In April 2015 I received a lovely note from my friend David Zinger, asking if I would like to make a contribution to a forthcoming book, titled People Artists. With a title like that – how could I refuse? David asked me a handful of questions which I answered as follows:
How would you define a People Artist at Work in your own words?
I believe we are all born artists, so we all have the potential for people artistry. Here are a few things I practice which can help define a people artist and ensure your artistic flame can flourish.
Being open to possibilities
Accepting your own vulnerability
Showing your work
What makes you or the person you are thinking of a People Artist?
Developing a habit of awareness and presence helps make someone a people artist. A willingness to suspend judgement when new ideas are forming helps too, as does being kind. Never underestimate the artistic power of simple things.
Can you offer one or two specific examples of where and how People Artistry was demonstrated?
Follow this link. It takes you to a series of images cocreated by learning and development professionals invited to think about the future for their profession. For me – this collection represents a facet of people artistry.
What do you see as the results of the demonstration of People Artistry?
When I see people artistry at work I see smiles, I see people getting to know one another better, I see people supporting and encouraging one another and making work better, together. I see people…simply being people.
Is there anything you would like to add about the topic?
People artistry is partly about encouraging creativity, and creativity isn’t something you just switch on. It ebbs and flows according to the environment and attitude around you. I like to invite people to consider this question. What levers and dials do you need to be aware of and be able to adjust, to help bring out creativity and people artistry in yourself and those around you?
I sent my response to David and got on with my life. Yesterday morning there was a knock at the door and a large parcel was delivered. I had no idea what I was signing for…
Inside the package is a signed copy of the new book, and a wonderful signed, framed print of the painting used for the book cover. People Artists is a beautiful collection of thoughts, feelings and ideas about how to make work better, twinned with a series of images painted by Peter W Hart.
People Artists will be available for sale very soon and I’ll update this post with more information, and share details of how to buy it on Facebook, Twitter et al. For now, thank you David and Peter for putting an excellent book together and for such a lovely way to appreciate the contributors.
Belief: I’m fascinated by our ability to talk ourselves into and out of stuff. We all know from experience that finding the courage to have a go at something different can be tough, and we see good things happening to others and without even trying ourselves, we believe ‘that will never happen to me’.
I’m no different to anyone else in this respect, so when in conversation with a friend earlier this year about how to continue my development of Art for Work’s Sake, initially I failed to take the idea of seeking some formal recognition for the work seriously. ‘Why don’t you submit your work to the 2016 Learning Awards?’ In the moments after the suggestion was made, I came up with a bundle of perfectly convincing reasons why this should not happen. ‘I’m not good enough’, ‘It’s not ready yet’, are just two of the things I often hear from others when first we explore the chance to think, feel and do our work differently, and there I sat offering up the same excuses to myself.
I reflected, and decided I would get over myself and develop this idea. In the coming weeks I drafted and redrafted an awards submission. It was a painful process, trying to distill over four years work into a few hundred words which simultaneously told the story of the journey and met the award criteria. I nearly gave up several times: ‘I’m not good enough’, ‘It’s not ready yet’. I persisted, and with some excellent contributions and support from Carole, particularly in the reviewing and editing stages, a piece of work emerged that felt….good enough. I submitted the entry and waited. And waited. There were so many entries that the initial judging assessment window was extended, and without any good reason, I convinced myself this announcement delay did not bode well for me.
I put out a request for some good vibes last week, and several people kindly responded. Thefinalists were confirmed last Friday, October 23rd, my late Father’s birthday. Art for Work’s Sake has been shortlisted in the Innovation in Learning category. Perfect timing. #FistBump #HighFives #ThankYou. A brief pause to enjoy the moment, then onwards and upwards, I’ve much work to do.
Belief: noun. What you get when you combine persistence, resilience and encouragement. Belief can appear fragile, easily broken, and as such doesn’t get taken out of its box and played with very often. Paradoxically, it turns out that the more you play with it, the more resilient it gets. Learning all the time.
Creativity: noun. An essential ingredient for a useful and enjoyable life. The term is often used by businesses who crave its benefits, turn it into a buzzword, and then unwittingly crush the life out of it.
One of the recurring themes that comes up time and time again in conversations I have with people at work, at conferences, and online is, “How can we be more creative in our work?” The ability to solve problems, and add value through new ways of working is always in demand, yet converting that demand into results can be tough. This is perhaps understandable when you consider that when researching shame and vulnerability, Dr Brene Brown and her team interviewed 13,000 people, over 11,000 of whom can recall a time in school that was so shaming it forever changed how they thought of themselves as learners – 50% of those recollections related to art and creativity.
WHY ISN’T CREATIVITY MORE COMMON AT WORK?
When Joe Gerstandt and I facilitated a workshop on creativity for over 100 HR professionals at Illinois SHRM in 2014, the audience agreed that more creativity at work and creativity in HR was needed. When we asked the audience why this wasn’t currently happening, here’s what they told us:
We’re too busy.
It’s too risky.
We’re not encouraged.
We work in a coercive, conformist culture.
There’s a gap between what we say and what we do.
Creativity is perceived to be inefficient.
FOUR STEPS TO OVERCOMING FEAR OF CREATIVITY
In addition to being a facilitator and HR consultant, I’m also an artist, and as I continue to develop all aspects of my work, I’ve discovered lot of crossovers between my work as a consultant and my work as an artist. Here are a few practical steps to overcome the doubts and uncertainties around creativity expressed by HR professionals, and get more comfortable with understanding and applying the creative process.
#1 – Overcome Fear
When beginning to apply the creative process to your work, start small, play around with something you can afford to get wrong. This will help overcome that feeling of ‘too risky’ that Joe and I heard about while working in Illinois.
When I consider overcoming fear from an artistic point of view, I see trying something small as a chance to relax, and to sketch myself into existence. As I begin the process I keep in mind that these early stages of my work will likely end up in the bin, not gracing the walls of some imaginary art gallery. That takes some of the pressure off.
We often get hung up on believing our work is not good enough, and yet most of the time, we are not here to create masterpieces, we are here to stretch our creative muscles. When you begin to think similarly about your work, you can begin to relax a little and let your ideas flow more easily.
#2 – Ebb and Flow
Creativity isn’t something you just switch on and off, it ebbs and flows according to the environment and attitude around you. What are the levers and dials you need to be aware of and able to adjust in your organisation?
Often, when dealing with the challenge to achieve more with less, we feel restricted, and this tightens up our thinking, and we struggle to be creative. Yet very often, creativity is borne of constraint – we’ve all heard the saying ‘necessity is the mother of invention’.
As Austin Kleon writes in Steal Like An Artist, his excellent book about creativity, ‘Creativity is subtraction – Choose what to leave out’. From an artistic perspective, I love this quote from Kit White in 101 Things to learn in Art School. ‘Drawing is about mark making – Try to use only the marks you need’. As well as using scarcity to your advantage, it’s also really helpful to try and suspend judgement when applying the creative process to work. Nothing kills people’s ability to be creative more effectively than a rush to judgement; remember that when you’re trying to encourage creativity in yourself and others.
#3 – Show Your Work
We all know lots of smart people, and with increasing access to technology, reaching out to them is easier than ever before. Getting comfortable with showing your work to people as you develop it, can be a great way to strengthen what you’re doing. The feedback you receive may be as simple as encouragement that you’re on a good track, and it could also include suggestions on how to modify your thinking. I often work with clients, cocreating projects and ideas for improvement. Through showing our work to each other as we go, we’ve learned that often, we’re better together. You’re good at what you do – and with a good network around you too, you can be even better too.
#4 – Be Adaptive
Henri Matisse is one of my favourite artists. In his later years he developed his cutout technique, whereby he and his team created often vast pieces of work, comprised of many smaller brightly coloured paper cutout elements. As they worked, Matisse was able to guide his team in placing and rearranging the pieces until the desired effect was achieved. Beautiful, simple and adaptive.
Imagine how much more difficult production of these pieces of work would have been if Matisse and his team painted straight onto canvas. Each time they needed to reposition something, they’d have to start again. This would take extra time and prove costly, so the likelihood is they would have pressed on with what they had and reached a less satisfactory conclusion.
EMBEDDING CREATIVE PRACTICE IN YOUR WORK
What’s this cut out stuff got to do with your work? The next time you need to plan a project, try breaking the challenge down into all its component parts – and write and draw each task element on a separate cut out, or sticky note. Once you’ve done that – arrange all the notes on a large piece of paper and ask yourself a few questions:
What happens when we play with the running order?
What happens when we add things, and remove things?
Which activities can be completed in sequence (one after the other) and which can be completed in parallel (simultaneously)?
Do we have the resources we need to deliver?
What is on the critical path and what isn’t?
As you move through the planning process, you can easily update and amend your plan, playing with it and iterating as you go. Using this simple, creative method, you can plan in a way that is efficient and responsive, all thanks to the artistic genius of Henri Matisse!
The next time you need to apply some creativity to your work, just try these four simple processes and see how easy, effective and enjoyable it can be.
This post was first published over at Blogging4Jobs in July 2015
