So to start the discussion on the process of project first we need to do something. We need to know how are we going to develop our Ideas about the project and how to structure those ideas with the help of creativity and collaboration with in team members.
Therefore my Intentions for today’s discussion are:
- To explore and develop skills to develop creative teamwork and structured idea development.
- By experimenting with practice, and allowing time for reflection.
For the first part we will go through with some discussion on the topic and for the second part you are going to work on your first project and during the project in the end of each day you will do the reflection.
In the end you will be able to have Insights about how you can develop your capacity as a creative team player and leader.
This post therefore I have divided into several steps. Some steps I will do it here with you and some you will do on your own and in the end by following the instructions you can share your results with me in the comment section below.
Step 1
- Creativity and idea generation
- Idea generation workshop
Step 2
- Reflection
- Come up with your own methods
- Facilitate each other
- Idea Evaluation
Step 3
- Reflection
- Create one concept
- Wrap-up
Your role in all this is You will develop ideas for a challenge brief; try out different creative tools; and take part in reflection sessions.
There are some quotes, words by wise that I want to share with you in order for you to understand all this and prepare you for the practice project. These are very common sayings and we use them all the time. Like
The harder you throw the ball into the ground, the higher it will bounce.
In this context it means that the more you think the more you will get creative. Similarly another point that I want you to remember is:
Everything you want is
just outside your comfort zone!
Process Facilitation is all about bringing change and when we talk about Change we mean you are going to do that you haven’t tried before and this is a Change and this is outside your comfort zone. People tend to get scared from this Change and therefore they don’t try hard and ball just don’t bounce back hard enough. With me you are going to be able to turn all this around and you are going to Love Change.
Creativity and Organizations
You will probably be working in any company or organization so this will help you understand the working environment. You will know what is expected from you? And you will be able to do it better. Lets see what is creativity has to do in the organizations.
I will try to explain this with the help of some examples and quotes. I just want to point out that for some quotes I know who said them and for some quotes I have no idea so If you know the name of a person who said any of the quotes that I am sharing here with you guys please do let me know.
I have an example of a company and a person to share in order to explain why Creativity is important in an organizations or for the people. Every organization or person starts the journey and then grows gradually and at one certain point in the life the journey reaches at its peak and then we all know the decline starts. The very famous example is of KODAK company. It is no more. Why is that? What happened to this company? In my opinion when they reached at their peak they didn’t care about new things happening all around them and this makes them disappear in little over 100 years. For crying out loud they made The Camera and now…
Kodak: Birth till Death
Now lets see an example of an artist who is keeping herself alive for such a long time. I think she figured out that once you reach at a certain level you have to be creative to move up and continue surviving. This is creativity and here is an image explaining a graph.
Madonna: The Surviving Artist
So guys if you want your company to survive then you need to be creative and Change when its needed like Madonna or any other company you might know.
In this world there is Chaos and there is Order. Creativity lies where Order meets Chaos. With the help of Reflection and Feedback you can find these two things in your organization or life and then you will be able to find creativity very easily.
Creativity: Order and Chaos
What is Creativity and what does it do?
As I said earlier that I will share some quotes and statements so here they are explaining Creativity.
Imagination is one way to be more creative. The other day I was attended this class and he was talking about how to remember something by heart and one way was to close your eyes and imagine. Like for example you are trying to learn a poem and it is hard to learn and remember than close your eyes and imagine the poem or a line written on the sky and try to see it. I have a picture of Einstein and this following quote. If it is from him than its awesome and I am quoting a right person or else do let me know who said this:
Imagination is more important than knowledge.
Knowledge is limited.Imagination encircles the world
So the first thing to be creative is to be imaginative.
The next part of creativity is Serendipity.
look for something, find something else, and realize that what you’ve found is more suited to your needs, than what you thought you were looking.
Lawrence Block
I come across this all the time. How many of you can relate to this? It is always fascinating when this happens to us. Isn’t it?
Next we should be ready to do Mistakes. I never learn something new until I have made a mistake during the process.
If you don’t dare to make misteakes you will never come up with something new.
Here is one that I like the most
We have stigmatized making mistakes through education, and grown out of creativity.
Don’t agree with me? Watch this video and you will.
Ken Robinson
Okay after this now you are refreshed with this amazing talk lets see two more ways to be creative.
First is crisis situation. Imagine a crisis at work and all of you are sitting together and thinking and suddenly someone comes up with a great plan. This is also a creative process.
Many of the most striking re-inventions have been born in times of crisis
unknown
Give me the examples from your own experiences and make me happy. 🙂
Last but not least is about going out of your comfort zone. I think I have discussed about it in my previous posts and if not, than here it is again. You cannot learn unless you let go of your comfortable environment. It is as simple as it can be. If you want to achieve something new or you want to be crative than look around you and if you find yourself in a same environment where you always works and you are stuck and not coming up with new ideas or solutions than you need to change your environment or situation. This way you are out of your comfort zone or zone of your peers where you feel comfortable. I think you get it. 🙂
You cannot discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore.
Unknown
To sum up about creativity I can say that: THINK BIG, SET HIGH GOALS, MAKE MISTEAKS!!!
Now let us discuss about Ideas and why some times your ideas gets destroyed during the process.
There are always people in the group who know it all and they always try to do what they like the most and what they think is right and other members like you gets no chance to say or add your idea in a discussion.
Good ideas do not just drift away. They are slaughtered by stormy hordes of analytically thinking people.
Unknown
I am going to tell you some situations where this happens. You can solve them by talking about it in a group and coming out of your comfort zone and standing by your ideas once you say them.
- Yes, but…
- It already exists! We don’t have time…
- It’s not possible…
- If your idea is that good, how come nobody thought of it before?
- We need to do more research…
- The management won’t agree…
- It’s probably a good idea, but it wont work! That’s too big a change…
- We don’t want to make mistakes…
- That’s not logical…
- Let me just play the devils advocate here…
- Let’s be realistic…
- Our customers won’t like that…
- NO! It already exists…
- It’s not my responsibility…
- It will never work…
You need to do the following during these situations. You can not keep ideas only to you, Remeber
- Don’t keep them inside you
- The best ideas can’t be traced back to one person
- No ideas are silly or too wild!
- Kill your dearlings!
I have experienced all these above points. So if you remember these points you are good to go and are ready for the next task. which is to work in a group on a small project and come up with a solution to a problem. Now these problems are real and world is working on it. Solutions are being presented to these problems. I will tell you where to find them or similar problem to solve. This is just a basic exercise and it will help you integrate, reflection, feedback, group dynamics, leadership roles and rest of the things we have discussed since beginning. So this is it. I have prepared you for this. Now you are ready to work in a group. You are going to remember all the learning since beginning and you are going to implement them on this project. So take a deep breath and go out for a fresh air and come back in 5 minutes with a focus on the next task and ready to leave your comfort zones.
Here is a small tip/reminder, always have a break after 45 minutes of any thing. Our brain is like a highway system and on highways there are always rest areas. Keeping this in mind lets move forward.
Structured Idea Development
I will go in more detail in a separate post but here I would like you to look at this diagram and see the stages in it. Any project has a start middle an end. So here I am going to give you some tasks which you are going to do in small groups. You just need to follow the diagram and structure in it and finish the task. Also I would like you to remember, Reflection, Feedback, Group stages and implement them here. This is your test, your practice and this is why you are here. So give me your 100% and make me proud.
structured Idea Development
And those of you who are new and haven’t had a time yet to read from the beginning than here are some tips/rules that you can remember and do the task with the rest of the group. I would strongly recommend to go back and start from the first post. It is a hell of an awesome journey. so the rules are:
RULES
- Go for quantity
- Postpone judgement
- Encourage wild ideas
- Build on the ideas of others
- Stay focused on the topic
- One conversation at a time
- Write everything down
- Be visual
It is that simple and I will not waste any more of your time and we just begin our challenge tasks.
ARE YOU READY!!!
Following are three challenges and I would like to pick the one you like and start working on it.
- How might we restore vibrancy in cities and regions facing economic decline?
- How might we support web entrepreneurs in launching and growing sustainable global businesses?
- How might we better connect food production and consumption?
Okay folks here you have it. It is up to you to finish this task. You can finish it in one day, in one week or in Three days time. It is all up to you. I only want you to work together. As a Facilitator I want you to remember to keep an eye on the process as for us process is more important during the project. We look at the path through the whole project. We ask questions and we bring group members together. We look an eye on the leadership roles and we look for group stages. We ask questions. We set goals at the start along with evaluations and than we follow it till the end. So while the group is working on the project you as a Facilitator is working on the process of the project. And this small task/challenge will give you an experience that will help you in your future tasks.
This is it for this post and I would like to hear from you and your comments and results. You can post them in a comment section below or send me by using contact form. Until the next time.
Take care and Reflect!
//Imran