Is it wellbeing, or being well? The latter feels more active, less corporatised.
We were talking, passing strangers
Moments caught across an empty room
Wasted whispers, faded secrets
Quickly passes, time goes, time goes by too soon – Passing Strangers : Ultravox
The Art of Wellbeing
We gathered together, a group of curious people, many of us meeting for the first, and only time. We talked in response to the question ‘What does wellbeing mean to you?’. We shared our thoughts, verbally, drawn, and written. There was an incredible openness among the group – we talked frankly and kindly about illness and death, as well as joy, art and good health too. Here are some snippets of our conversation, and some drawings too, reproduced anonymously, with the kind permission of the group.
What does wellbeing mean to you?
An inquiry – it will lead to more questions.
Being here, in this lovely place, sharing.
Working with anxiety – health – mood.
Is it wellbeing, or being well? The latter feels more active, less corporatised.
Creating (art) helps you feel well.
Craft and creativity – in flow.
Healing.
Sharing is part of wellbeing.
Wellbeing is moving – fulfilment – progress.
Sharing feelings with strangers.
See the clock, want to beat the clock
London – it’s too much. Great to visit – wouldn’t want to live here.
Lines/strands – and where they take us.
Seeking to extrapolate that which cannot be extrapolated.
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One hour later, as quickly as we had gathered, we dispersed. Lots of smiles, lots of handshakes, lots of thanks, and goodbyes.
We were talking, passing strangers
Moments caught across an empty room
Wasted whispers, faded secrets
Quickly passes, time goes, time goes by too soon
I spent yesterday afternoon working in The Reading Room at The Wellcome Collection, a wonderful place in London which describes itself as ‘the free destination for the incurably curious’. The Wellcome Collection runs an Open Platform series of events, and kindly accepted my proposal for this pop up Art of Wellbeing workshop. Anyone can apply to run one of these sessions, I thoroughly recommend you give it a try.
Acknowledgements
The staff at The Wellcome Collection looked after me and the group really well, making it really easy for me to facilitate an excellent conversation and much more. Thank you to them, and to Valerie and Nick in particular. Thank you to Kev Wyke who spotted the opportunity to work at The Wellcome Collection and flagged it to me. Thank you to everyone who came and took part so wholeheartedly.
Monday 29th February 2016, a group of 15 intrepid, curious explorers gathered at The British Library. I distributed our Leap Day journals, and read a short poem which we discovered on Leap Day 2012. This poem was printed and stuck into each copy of the journal.
Act One : Scene Two
With our nod to the previous Leap Day complete – we took time to explore the Alice in Wonderland exhibition at The British Library. As we did so – we thought about beginnings, and before we headed off down the rabbit hole to our next destination, we stood and shared some of the things we found. I’ve written many in my journal, here are just a few:
She generally gave herself very good advice (though she very seldom followed it). Found by Jo Stephenson in the exhibition.
You do not know if
What you leave behind
Will weave into our world
And ignite beauty into our mind
A poem by Meg Peppin
‘It’s too dark to read anything except your thoughts’ I forget who spotted this. If it was you – let me know and I’ll pop your name in here.
From the point of ignition
To the final drive
The point of the journey
Is not to arrive
Anything can happen… N. Peart
That’s enough about lessons, tell her about games now. Found by Steve Chapman in the exhibition.
With our beginnings shared, we headed off. As we left the building, we shared some home made chocolate and cranberry brownies. When Alice at the ‘Eat Me’ cake, she grew. I wondered how we would grow throughout the day.
Act Two : Scene One
Some of us walked to Tate Modern, some caught the tube. On arrival, we explored an exhibition titled Making Traces and considered a few questions. The questions were:
How do you leave a trace?
A footprint, a photograph or a mark of where you were?
What do traces tell us about what happened before?
What trace would you leave for others to discover?
I traced the outline of my hand into my journal, then made another copy of my hand on a sheet of tracing paper, following the lines of the grain on the wooden floor of the gallery. I overlaid one onto the other. I made some drawings, copying and blind drawing (method illustrated here), and I thought about physical traces, online traces, and legacy too. I found this process thoughtful, enjoyable, uplifting, particularly when considering legacy. Here is some of my work.
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Act Two : Scene Two
As we prepared to leave Tate Modern I distributed pieces of an artwork titled Good Hearts, which I made over the weekend. I wasn’t sure how to integrate this gift into the day, and as we stood together in the gallery, this felt like the right time to give.
Interlude : Lunch and conversations at Borough Market
Act Three : Scene One
Over lunch, some conversations emerged about what to do next. We decided to walk to the National Theatre where we would stop, and make some art. Like everything in the day – this was an invitation, and on arrival, some of us drew and painted, some of us did other things. Those of us who made art, agreed to distribute it for others to pick up and take home – a collective trace of Leap Day. What a lovely idea. Here is some of our art.
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Act Three : Scene Two
Those of us who remained – drifted to the bar and shared some more good conversation over a drink. Thanks to everyone who came along for a day of useful fun. Without people, you’re nothing.
Steve Chapman has kindly written a piece related to Leap Day and more, here.
I used Twitter and Slack to coordinate Leap Day and correspond with everyone. I think I only sent two emails, both very early on in the preparation. I was new to Slack – and found it a bit tricky to adopt but once I got my feet under the virtual desk, I found it a useful place to share project information, news and updates with the group.
I enjoy this work because: it’s fun, I learn new things, I like doing things for others : making the journals, the Leap Day logo, the art, the chocolate brownies, all these things were a pleasure.
We were short of time at the end of Leap Day and several people left their art with me – I agreed to distribute it for them. Fortunately I was in a position to retrace some of our steps later in the week so the commitment was fulfilled in close proximity to where the making took place. I enjoyed the process of honouring the group and letting go of the work for others to find. As this piece says, ‘JUST CREATE and don’t be attached to it’.
Be invitational, be kind, be encouraging, be open to possibilities.
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
