help me feel more alive, present, and awake (especially when on long Zoom days) The key is to play with it, judgement free - let it be off-the-wall and nonsensical to you. It’s abbot breaking patterns in your body movements to help break patterns in your thinking. Do what you can form where you are. If you have some physical limitations, just start small with whatever you can move. (I am not a medical practitioner so please don’t do anything against the advice of one).

Letting the Energy Move your Body - Following and Inhabiting the Energy

The mind is an amazing resource. Even if we don’t feel something at a given time, we can shift our state by putting attention on it and calling it in. Intention leads to attention. Energy follows attention. So if we intend to feel an energy, we can call it in an engage with it, we can actually start to feel it move through us. This one may takes a few times to get used to because, like with meditation, it takes time sometimes to feel the energy, and woks best when we are not distracted. Some people can access this immediately, others practice to get the energies flowing. But if you do practice it, you will be able to state-change by calling in an energy.

For example, if you intend to feel more aliveness energy, you can call it in, and start bringing your sense to it. Ask, “What does aliveness look like? (You can draw it in the abstract or just imagine it) What does it sound like? What does feel like? What does it move like? And start moving form it. As you do it, you may hear the inner voices of judgement (about yourself or about the activity itself), but keep going. Let them be there, but keep bringing your attention to the energy and the full-on experience of it as best you can. Sometimes it takes a few times before you feel anything - other times you feel it right away. The invitation is to try it…to play with it until you feel it and embody the state change.

Create a Judgment-free Zone

Remember to suspend all judgement as you play with these. Be kind to the part of you that forgot what is was like to move and play freely in your body. And to go beyond my descriptions into discovering your own “yes-ands” to this as you go. When we allow our bodies to explore without judging them, they can take us to creative places and more vibrancy. Feel free to email me and let me know what you discover.

–––––––
We’ll do a deeper dive into these and many other ways of engaging your body to bringing in more creativity, aliveness, presence, and flow in my next Creative Body Workshop on September 9.  There we'll do a deeper exploratory dive into Somatic Intelligence and it's connection creative thinking, being, and moving...and using your body as a creative resource.  If you are interested to learn more, click here or contact me directly.

Michelle James ©2021

NEW Program! Creating with Purpose: New Foundations for Creating and Producing What's Next in an Uncertain World

9-week Immersion Program! 

CREATING WITH PURPOSE:
New Foundations for

Creating and Producing
What's Next in an

Uncertain World Using

Whole-Brain,
Whole-Self Creativity

9-Week Immersion Deep-dive into Creating from the Inside-Out With Meaning, Purpose, and Heart for Tangible, Applicable Outcomes to Meet the Needs of Today's World - and Your Own!

Discover, Design, and Develop What’s Next in Your Work or Life 

Where Purpose, Creativity, Your Uniqueness, and Tangible Outcomes Meet

People with a strong sense of purpose find opportunities others miss. The internal sense of purpose and meaning anchors and grounds us to better weather the external storms. When we discover and feel connected to what is ours to do - what we are uniquely designed to offer - it acts like a compass in a volatile storm or uncertain fog. It then becomes not certainty that gives us security, but meaning. In these times, many people are feeling called to take positive action. This program focuses on strengthening your inner compass, being intentionally directed, and producing something tangible from it (even if you have no idea what that will be when we start).

New Foundations: Using Transformational Creative Principles, Frameworks, and Practices

In this workshop, we will explore and experience some of the foundations - constructs, frameworks, ways of being, and principles - that establish the conditions for purposeful creativity to emerge. We'll use creative whole-brain, whole-being-engagement approaches, and actualize our unique Inner Creator, to craft and carry out what we're called to create and contribute. This is not about just knowing it cognitively, but embodying the ways of thinking and being to draw it out into the world.

 

Use the Creative Resources within you to Create New Directions,
Offerings, Projects, Products, Services, Workshops, Programs,
or Thought Leadership in your Work, Cause, or Mission

Who is this for?

Entrepreneurs, leaders, educators, coaches, consultants, change-makers, healers, creators, pioneers, social transformers, and anyone who wants to contribute and create a more life-giving what's next for themselves and others. This is an intensive immersion program. It is for those who are truly committed to themselves and their process, and to showing up for each other in a safe, supportive space.

 

Why?

•  You want to purposefully create what's next in your work/mission
•  You were clear before, but now feel a little like a deer in the headlights
•  You have a sense about what you'd like to do, but need it further fleshed out

•  You want to do something that matters to you and serves others

•  You know what you want to do, but feel inner "blocks" or fears around it
•  You want to develop your signature process and offerings
•  You have a sense of purpose, but not sure how to move forward with it
•  You want to carry out your work/mission in a way that fits who YOU are

•  You want to bring more of your hopeful energy amidst the chaos
•  You want to actualize your unique creativity in your work/calling/mission
•  You want to find a peaceful inner creative sanctuary within you
•  You want to move beyond self-imposed limitations about what’s possible
•  You're seeking what is yours to do here, now, and in what's next
•  You want to move forward authentically and with confidence
•  You want to cultivate and apply your gifts, skills, talents and experiences toward something purposeful

How? The Exploration and Experience

It's so important to take care of and ground yourself - taking "your own oxygen" as you discover your ways to support and contribute to others to come from a centered place. This deep-dive program focuses on both your inner landscape (being) and your external expression (doing). It contains a balance of left and right brain activities, crafting and emerging, thinking and being, reflection and action, and structure and flow, and mind/body/heart/soul creativity. We’ll use the Creative Emergence Process with an integration of storytelling, improv, the arts, imagination, movement, body-centered practices, reflection tools, ritual, depth psychology/archetypes/mythology, systems thinking, and structured creative solution finding approaches. By working on releasing what no longer serves, creating new foundations, and expanding what is most generative, the external expression of our work changes.

Leave with:

The next evolution of your work or personal project, approach, product, service, process, offering, program, concept, or model; a sense of purposefulness and meaningful contribution; a self-designed structure for applying your unique gifts, skills, experiences and talents toward something that inspires you; and practices to use beyond the workshop setting to stay in your creative flow.

 

Includes:

• Five 3-hour virtual interactive workshops with the group, each building on the one before.
  (there are super engaging, creative, and interactive - not lecture format - we will take 2 short breaks)
• One 90-minute personal Creative Emergence coaching session
• A course materials and resources list (for various creative projects we'll do)

• Engaging whole-brain and somatic assignments and practices to do in between workshops
• Ongoing support throughout the program

• Bonus 2-hour Follow-up Integration Session

Schedule

When: 5 Fridays, over the course of 9 weeks – 1:00pm to 4:00pm EDT (10:00-1:00 PST). 8/28, 9/11, 10/2, 10/16, 10/30. Individual coaching sessions will be done in the break between the 2nd and 3rd workshops  If you have to miss a workshop, we'll do a personal Zoom call to catch you up. Bonus 2-hour Follow-up Integration session 3 weeks after the course is completed to further integrate the learnings. 

For the Program Structure, Registration, and more information go to:

http://www.creativeemergence.com/creatingwithpurpose.html

Facilitating Creative Process: Preparing Yourself before the Workshop

Athletes warm up.Improv/theater/dance/performance groups warm up. Warm-ups clear your head and get you out of habitual thinking, bring you into the present - where you can access more novel thinking, be more responcive and adaptive, and get people more genuinely connected. The time spent warming up is made up exponentially by the effectiveness of the subsequent creative process you can facilitate, and increase the chances of something new and different emerging within you and your participants.

For those of us that facilitate creative process for others there is much we can do to shift our energy to be able to meet what emerges in that person or group with the presence and creative openness of Beginner Mind. Some people use inward-focused prep rituals like meditating, centering, breathing, creative visualization, intention setting, centering music to get centered and grounded. Others do more outward-focused prep rituals like dancing, moving non-habitually, wild music, vocal/ theater/improv type activities to get energized and expansive. (I like doing a bit of both - inward first, then outward). Playing around with different ones, familiar and unfamiliar, help us expand our own creativity as we support others in cultivating theirs. Our own energy makes a difference for those we facilitate.


Michelle James©2020

Storytelling for a more Meaningful Past and Generative Future

Telling our stories, instead of only listing out events, changes how we view and experience our past (giving more meaning and understanding), and how we create what's next (giving us more possibilities). In addition to doing vision boards, writing out goals, and whatever else we do, we can think about and start to tell our emergent story, without even knowing the how's of creating it. When we start to tell the story of what's calling to emerge, we see and feel the future differently, and it becomes more tangible, and easier to live into. The juicier the story, the more alive, palpable, and accessible it becomes. 

Michelle James ©2019

Applied Improvisation and Power Dynamics

Michelle James ©2019

The Energized Facilitator: Getting the Most out of Creative Process Facilitation

image from fitnessandwellnessnews.com

As a facilitator of creative process, your energy has an impact of those in the room. It’s an often overlooked part of facilitating creativity, yet it's the most immediate, primal, and direct way of connecting in ways words and actions alone can not (like when someone walks in a room and you get a feel about them before they even say anything). Most people feel energy immediately and instinctively, before the analytical brain gets on board to think about it. Your energetic state can help draw out or hinder the creativity of others, as well as your own.

While most facilitators of creative process already have Energizer activities for participants, not all take time to prepare their own energetic field before the workshop. The energy you enter a space with, and cultivate as the day goes on, adds to or takes from participant experience. Actors, improvisers, athletes all warm-up before they preform. They don’t just show up and start performing. Similarly, warming yourself up with pre-workshop “energizer rituals” helps you not only get present, but also energized and enlivened. If you find ways of energizing yourself before entering the room - “prep rituals” you do alone before the workshop starts - that begins to create an energized container for participants as they enter. Because energy is something felt, and not thought, it is immediate, and has an impact on the nervous system of participants, non-verbally - not just their minds.

There's no limit to the ways you can generate energy for yourself before a workshop or meeting. Over the past 14 years facilitating Creative Facilitation workshops, I’ve heard countless ways facilitators get energized. I play around with different ones myself to keep it fresh in me, and to stay on my own creative edges, mostly improvising as I go with the goal of trying something new. The times I did not warm up, I noticed a difference in the group’s creative energy, cohesiveness, and output, and how I was holding their energy. I learned the hard way how important it is for me to do my own energy prep work. Some people naturally have a full-on energizing presence any time of day, and in almost any circumstance…and others of us can cultivate it consciously.

You can try it playing around with Brain Gym (Google it), dancing wildly, moving non-habitually, brain teasers, tongue twisters, acting things out, meditation and other centering practices, yoga, marshal arts, and other body-centered practices, solo improv games, etc. If you do something more meditative, try also adding in something that expands and heightens your energy, so you can hold an expanded energetic space for a group - a big part of generating risk taking and creative novelty form a group. And, if you try something that pushes your own envelop - breaking your pattern with something you normally do not do - which also engages your own creative edges, the brain research repeatably shows that enhances presence, creativity, and adaptability.

If you already have awesome activities and content to share, and they are interactive and highly participatory, you can take it to a new level if you take some time to generate your own energy before showing up. Preparing yourself energetically is like starching out like a rubber band when you are by yourself, so when you get with a group, you are energetically flexible enough to expand out to whatever emerges in the group. Research had also shown that most people in groups will either consciously or subconsciously not feel psychologically safe to out-energize a facilitator, and that can impact what and how they create. A facilitator who shows up as flexible, energized, and ready for anything makes it safer for participants to engage more enthusiastically and energetically in interactive activities, and explore their own creativity in a group and each other’s creativity as a group.

If you try something new that works well for you, or if you want to chat about some ideas for your next facilitation, please drop me a line. :-) 

©Michelle James 2018

Whole Brain Creative Facilitation Workshop in December!

Using Whole-Brain Creativity Practices and Principles to create Vibrant, Agile and Innovative Learning  Environments

http://www.creativeemergence.com/wbfacilitation.html

2-day Workshop ~ December 7th and 8th.
PLUS 1 follow-up one-on-one coaching session.
Led by Michelle James, CEO of The Center for Creative Emergence.


Image from Mercedes Benz ad

This workshop is for professional facilitators, trainers, OD practitioners, coaches, consultants, educators, leaders and anyone else who wants to facilitate creativity, dynamic learning and positive culture change for their participants.
 
Join the creativity facilitation and 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.
 
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.
 
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.
 
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
 
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: Friday & Saturday, December 7th and 8th (9:30: 4:30) and a follow up phone one-on-one coaching session. Where: Falls Church, VA. Directions will be provided.

More information and registration:
http://www.creativeemergence.com/wbfacilitation.html
 
Contact information:
email: [email protected]
phone: 703-760-9009
web: http://www.creativeemergence.com

Applied Discovery - Free Telesummit

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!

Creativity in Work Program for Work That Rocks

Time for my annual Creativity in Work Program. If you are in the DC area and this resonates, join us! :-)

Creativity in Work Professional and Personal Development Program
May - June 2012

Use the Creative Resources within you to inform new Work Directions, Strategies, Innovations, Projects, Products or Services

    *  Discover, design, and develop what's next in your work
    *  Cultivate your creativity and self-awareness
    *  Focus your creative intelligence for practical results
    *  Learn to use uncertainty as a productive business resource
    *  Develop a solid, structured framework of what you offer and your differentiating, unique "signature"
    *  Create, innovate and implement with confidence
    *  Attract clients aligned with your vision and mission

Practical, tangible outcomes and offerings will emerge from the inside-out over the course of 6 weeks. Your passion, skills, talents and experience will inform the goals and structures. This program contains a balance of left and right brain activities, analysis and intuition, strategy and emergence, thinking and being, action and reflection, theory and application, lightness and depth, and improvisation and planning...with actionable results.

We'll use the Creative Emergence Process with a rich integration of creative practices, including improv, story, the arts, intuition techniques, reflection tools, whole-brain/accelerated learning methods, creative thinking, ritual, and analytical and evaluative approaches to help you create next-level business solutions. Along with your business changes, you change internally.

This course is not about writing out lists and taking notes. 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!

Leave With:
    * The development of new or the refinement of your existing offerings.
       If you work for an organization, new ways to apply creativity to your work.
    * The next evolution of your work direction, project, work environment,
      approach, product, service, design, process, program, workshop or model.
    * A self-designed framework, set of strategic goals and an action plan.
    * The initial implementation of your action and marketing plans.

Program Includes:
    * 4 full-days of workshops, each building on the one before
    * 1 two-hour+ Creative Emergence coaching session
       PLUS one 1-hour post-workshop follow-up session
    * Creativity in Work workbook - activities and resources with your emergent ideas and learnings
    * Emergence Box - relevant items to engage your process outside of the workshop setting
    * Engaging and relevant practices to do in between workshops
    * All art supplies and program materials
    * In depth attention due to small group size
    * Quality food, gourmet coffee, teas and spring water
    * Certificate of Completion

This program is for entrepreneurs, leaders, managers, consultants, trainers, innovators, coaches, creatives, psychologists, healers, sales and marketing professionals, change agents, pioneers and people in transition to name a few - anyone creating something new in their work.

Details & Registration: http://www.creativeemergence.com/cinw.html

CCN 2/8: Turn Boring Meetings into Fun Discovery Sessions

After taking a haitus for the Creativity in Business conference last year, the Capitol Creativity Network is back in action with regular monthly meetings in 2012!

If you are, or will be, in the DC metro area this coming Wednesday night, feel free to join us from from 7:00-9:30pm at the Ceveland Park Club House. I'll be facilating a whole-brain session on turning mind-numbing meetings into mind-expanding creative discovery sessions. Hope to see you there! :-)

Here's the write up:

People can say, "I had better things to do. Same old, same old. I couldn't wait to get out of there" or they can say "Wow - that was awesome! We actually got A LOT done - and had fun doing it. I didn't even realize I had all those creative ideas." after leaving one of your meetings. They can feel anywhere from drained to motivated, mind-numbed to mind-expanded, detached to engaged. The good news is it's your choice. If you'd prefer the latter, come join us in the dynamic, fun, NEW session on creating and facilitating vibrant, generative, productive meetings - ones where people get things done, ENJOY the meeting, and leave feeling motivated.

Meetings come to life when you engage the whole brain and participants get to discover something new in real time. There is ALIVENESS in discovery. Come explore and experience divergent and convergent creativity principles and practices - including improv, storytelling, embodiment among others - that are easy to learn and apply for any meeting you facilitate. Learn how to structure meetings that bring out more creativity, discovery and motivation from the participants to better meet your business goals. Leave with practices you can apply right away; a set of guiding principles; greater understanding of how to integrate both divergence and convergence into a meeting of any length; and increased self awareness. And we'll have FUN in the process! :-)

Info and Directions: http://www.capitolcreativitynetwork.com/

Our 2011 Creativity in Business Conference - October 23 in DC!

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! :-)

Foundational Creativity: New Creative Output Emerges from New Foundations

I am writing a book on Foundational Creativity - the creation of new, generative, fertile ground from which new levels of holistically generative creativity (creativity that is generative for the self, others and the whole) can emerge. Foundations inform the shape, texture and scope of our creative output. This is a diagram for both personal and social/societal foundations, as our individual foundations are inextricably linked with and informed by our social foundations.

The following is an initial sketch of a partial list of elements that will be included, i.e., consciousness, among other aspects, will be included but is not in this particular diagram. It is an iterative process :-) I am heading out today to give an interactive presentation on this at the Project Renaissance Learning and Creativity Doublefest. We'll use multiple dimensions of creative process to explore past/current and emerging/future informing foundations.

 

Creativity in Work Development Program ~ Winter 2010

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!

Use the Creative Resources within you to inform new Work Directions, Strategies, Innovations, Projects, Products or Services:

• Discover, design, and develop what's next in your work
• Cultivate your creativity and self-awareness
• Focus your creative intelligence for practical results
• Learn to use uncertainty as a productive business resource
• Develop a solid, structured framework of what you offer & your "signature"
• Create, innovate and implement with confidence
• Attract clients aligned with your vision and mission

An Integrative Program -  Practical, tangible outcomes and offerings will emerge from the inside-out over the course of 6 weeks. Your passion, skills, talents and experience will inform the goals and structures. This program contain s a balance of left and right brain activities, analysis and intuition, strategy and emergence, thinking and being, action and reflection, theory and application, lightness and depth, and improvisation and planning...with measurable results.

We'll use the Creative Emergence Process with a rich integration of improv, story, the arts, intuition techniques, reflection tools, whole-brain/accelerated learning methods, creative thinking, ritual, and analytical and evaluative approaches to help you create next-level business solutions. Along with your business changes, you change internally.

You Will Leave With:

• The development of new or the refinement of your existing offerings. If you work for an organization, new ways to apply creativity to your work.
• The next evolution of your work direction, project, work environment, approach, product, service, design, process, program, workshop or model.
• A self-designed framework, set of strategic goals and an action plan.
• The initial implementation of the action and marketing plans.

Program Includes:

• 4 full-days of workshops, each building on the one before
• One two-hour+ Creative Emergence coaching session PLUS one 45-minute post-workshop follow-up session ($400+ value)
• Creativity in Work workbook - activities and resources with your emergent ideas and learnings
• Emergence Box - relevant items to engage your process beyond the workshop setting
• Engaging and relevant practices to do in between workshops
• All art supplies and program materials
• Individualized make-up session for classes missed
• In depth attention due to small group size
• Quality food, gourmet coffee, teas and spring water
• Certificate of Completion

When: 4 Fridays over 6 weeks - 9:00am to 5:00pm: 2/12, 2/26, 3/12 and 3/26 in McLean, VA

For complete details and registration go to http://www.creativeemergence.com/id22.html

Improv Theater and Complex Adaptive Systems

I am in an improvisational theater performing group. We improvise full-length plays with nothing planned in advance. No structure. No outline. No character or plot development. Nothing, except for 2 locations we get from the audience at the beginning of the play. The play is then titled, "The Space Station and the Bathroom" or whatever locations we get from the audience. Two of us then run on stage and start interacting, and thus the play begins.

When the play goes well, the audience says, "That HAD to be scripted. At least some part of it had to be scripted. It looked too easy." It was easy. When the performance does not go so well, the audience says, "That looked hard." It was hard.

I became fascinated by what makes it work. What creates peak level creativity in our group? What allows a complex, coherent, sense-making structure to emerge from nothing but a simple location? What is the "magic formula" that allows a fully formed, organized play - with believable characters and plot - to emerge before the audience’s (and our own) eyes? And what gets in the way? Why does it work seamlessly sometimes and not so well other times? I became a serious student of improv theory - reading the seminal books in the field and observing the patterns in my group and other groups.

I soon recognized the connections between adhering to the principles of improvisational theater in a performance and being able to adapt, create and improvise effectively in the work place – and in any social system. The same principles that allow a performing group to improvise a 90-minute play out of nothing but a location are the same principles that allow groups, teams, and organizations to solve problems in new ways and reach peak levels of creativity and innovative thinking. The principles form the “container” that allows the group to self-organize to emerge what’s next.

Around that same time, I began exploring complexity sciences theory in creativity and couldn't help but recognize the stark similarities between improvisation and complex adaptive systems such as emergence, self-organization, interdependence, pattern making, increasing complexity, dense local connectivity, coherence emerging out of disorder. Both are open, inclusive, non-linear, dynamic systems that use interactive agents, feedback loops and multiple variables. Both require resilience, collaboration, structure and flow, spontaneity, and engaging the unknown. Both result in a surprising emergence.

In our troupe, we don’t go on stage with a pre-formed notion of our characters, plot, conflict, challenge or situation. We just let them emerge based on our interactions, actions and reactions. The "magic formula" is the adherence to the basic improv principles. When we adhere to the principles of improvisation, something emerges that is more intelligent and creative - and intelligently organized - than any one of us could have planned. As with any good emergence, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. By adhering to the principles, a play unfolds that is so original and unpredictable, that you have a sense of being entirely in flow - getting to fully experience the adventure as you create it.

The principles that allow this to happen are simple, yet profound. They seem easy, but in practice, they are almost the exactly opposite of the ways in which we navigate our everyday work lives. They take re-learning. I say that because we were born natural improvisers and then got "educated" and "civilized" out of the playful aspects of our own improvisational creativity.

The following are 7 basic improv principles – all of which I believe tie in to complexity theory. There are others, but I have found these to be essential:

1. Yes and. Fully accepting the reality that is presenting, and the adding a NEW piece of information - that is what allows it to be adaptive, move forward and stay generative. Each performer (agent) interacts with what is offered and offers a unique contribution.

2. Make everyone else look good. That means you do not have to be defending or justifying yourself or your position - others who will do that for you and you do that for others. Without the burden of defensiveness or competition, everyone is free to create. Complex characters can form that enable unpredictable complex actions and directions to emerge.

3. Be changed by what is said and what happens. At each moment, new information in an invitation for you to have a new reaction, or for your character to experience a new aspect of them. Change inspires new ideas, and that naturally unfolds what's next. You adapt as one structure dissipates and re-organizes into a new structure that expands, yet includes, what was before.

4. Co-create a shared "agenda." This principle involves the recognition that even the best-laid plans are abandoned in the moment, and to serve the reality of what is right there in front of you. You are co-creating the agenda in real-time. In order to keep the play going, you respond to the moment and an "agenda" co-emerges that is more inclusive than anything that could have been planned. It is not consensus, which reduces. It is co-creation, which expands.

5. Mistakes are invitations. In improv, mistakes are embraced – they are the stimulating anomalies that invite the performers into a new level of creativity. By using improv techniques such as justifying any mistake can be transformed into surprising plot point or dialogue that never would have happened in following a conventional pattern. In improv, justifying creates order out of chaos. Mistakes break patterns and allow new ones to emerge.

6. Keep the energy going. No matter what is given, or what happens, you accept it and keep the energy gong. Unlike in everyday life, where people stop to analyze, criticize or negate, in improv you keep moving. A mistake happens - let it go move on. The unexpected emerges - use it to move on. Someone forgot something important - justify it and move on. You’re lost or confused – make something up and trust the process. Just keep moving. The system is not static – it is alive and dynamic.

7. Serve the good of the whole. Always carry the question, "How can I best serve this situation?" and then you have a better sense of when to run in and when to stay back, when to take focus and when to give it, how to best support your fellow performers and how to best support the scene. By focusing away from how you will look into serving the larger good – the aliveness of the system - you have more creative impulses and resources available to you at any moment. And the choices you make are more in alignment with the higher levels of creative integration that form a coherent play.

So, what make it "look hard" when it is not working so well? Simple: any violation of the principles. If one of us tries to orchestrate, or worse impose, our own agenda or plot on the piece. If one of us tries to be the "star" and take too much focus. If even one of us is not present to what is unfolding, moment-by-moment. If one of us worries about the plot, and starts to figure out how to "save" it. If we expect that someone should respond in a certain way. In short, anything that gets us out of the moment and what is emerging - and into our controlling heads.

The rules are simple – the application can be challenging, requiring conscious effort. One of the paradoxes of improv is that you practice being spontaneous until it comes naturally. By staying present to each moment, getting out of thinking and planning and into being, you have a wellspring options and choices in each moment that you otherwise would miss. With positive intention, active engagement, presence and yes-anding, you can't do anything but be co-generative!

The truth is, in each performance we have some magic moments and some more effortful ones - some that work and others that fall flat. But by adhering to the improv principles we significantly increase the magic and decrease the efforting. A creative - and surprisingly logical - play can then emerge through that fresh and alive energy. We, and the audience, then get to experience the real-time excitement of riding the flow of a creative emergence. 



I first put my Improvisation and Complexity Matrix into action at the Plexus Institute DC Fractal a few years ago. Participants were led through a series of improv activities that we then tied in to complexity science principles and discussed how they played out in organizations and other complex adaptive systems. Everyone agreed that, although framed differently, the small number of laws that can generate complex systems are embedded in the small number of laws that can generate full-length improvised plays.

Improv takes you to the edge of chaos – the inflection point – filled with fertile creative potential. We are natural meaning makers, and left to our own devices, our brains naturally seek to evolve order, coherence and meaning. Once you allow yourself the freedom to explore and play; set the initial conditions; and then get out of the way, creativity can develop and unify all kinds of things that otherwise would seem impossible.

The principles of improvisation serve a much larger purpose than performance - they have the ability to create the life-giving container for cognitive, personal, organizational, social, political, and spiritual transformation. I see them as rules of engagement for a more peaceful, co-generative, co-creative, sustainable world. ~ By Michelle James

Michelle James, CEO of The Center for Creative Emergence, founded Quantum Leap Business Theater 10 years ago where she has lead improv-based programs for organizations such as Microsoft, The World Bank and Kaiser Permanente among others. She also offers public workshops such as Improv for Leaders, Creative Facilitation using Improv and Improvisational Thinking to name a few.

Pictures are from one of our performances - Precipice Improv

 

 

Our 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 [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! :-)

Whole-Brain Facilitation Workshop

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

The Holacracy Experience

The Center for Creative Emergence and Thoughtlead are co-sponsoring a 2-day workshop on a new paradigm approach to organizational development, creativity and change - Holacracy. The approach integrates both the inner dimensions of self and the outer dimensions of behavioral and systems change. It's coming to DC on October 4th and 5th, 9-5 both days. The workshop will be led by the founder of Holacracy, Brian Robertson.

What is Holacracy?

Holacracy is a complete system for organizational governance and management that honors conventional business fundamentals while integrating cutting-edge transformative practices. With its unique structure and processes, Holacracy integrates the collective wisdom of people throughout the organization, while highlighting the needs of the organization distinct from those of the individuals within. The result is greater agility, innovation, transparency, and health; liberating the organization to live up to its full potential.

About the Workshop

This workshop dives into the core principles, structure, and practices of Holacracy through interactive lecture and immersive simulations. Attendees will witness Holacracy in action and actively participate in Holacracy's key meetings and decision-making processes, and leave with a first-hand experience of Holacracy's leading-edge organizational design and practice.

To register click here.

For more on Holacracy, click here.

For more on founder, Brian Robertson, click here.

Improv for Leaders at the Capitol Creativity Network

I will be leading this month's program at the Capitol Creativity Network. If you will be around the Washington, DC area on August 13th, feel free to join us. Here is the write-up:

Improv for Leaders
Applying the Principles & Practices of Improvisational Theater in Work

Presented by Michelle James, CEO of The Center for Creative Emergence & Performer with Precipice Improv

Today's world requires leaders and entrepreneurs to work within ambiguity and uncertainty and still confidently move forward - just like improvisers. Effective leaders and improvisers both have to make spur of the moment decisions, synthesize information, incorporate new information, make others look good, innovate, make relevant connections and serve the good of the whole...often on the spot!

Improv-based learning helps people break patterns in order to respond in new ways. Improv takes us into the present moment where new possibilities open up. In this light-hearted, fun and energizing workshop, you will experience the principles and practices of improvisational theater to enhance your leadership performance by getting past the inner critic, risking in a safe space, and going from either/or to yes and thinking. No improv experience is necessary.  Improvisational skills help enhance core leadership competencies such as:

> Thinking on Your feet while under pressure
> Adapting as new information and situations emerge
> Resourcefulness - using the unexpected as opportunity
> Resilience - bouncing back quickly after "failures" or dead ends
> Ours thinking - team thinking in terms of WE

When: Wednesday, August 13 ~ 7:00-9:30pm
Where: Cleveland Park Club House ~ Washington, DC
Registration: $20 at the door

For directions and more details, go to www.capitolcreativitynetwork.com

An Integral Approach to Creativity

In you are in the DC area on Feb. 14th, join us at the Capitol Creativity Network event! Tom Goddard, PhD, JD and President of The Integral Company, will guide participants through an experiential tour of some of the key elements of Integral Theory with a specific emphasis on unveiling the "bigger canvas" that we can work on in any aspect of our lives, professional and personal. Participants will begin to apply Integral Theory to actual issues in their own lives to get a taste of the power of this expanded way of seeing the world - which includes previously unrecognized creative options and choices. Tom, a psychologist and lawyer, has been involved with Wilber's Integral Institute and Integral University since each institution was founded.

Visit www.capitolcreativitynetwork.com for details.

Mastering Brain States

If you are in the DC area on Wednesday, August 9, join us at the Capitol Creativity Network for:
 
Activate Your Creativity through Mastering Brain States 
Presented by Brian Morrissey, author of Ultimate Learning States and Brain States Mastery, and educator Linda Erdberg

The concepts behind Brain States Mastery were developed by Brian Morrissey after collecting and researching numerous samples of brain states via EEG (brain wave) technology. This data was assembled as individuals engaged in various activities, particularly in accelerated learning and memory. This knowledge will be presented in a practical process of self-discovery for enhancing creative performance.

http://capitolcreativitynetwork.com for details.

Practical Brilliance

If you will be in the Washington, DC area on Thursday, July 27th, join Dr. Win Wenger, founder of  Project Renaissance, and me for an introductory workshop on Creative Problem Solving and Breakthrough Thinking in everyday work and life. This is a unique opportunity to learn from one of the world's most prolific thinkers and published authors in the field of creativity and creative problem solving, Dr. Win Wenger, who wrote The Einstein Factor, 48 other books, and several best-selling audio courses with Learning Strategies and Nightingale-Conant.

The workshop integrates Dr. Wenger’s famous whole brain methods and teachings with story and improvisational techniques for a multi-dimensional experience. You'll learn cutting edge tools and techniques, then put them to work on real issues in real time - tools you can use for life. You will explore easy-to-learn, easy-to-use whole brain methods for accessing deeper levels of creativity, inventiveness and innovation; moving forward in any situation; and using more your natural creative abilities. 

Details and Registration

4 New Workshops

Happy Summer Solstice!  A time for new beginnings, I'm excited to share information about 4 new summer workshops and developmental programs we are doing here at The Center for Creative Emergence. It's called the Summer Sampler Series because each of these workshops is a full-day sample learning experience connected with a larger optional program to follow in the fall and winter. Each one is whole and complete on its own, and immediately applicable. Each comes with the option to sign up for one of the full-length Professional Development Public Programs that accompanies the workshop. And each one has a customizable corporate version to bring into business organizations.

This series is about pattern breaking - and creating new patterns that allow real change and new outcomes to occur. It's about going beyond conventional and habitual ways of leading, thinking and being to get in touch with deeper, richer aspects of yourself. It's for for those who genuinely are ready for something different - yet relevant, effective and practical - to use within your work. And it's about having a good time doing it!

Who should attend these workshops? Leaders, executives, directors, project managers, managers, entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, innovators, consultants, facilitators, coaches, connectors, business people, creatives, and anyone who wants to new approaches to navigating the new world of leadership, influence and invention.

I will be providing full write-ups in subsequent posts, but for now you can link to them on the web:

1. Improvisation for Leaders: Using the Practices of Improvisational Theater for Leadership Effectiveness. Presented by Michelle James, CEO of The Center for Creative Emergence and Quantum Leap Business Improv.
2. Practical Brilliance: Creative Problem Solving and Breakthrough Thinking in Everyday Work and Life. Co-created by Michelle James and Win Wenger, PhD, one of the world's most prolific thinkers and published authors in the field of creativity and creative problem solving, and founder of Project Renaissance.
3. Resonance: A New Power Tool for Navigating Leadership and Life. Co-created by Michelle James and Anita Pahtik Law, President of Dare-Dreamers, and founder of the Conscious Dialogue™ events.
4. Integral Leadership in an Emergent World: The Applications and Experience of Integral Theory with Creative Emergence. Co-created by Michelle James and Tom Goddard, JD, PhD, President of The Integral Company, and founding member of the Integral Institute.