Much of my work at the moment involves working with small groups to explore new possibilities for the organisation. These are on a range of topics including: saving money, income generation and improved team working. As a facilitator it’s my role to make the sessions interactive, thought provoking, expansive, engaging and creative. I also have to deliver tangible outcomes- new innovative ideas to the challenges posed.
I would be lying if I said this work was easy, but lucky for me I like a challenge. My mind likes the questions that these situations pose and enjoys dreaming up new ways to help people think differently.
Yesterday after a planning session for my own business an idea popped into my head that I used today. This is often how it is for me. My subconscious mind does a lot of my work for me- all I have to do is task it with a question. It works away without any effort from me and delivers a solution sometimes in a few hours but usually days.
I do not like to repeat what I do, so generating ideas and new ways of working are important for me. It also means that I am trying new things that have not been tested. When I first started in the training field I used other people’s methods from training workbooks- now I develop my own.
Yesterday’s idea was: 3 sheets of paper, 3 colours of paint, 3 brushes: ask the group to create a picture of collaboration.
Someone asked me this morning ‘How will you know it will work?’ to which I replied ‘I don’t know what the outcome will be, but I know it will work.’ How do I know? Ultimately I trust in the creative process, both my process of devising the activity and the way creativity works when allowed to roam free and wander into board rooms.
I knew some learning would come from this exercise and indeed it did. The outcome was beautifully unexpected and revealed much about the current state of play on this particular subject in an incredibly short space of time- more than any discussion could.
They say a picture paints a thousand words but I find the process of painting tells you a lot more.
One of the things I love about my work is the element of the unexpected, the experimentation that facilitation allows and the results that can come from it. I appreciate that experience is a necessary factor in all of this- but once you have that there is so much fun to be had designing and creating….
I am also very lucky to be able to work with people who like to play in this way and trust me and the creative process I bring.
We will use this picture in later sessions perhaps add the stairway and some words…