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art starters |
ART STARTERS (HR Monthly )
EXPOSURE TO THE CREATIVE ARTS CAN HELP BUSINESS PEOPLE BE MORE CREATIVE AT WORK.
By Sally Arnold
I first became aware of the power of art-world creativity to inspire business people when I was managing corporate development for The Australian Ballet. Having been immersed in a creative environment for a couple of hours, sponsors would walk away from rehearsals and perfomances with added insight into the nature of their problems and ways to solve them. Clearly, the arts could inspire people to work 'outside the square'. Harvard University's School of Business Management has been teaching and exploring the power of creativity in business for 20 years. As part of the cirriculum in many MBA programs, students are now offered modules that promote the role of creativity and innovation as a partner to their business skills.
Creativity in the workplace can be likened to a symphony orchestra practicing and perfoming (I was a professional flautist many years ago). A businessperson leaves university with a degree representing the knowledge required to go into a specific career or profession. So does a musician. What makes a musician or orchestra memorable is the creative or inner depth they bring to their music, and its basically the same in business. When creativity flourishes in an organisation, people rise to a new level and help to create excellence, innovation, inspiration, enthusiasm and passion, taking the company to a whole new level. This can be quantified through staff retention, morale, competitive advantage, greater productivity and so on.
Recognising creativity, the realisation of ideas, drives growth in an organisation. it may take the form of better ways to manage a project or utilising skills that have been overlooked. Or it can be seen in more concrete forms - even the addition of an espresso machine and dishwasher to the staff kitchen, or a well decorated lunchroom, which add to the employee's sense of worth.
In my work with organisations, I use specific classical music as a major entry point into creative thinking. Through music, you can quickly access the right side of the brain and get each person in touch with their creative flow. The music helps to unblock thoughts that are preventing solutions and adds other perspectives.
The music is combined with techniques and excercises to open up groups or individuals to looking at situations with new eyes. People are given permission to contribute their valuable knowledge, even if they are introverted and find it difficult to voice their thoughts. Different personality types work and communicate in a more understanding way.
The program has four parts: the situation or problem is clarified; they look at how things would be if they solved it; they consider what is stopping them from resolving the situation; they form a plan or blueprint with the steps needed for the solution to happen.
At each stage they listen to music and explore the situation through guided visualisation. At the end of the pieces they write down their particular feelings and ideas, and put together a visual representation in collage form.
The four stages could be likened to the movements in a musical symphony. The first movement gives an outline of the composer's idea, and the other movements flow along, incorporating material from the first movement. Sometimes there is a change of key or tonality, or some sounds that don't seem to fit. But by the end and the fourth movement, the piece comes to a satisfying close.
More than 60 per cent of the business people who attend our sessions were, as children, involved in the creative arts - learning a musical instrument, dancing, painting, theatre group, etc. Sessions like these can reignite the creative accomplishments of people's pasts so they leave with a desire to reconnect with creativity in their personal and business lives.
It is easy to test the creative power of music for yourself. When you come home from work, perhaps with a difficult problem or two on your mind, sit down and listen to a piece of music you really enjoy. Let yourself go into it. You will become more relaxed and your mood will shift, usually in an uplifting and inspiring way. Its an easy habit to get into.
Create success
HOW TO CREATE A VISION FOR SUCCESS IN YOUR PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL LIFE.
WHICH AREAS OF YOUR LIFE DO YOU WANT TO CHANGE
• DO YOU WANT TO DEVELOP YOUR BUSINESS FURTHER
• DO YOU WANT TO EXPAND YOUR BUSINESS AND LACK THE SUPPORT AND COURAGE TO DO THIS
• DO YOU WANT TO INTRODUCE NEW PRODUCTS AND WAYS OF WORKING INTO YOUR BUSINESS
• DO YOU WANT TO CHANGE CAREER
• DO YOU WANT A MORE FULFILLING CAREER PATH AND WHAT HAS STOPPED YOU FROM THIS
• DO YOU WANT TO LOOK BACK IN 5 YEARS TIME AND SAY WHY DID I NOT MAKE THE CHANGES IN MY LIFE NOW
SO what does visioning for success look like? I want you to imagine as your read this article how you can change your professional and personal life? So start to bring to life visionary people who have made a significant impact on the world. These people have transformed their life through “out of the square” thinking. And so can you once you learn how to tap into the treasure chest of inner wisdom and knowledge that you have sitting inside of you.
VISIONARIES TO LEARN FROM
Here are some examples of visionaries. Oprah Winfrey, who came from an abusive impoverished background to be an extraordinary role model for women of all ages and backgrounds globally.
Anita Roderick with the Body Shop, she began with making her products at home and look at the size of her empire now.
In the area of products, would we be without mobile phones, roll on deodorant (the action came from the ball point pen), Skype, wheels on suitcases (many are roller blade wheels) and so on. NOW: -
• Think of at least 10 transformative products or ways of being that save us so much time and benefit you in your business or way of life. This is the result of creative thinking or thinking outside of the square.
INTRODUCTION TO VISIONING
Arts performers and Olympic athletes use this work to keep them ahead of the competition, to win gold medals and create performances of such exquisite beauty and uniqueness that keep them ahead of their competition. In this introduction to my creative coaching methods I am going to explain ways to ignite your vision for success. Then you will be able to solve problems in fast and effective ways. And be able to unlock the door to a treasure trove of riches sitting inside you. Which will add an untapped resource many business people do not use. By the end of this article you will have basic tools and insights to begin bringing passion and success into your life.
“Visionary people face the same problems everyone else faces; but rather than get paralysed by their problems visionaries immediately commit themselves to finding a solution”.
DO YOU KNOW THAT?
“YOU CAN HAVE THE BEST PRODUCT, AND UNLESS YOU HAVE A CLEAR VISION AND ARE PREPARED TO PUT THE HARD WORK IN YOU WILL HAVE DIFFICULTY ACHIEVING YOUR GOALS”.
VISIONING
Is like going from dial up to Broadband with your Internet connection. Creativity opens you up to the opportunities and success in your business and personal life with the speed of broadband connection. And one of the immediate results is that you then start to think outside of the square.
STEP-BY-STEP INTRODUCTION TO VISIONING
I introduce my coaching clients to visioning through this exercise: -
Imagine that you have on a pair of 3D glasses on and are looking at a familiar picture book or painting. Now start to let those glasses open you up to the new world that is emerging from the new vision you have from the glasses. What do you notice?
Is there a greater depth to the picture?
Are there parts of the picture you have never seen before?
Does the picture come alive even more?
Do you feel that you are inside this picture, rather than looking at it in a flat dimension?
Are the colours different?
Does this picture look quite different and draw you into the painting more?
SO TAKING THIS INSIGHT MOVE AHEAD TO THE NEXT STAGE
Each and every time I walk a client or groups through the 3D imaging a whole process of transformation is discovered. Which will lead to the following possibilities: -
• You take out moded thinking and come up with innovative ideas.
• Your inner wisdom through visioning comes into consciousness to give you creative solutions.
• Visioning paints pictures of solutions brings forward images that help you to design methods of working and achieving remarkable goals and success
• Many times in the visioning process images can seem rather non-connected,
However from chaos come stillness, creation and solutions. This can be like a team of people all brainstorming to get a solution to a situation. In this process people toss ideas into the circle, even though these ideas may seem not connected, within a space of time some sort of order happens to the ideas, to eventually form a solution to the situation. Order eventually comes from chaos. Without chaos there would not be new ideas, creativity and ways of solving problems, solutions looking at life differently.
• “One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star”. Friedrich Nietzsche
SHORT VISIONING EXERCISE Here is a short visioning exercise for you to do now. This is just the first part of my 4 part creative visioning coaching program. “I want you to close your eyes and relax into your body. As you go into this place inside I want you to vision a picture of yourself at this stage of your life. How does it feel? Imagine that you are an artist painting a picture of yourself at this stage of your life. This becomes the foundation for the visioning exercise. Now I want you to go from this place where you are, and imagine that you can have whatever you want in your career and personal life, this is totally possible. So what picture is emerging? Start to fill out the details, where are you, what are you doing, how does this place feel, who is around you. Just pay attention to this place or situation that is emerging from within you. And now that you are seeing your potential for success, clarity to a situation and potential I want you to write about it. By doing this you make the vision conscious. And once you have written about the potential of your life from the introductory visioning exercise, I want you to understand that this image, picture, or situation is totally possible as the thought and ideas came from inside yourself and not from anyone else. You are capable of having this extraordinary life”. (The 4 part visioning method is used by, athletes at the Institutes of sport and all my coaching clients).
WHERE TO FROM HERE, GOAL SETTING
You have had a mini version of creative visioning taking you into the broadband age. So start to think about how you want to keep your business ahead of the competition and have more success in your life, live your life to its full potential. I want you to be totally aware that you have the potential inside of yourself to open that treasure trove of creative and insightful resources that sits within you. By simply accessing this part of yourself regularly you will definitely move ahead of your competitors and also find inventive and creative ways to develop your business and products further than you imagined.
Now you need to expand on the visioning exercise you need to put in place goals to help you achieve this change in your life. Remember that the goals must be achievable, and not just fanciful thoughts. I suggest that you have a date for when you want to achieve a certain result from the visioning. And then you chunk the goal down into days, weeks, and months. Writing down what you have to achieve each day, week and month to take you forward. By doing this you are focussing on your goals and have a better chance of achieving a great result. Look at this stage as putting a blueprint or a plan together to achieve a result. Also this method will hold you accountable. A way to develop the power of this exercise is to team up with another person. Then you can discuss your vision and what you want to achieve and the steps that you are going to take to have success. You will be able to hold each other accountable for goals and also support and challenge each other towards a wonderful result.
I suggest that you use this introduction to visioning for a wide variety of situations in your life. Career and personal, and remember that you do have the wisdom and answers within yourself. This introduction to my coaching program will open you up to the hidden potential that sits within you. “Try it, give yourself permission to live the life you are meant to live”.
SALLY ARNOLD
Director, Corporate Creative Directions
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