Connection – Page 9 – The Consulting Artist

The Art and Soul of Work

I recently wrote about the fear of never feeling quite good enough, and of taking the plunge and pushing through that feeling. Yesterday I got an email telling me the video of my recent Workstock pecha kucha performance (which was what spurred me on to write that earlier post) is now ready. I thought I’d share it with you.

Delivering a pecha kucha is hard work, and despite going over this one many times beforehand, the live product is rough – and I think on this occasion the roughness, the rawness, adds something to the message. I hope you agree.

In case it helps – here are some of the notes I pulled together when ideas for the talk were forming:

Soul:

It’s about taking time to get to know one another better. Good work is not about people or work, it’s people and work. They’re inextricably linked. It’s as easy, and difficult as that.

Art:

We are all artists

We stop being artistic because we’re judged

How do we get over this feeling? Draw for the bin – not for the Royal Academy. Relax – sketch yourself into existence.

Creativity is not binary – adjust the dials to suit the prevailing culture – play with it, tease it out – don’t try to force it.

Mixed feelings – there’s hardly ever a right or wrong answer, it’s usually right and wrong – discussing uncertainty and accepting it’s part of the mix is really important.

Good work is iterative – it’s rarely right first time. Show and share your iterations with people – get feedback, share your way to the finished product.

Be adaptable – like Henri Matisse was with his cutouts. What happens when we play with the running order – add things – remove things. What is on the critical path and what isn’t?

Most work is coercive, it is done to you. The best work is coactive and cocreative, it is done with, for and by you. It is totally human to want, need and expect that our views be taken into consideration and yet we defy these wants, needs and expectations at almost every step in our working lives. Never do anything about me, without me. We need to listen more with the intent to understand, not the intent to reply.

Huge thanks to Neil Usher for coordinating Workstock and for giving me and others space to play. And thanks to Maggie, Nigel and everyone at Workplace Trends for letting us all loose at their event!

This Little Thing Inside

Everyone’s afraid. Not everyone lets it stop them.

The best business people, artists, etc., live in that uncomfortable space of never feeling quite good enough.

They know that the biggest rewards lie in the things that terrify us.

Everyone’s afraid. Not everyone lets it stop them.

The above picture and words appear courtesy of the lovely people at gapingvoid. Thanks for the permission to reproduce them here.

One Day At A Conference…

I spent a day last week in some lovely company at Workplace Trends 2014. In the middle of the conference – the first ever Workstock popped up. Workstock 2014 was a series of pecha kucha stories – each only just over 6 minutes long, bound together by a series of even shorter tales, written by someone thousands of miles from the event, who had never met any of the speakers. Confused? I don’t blame you – so maybe hop over to Neil Usher’s blog or Richard Byatt’s and get a feel for what when on at the event.

Creativity Constrained

I’m a fan of the pecha kucha format – 20 slides, each on the screen for 20 seconds – 6 minutes and 40 seconds to tell your story. Constrained by the timescale, your creativity is driven to the fore. The format doesn’t appreciate umming and aahing, you need to be on your game, and you have to be prepared. PK is just not a format that tolerates winging it. And it’s hell on your nerves.

Nearly my turn. I stood at the side of the stage, nervously waiting as my short story was read out loud. Words I’d not heard before now – but somehow strangely familiar. Truthfully I struggled to take them all in as my heart pumped, blood thumped, nerves jumped. It’s only natural to be a little scared. This little thing inside.

I was nervous for three reasons. One – the PK players that went before me were excellent. Despite the constraining format everyone had breathed their own life into their tale. Two – I could sense that everyone in this group of 11 storytellers was on edge, I think we were subconsciously fuelling each other. Three – I was planning to do something for the first time – a PK mix of slides, live music and live drawing. Why make life difficult when you can make it even harder?

Feel The Fear – And Do It Anyway

Time to go. I can’t quite recall what happened next – I just fell into the performance and blended a rehearsed sequence of thoughts with adrenaline, and a wonderful sense of support from the people in the room.

photo c/o Rose Haslem

I rattled, buzzed and hummed, and I was done. My final words as I left the stage – ‘Thank f*ck that’s over’. This little thing inside – subsided again. As I sat down – a lovely lady handed me a piece of paper:

This sheet of A4 instantly and forever became the best appraisal I’ve ever had. Timely, encouraging and to the point. Thank you. I enjoyed as much of the rest of Workstock as my gratefully slowing heart would allow me, and the day went on. We were all filmed so I look forward to reliving the whole thing again soon in a slightly more relaxed state.

Since Workstock I have been bowled over by the reaction to it, both as a complete performance,

and to my contribution.

Speak To My Soul

Currently I am struggling, at times I find it hard to process why my work, particularly the work I’ve done in recent months, has provoked such strong reactions in the people around me. I am both excited and scared by what is going on. This little thing inside.

Yin/Yang/Belief/Doubt/Nerves/Excitement.

A bit like how the hotel staff gently slide the express checkout envelope under your room door, its arrival barely detected, so I’ve gently snuck this little thing inside into a few recent conversations. And it turns out that most people I speak with about this feel similarly, to a lesser or greater extent.

Yin/Yang/Belief/Doubt/Nerves/Excitement

Does this make you or me me feel any better? I’m not sure – I suppose a doubt shared is a doubt halved. It certainly won’t make the little thing inside go away, which on reflection is a good thing. As I am finding out – when we feel the fear, and do it anyway, we are making a difference.

The best business people, artists, etc., live in that uncomfortable space of never feeling quite good enough.

They know that the biggest rewards lie in the things that terrify us.

Everyone’s afraid. Not everyone lets it stop them.

Not good enough. Says who?

A Collection of Connections

I was with Robert Ordever last week and he kindly gave me a badge, that square one at the top and centre of the picture, with the needle pointing to maximum volume. When he gave it to me, Robert said ‘here’s another one for your collection’, having previously given me the Craven Cottage badge you can see in the picture towards the right hand side. This got me thinking…

We have collections of connections everywhere. Contacts on your phone, your LinkedIn network, Twitter followers and Facebook friends are just a few examples. In addition, I also have this slightly less usual collection. As I look at it – I am reminded of friends who I have known for decades. I’m reminded of my lovely family too, and many more people besides. Here are just a few:

The pie badge reminds me of Katie McNab, Gary Franklin, Katharine Robinson and many more besides.

The Dofus badge is one of a two badge set. It reminds me of Heather Bussing – I sent her the other badge a little while back.

There’s a badge from an exhibition of comics which I visited at the British Library with Neil Usher, Flipchart Rick and Mervyn Dinnen.

I picked up the thanks badge at a meeting with Bernie Mitchell in a bicycle shop of all places, the Hell Yeah badge came from the Meaning Conference (met too many people to list them all here), and Simon Heath features twice – the serial incompetence badge and the repeat offender badge.

OK – so this collection of connections is not going to threaten LinkedIn, it’s not some digital database I can pivot and play with to see who knows who. But it is a lovely reminder that I know a lot of cool people, and that works well for me.