The Upside and Downside of Crowds

I recently attended my first big football match.  Team GB versus Republic of Korea at the Millennium Stadium Cardiff.

What struck me, as I reflected afterwards on my experience, was how powerful crowds are.

We keep hearing about how the Team GB athletes are being lifted and supported by the crowds that are filling the various Olympic venues.  However, what I experienced made me realise that there is also a downside to crowds.

As a facilitator of group creativity, I try to ensure that individual voices are heard.  My job is to help create a climate in which people feel able to express their opinion or to share their idea, and I facilitate a process that allows this to happen.  Without a facilitator, a meeting or workshop can easily hide or crush individuals and 'groupthink' can take over.

At the football match, I found myself chanting along with others, joining in the Mexican wave and finding fault with the players and their performance.  It seemed to be what was expected.  I went along with it.  We lost on penalties, and there was a collective, disappointed groan.

On the way home, my 9 year old son looked me in the eye and said, 'Who cares who won?  It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to see Team GB in the Olympics in Great Britain.'  The lone voice of truth and reason. 

The Arts - Usefully Disturbing?

 

Today, I heard someone describe the arts as 'usefully disturbing' and 'intriguing' (that's Radio 4 for you!). It led me to reflect on the connection with the processes involved in creativity, innovation and change. 

When working with groups who have problems to solve or changes to make, it can be beneficial to encourage people to ditch the familiar and routine.  Being in a new physical or mental space can help people to think and behave differently. 

My previous blog post was about taking a trip to an art gallery or museum to pause, think and reflect.  Other useful exercises involve pictures, music, objects, stories or improv which can all help people to see familiar situations from fresh perspectives.  'Excursions' or metaphor and analogy allow us to explore and discover and to return with something useful to apply to the task in hand.

So, if the arts are 'usefully disturbing', we should introduce them more often within business to help find fresh perspectives to help solve problems, generate ideas and bring about change.

Have the arts helped you with business issues?

Creative Spaces

(Sarah Greenwood's desk - picture taken at the University of the Arts, London.  Sarah was Production Designer on the Sherlock Holmes film.)

 
I've been reflecting on the last couple of years and my journey through the MICL.  I've come to realise that the space in which I work has quite an impact on my creativity and productiveness.  This in turn has an effect on how I feel.

Whilst tussling with essays, reading academic books and organising my thoughts, I've moved around the house.  I may start off in my home office, move through to the kitchen table and end up in the lounge on a comfy sofa.  At first, I discipline myself with structure, then I make a coffee and create, then I kick back and review what I've written with a cup of tea.  Each seems to take place in a different space.

The climate around these spaces is interesting too.  People, noise, the weather outside and the decor and furnishings in the room all impact on my work.

I've also come to realise that I can't focus in a mess!  Tidying up the workspace prior to starting is crucial.

Here are a few workspaces to look at.  What space suits you?

Reflections on Reflection

 

I was asked recently to speak to Business Studies undergrads at Cass Business School on the topic of Reflective Practice.  Pulling strands together from my current academic endeavours, my career to-date and my busy family life, I realised just how important it is to being a fully rounded human being!  How I wish someone had introduced me to Reflective Practive as an undergraduate or even earlier in my education.  It seems to me to be a life skill we should all learn early so that it becomes second nature.

Being able to look back at an incident to examine what went well and what didn't is so important in many ways.  Recognising feelings, behaviour patterns and mental models is relevant to relationships, team working, leadership, creativity, innovation, self-awareness, confidence, motivation...

Why is it then, that very few organisations seem to encourage it?  Reflection requires time, space and a desire to discover how things really are.  Have I just answered my own question?!