Archive for the ‘Best Practices’ Category

The Positive Principle: Building Your Capacity for Improvisation and Appreciative Inquiry

Thursday, October 28th, 2010

In the midst of teaching a graduate course on personal and organizational change where we are exploring the value of developing individual and systems’ capacity for change, I pulled up an excerpt from a longer article on the symbiotic relationship between improvisation and appreciative inquiry (the full article is available at the link below). Hope you enjoy it!

The Positive Principle (D. L. Cooperrider, Sorensen, Whitney, & Yaeger, 2000: 20) is a central and guiding principle of Appreciative Inquiry (AI), as well as its theoretical foundation  [NOTE: For fuller introduction, download Organizational Improvisation & Appreciative Inquiry:] Not based in deficit thinking, rabid searches for “problems” or organizational challenges, AI looks for “that which gives life to the organization.” For legions of executives and MBA graduates this is indeed a radical, even heretical concept. Many business people build their credibility and careers on their ability to identify and solve problems. Even I, as I was starting my consulting practice, was counseled to identify “the problem to which I was the answer.”

My experience bears out this ingrained “problem focus.” Working with clients and students using the AI process, I have noticed how often they are tempted to shift into “problem-solving” mode, or to ask deficit-focused questions once the appreciative inquiry is underway. Here, additional competence in the practice of principles of improvisation can help AI participants leverage the positive, forward movement of the inquiry toward its positive potential.

AI involves, in a central way, the art and practice of asking questions that strengthen a system’s capacity to apprehend, anticipate, and heighten positive potential (Cooperrider, Sorensen et al. 2000: 5).

Improvisation, like AI, is founded on a positive principle—the principle of Say, “Yes, and . . .” (Meyer, 2000: 63). Improvisers must accept (or say, “yes”) to anything they discover on stage, receive from another player or the audience. They cannot stop at acceptance, however, they must move the action forward by adding their own discoveries (saying, “and . . .”). This positive orientation is the foundation for improvisation success, as it is for all creative collaborations in business and life.

The conceptual framework of AI is most often translated into practice as the 4-D process (D. Cooperrider & Whitney, 2000; Hammond, 1998; Watkins & Mohr, 2001). AI, not only supports positive organizational change, but helps individuals build some of the skills necessary for successful improvisation in the workplace. The practice of AI also contributes to organizational memory via storytelling and while giving individuals opportunities to cultivate their improvisation competencies and foster a culture where improvisation is more likely to be successful. Additionally, the inquiry process is grounded in the lived experiences of organizational participants. To discover the positive core of these experiences, AI participants must listen closely and without judgment—essential competencies for improvisation.

At the center of the “4-D Process” of AI is inquiry into personal positive experiences related to the topic. Concert pianist and consultant, Michael Jones writes

Creativity involves living in the question—Improvising involves a living inquiry into what is. When our conditioned knowledge and theories no longer serve us, we need to inquire more deeply into things as they are. This creates a space for more subtle insights to emerge (1997: 60).

An inquiry of quality and depth, grounded in individual experience also promotes organizational learning as framed by Crossan, Lane and White (1996) as including intuition, as well as interpreting, integrating and institutionalizing new discoveries. Individual learning, within this framework, includes changes in cognition and/or behavior. Integrated learning represents a change in both cognition and behavior. An inquiry that invites participants to share their experiences and make (sometimes new) meaning of them, then, may enhance this integration process while building individual experience, comfort and capacity to  “live in the question” and improvise.

Cooperrider, D., & Whitney, D. (2000). A positive revolution in change: Appreciative inquiry. In D. L. S. Cooperrider, Jr., Peter F.; Whitney, Diana; Yaeger, Therese (Ed.), Appreciative inquiry (pp. 3-27). Champaigne, IL: Stipes.

Cooperrider, D. L., Sorensen, J., Peter F., Whitney, D., & Yaeger, T. (Eds.). (2000). Appreciative Inquiry: Rethinking human organization toward a positive theory of change. Champaign, IL: Stipes.

Crossan, M., Lane, H. W., & White, R. E. (1996). Organizational learning: Toward a unifying framework.Unpublished manuscript, London, Ontario.

Hammond, S. A. (1998). The thin book of appreciative inquiry (2nd ed.). Plano, TX: Thin Book Publishing.

Jones, M. (1997). Getting creativity back into corporate decision making. Journal for Quality & Participation, 20(1), 58-62.

Meyer, P. (2000). Quantum Creativity: Nine principles to transform the way you work. Chicago: Contemporary Books.

Watkins, J. M., & Mohr, B. J. (2001). Appreciative inquiry: Change at the speed of imagination. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Best Practices, Generative Space | 6 Comments »

Creating Playspace for a New Job

Thursday, October 21st, 2010

In From Workplace to Playspace: Innovating, Learning and Changing Through Dynamic Engagement I share many examples of how organizations across industries create playspace each day and, in doing so, improve employee engagement, productivity and profits. This is not, however, the only place we can create playspace. You don’t have to work in an organization to enjoy it; in fact, you don’t even need a job to bring it to life!

I recently received an email from a former student, Tim Odom, from my creativity class at DePaul University in Chicago. He shared his success creating playspace for himself during the job search process and gave me permission to share it with you here:

I am actually somewhat of an introvert and it takes some time for me to become comfortable in speaking about myself in front of others. An interview does not afford me this luxury but I have found that by creating my playspace in the office as I wait to be called in eases my stress and starts to focus me on the task at hand. My nerves abate as I continue to explore this new space, and by the time I go into the meeting, I am primed to look for the gifts from the interviewer. It is no longer either an adversarial relationship or a sales pitch. Since I am now in a partnership with my interviewer and am actively engaged in receiving gifts, gifting, and re-gifting, I am able to clearly understand the questions asked of me, give back and most of the build on the conversation. My self-consciousness disappears!

While this is not the only facet of interview preparation, it was certainly the key to me both enduring the interview cycle for six different companies, and landing my current position that started last Wednesday!

Tim’s story shows that we can create playspace for new possibilities to emerge in the most stressful, and personally challenging situations. As much as what we do, playspace is about how we show up, and by showing up with awareness and openness, we can create space for new and exciting possibilities to emerge. Congratulations, Tim!

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Best Practices, Engagement | 1 Comment »

From Workplace to Playspace in High-Pressure Organizations

Monday, September 20th, 2010

How do we create playspace in very serious, high-pressure, high-stakes environments? I have written about some notable examples of playspace in banking describing the high-engagement experience that Umpqua Bank co-creates each day in From Workplace to Playspace. But what about other high-stakes environments? What about in health care?

How do we make room for engagement, fresh ideas, and open communication when the stakes are literally life and death and there are never enough hours in the day?


Recently, an old friend from high school contacted me to let me know that he was in town for a medical conference. Before reaching out, my friend Dr. John Lanaghan, had poked around my website and without being asked, offered a beautiful answer to this question via email:

I got to watch one of your recent interviews. Interesting. But I thought that wouldn’t work in a medical workplace–no time for play. Then I kept reflecting on it and realized (long story) how I noticed that it did. I had been at one office for 5 yrs and made an effort to enjoy my time with my co-workers by chatting, celebrating birthdays, kid activities, and playing when possible. Then 5 months ago I started splitting my time between two sites. Suddenly my old site was a bummer and the new location was a pleasure. After your video I realized that I had stopped doing the fun things with the old group, while the new job involved hospital rounds where there was lots of walking and talking and joking. Now I have made an effort to make it to lunch at the same time as my coworkers at the old place and some of the enjoyment of the job is returning.

When we met for dinner the next night, John shared more about his work. He has spent much of his career in family medicine at the V.A. Medical Center in Iowa City, and had recently begun splitting his time providing palliative care, also in the V.A. system. He acknowledged the challenge of negotiating around large egos and the medical system itself. These were not insurmountable, however, as his own experience and efforts attest. John’s reflections show a deep and intuitive understanding of the ways we can create the space for the play of new ideas and connections in our everyday conversations and interactions. Playspace is not always (or even often) about our traditional conception of play—it is about the space that enables us to engage as whole human beings.

Thank you, John Lanaghan, M.D., for sharing your reflections and to all who co-create playspace doing extra-ordinary work in often challenging circumstances each day!

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Best Practices, Engagement, Playspace Dynamics | 2 Comments »

Five Ways to Make Space for People to Play with New Ideas and Perspectives

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

As often as I balk at prescriptive approaches to creating playspace, I am asked for examples of how others are doing it in their organizations. Below is a short list of innovative approaches from a wide range of organizations. Some are from “From Workplace to Playspace,” others I have heard from workshop participants and readers around the country. I hope that you will be inspired and “get permission” from them to experiment with approaches that fit for your organization.

1)    Warm-up Your Day. Umpqua Bank, a thriving regional community bank, featured in the book, begins every day across its more than 175 locations with something CEO, Ray Davis calls a “Motivational Moment.” Every single employee gathers in the lobby at each location to join in a group activity to boost their energy and enthusiasm for the day. Anyone can lead the session, and the only guidelines are that it cannot be political or religious in nature. This means that Umpqua associates start their day singing, dancing, improvising, playing games such as Marshmallow Dodge Ball and generally building the camaraderie, good will and focus that has landed them on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list the last four years in a row.

2)    Warm-up Your Meeting. Research shows that people are more creative if they engage in some sort of light-hearted creative activity before they take on a new challenge (Conti, Amabile, & Pollack, 1995). Anything from 60 seconds of Be. Here. Now. time (see demonstration video) to engaging in a brainstorm about how to solve some seemingly impossible challenge (e.g. How can we eliminate world hunger? How can we become a totally paperless office? How can we use migrating birds to deliver our communications?), the more outlandish, silly and/or impossible the challenge, the better.

3)    Argue a Different Point of View. Skilled debate teams regularly switch sides to become more adept at their craft. You can build your team’s critical thinking skills in a similar way. If you see a passionate debate come to a deadlock, ask the key proponents from each side to argue for another option. Ask others to list the pros and cons as they emerge. This is also an effective strategy if everyone seems to be getting cozy with one point of view. Step back and ask people to argue for the opposite view, or for a point of view that is not represented in the room (e.g. Play the role of the front-line worker, customer, student, child, non-English-speaking immigrant, senior citizen). What new possibilities emerge when you consider the other side? Are there ways to take these concerns into consideration?

4)    Play. There are endless lists of games and contests that can bring more play (as in flexibility) in the system, levity, build relationships and open up more space for possibilities. Some of my favorites include Google’s “Pimp My Cubicle” Contest, and various guessing contests, such as those inviting employees to match baby pictures, hobbies, or pet photos with their owners. These have significant value in getting people to connect outside of their formal roles and responsibilities, which goes a long way in building relationships and social capital—that enhance collaboration and resource sharing.

5)    Say, “Yes, and . . .” Anyone who has taken a basic improv class (or attended one of my playspace sessions) knows that “Yes, and . . .” is the secret to successful collaboration and idea generation. It is also key to making space for more possibilities. It simply means that we replace the word “but” with the word “and” and look for every opportunity to build on our colleagues’ ideas. Saying “yes” does not mean we are going to implement every idea, simply that we are willing to explore its possibilities. Most innovative solutions began as crazy impractical ideas that benefited from some generous “yes, and-ing.” Take it for a test drive and let me know how it worked for you!

This list is just a start. Please post your ideas for making more space for the play of new ideas and perspectives in the comment section below!

•••••••••

Conti, R., Amabile, T. M., & Pollack, S. (1995). The positive impact of creative activity: Effects of creative task engagement and motivational focus on college students’ learning. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 21, 1107–1116.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Best Practices, Engagement, Warm-up Exercises and Ideas | 3 Comments »

Four Learning Trends & Reflections from ASTD 2010

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

One week after this year’s ASTD International Conference & Exhibition  I thought I would take a moment for a little reflective learning and lessons learned.

Importance of Pace and Energy Conservation

From years of conference attendance and presenting, I have learned how important it is to pace myself and monitor my own energy. As a participant, this means not trying to go to every single session, meet every possible contact, and visit every exhibition booth. Early on, I learned that with this strategy I soon met with diminishing returns. Much better to attend a few sessions that are right on target for my current interests and practice issues, take some breathing room after to make notes and think about application than to scurry off to the next session.

Similarly, I find it much more useful to have quality interactions with people, than work on quantity. I found some wonderful connecting places and opportunities to share resources with the folks who I made the time to get to know.

Whole Person Learning in Action

Pace & Energy in Facilitated Learning

Attuning to pace and energy in the learning sessions is especially paramount on long conference days. No matter how ground-breaking your content, if you haven’t engaged participants energy and ability to make meaning of your content you are dead in the water in the first five minutes. The sessions I attended that were most effective respected the basic human need for whole person engagement, without reducing the experiential learning to a “dog and pony show.” In other words, the learning experiences need to be relevant. This is not new news, and from the sessions I participated in it is clear that even at this stage in our practice and understanding we all need to be reminded of it.

Emerging Technology & Learning

Perhaps the biggest trend at the conference was the power of social media to help us connect, keep us connected and share key learning. Throughout the conference many participants tweeted from sessions, giving people who could not attend the specific session (or the conference at all) a chance to “get the high points.” People were tweeting across session rooms, as well, commenting about what they loved (and didn’t love) about their experience. Twitter also served as the bulletin board for spontaneous gatherings (Tweet-ups), Exhibitor give-aways, and program updates. The blessing of this is engagement; the potential “curse” is that rich content and experiential learning cannot always be reduce to a140 character limit.

I highly recommend checking out the #astd10 twitter stream to get a taste of the content, as well as some great tips on Chicago pizza and sights seeing!

Relational and Social Learning

Walking the Exhibition Hall, I was also excited to see all of the new platforms available using technology to enhance learning. The biggest trend I see is the use of multiple platforms to support informal, incremental and just-in-time learning. Many, such as bloomfire.com have designed programs that are embedded in, or facilitate the creation of communities of practice. I am heartened to see this combination of relational and social learning, with content, and skill development.

The future of training and learning looks bright. It is social, interactive, engaging, improvisational and sometimes even playful!

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Best Practices | 2 Comments »

Improvisation Capacity & Playspace

Wednesday, May 12th, 2010

The dynamics of playspace come to life as they are enacted each day in the real-time spaces we create. I first discovered the power of playspace through the detailed descriptions of people who were developing their capacities for innovating, learning, and changing as they learned improvisation.

As I analyzed their experiences, I saw two important interconnected phenomena. First, the individual capacities emerged as people developed increasing awareness, acceptance, and appreciation of themselves, their colleagues, and their context in action. Second, people’s individual experience came to life through dynamic engagement in the playspace the co-created. The more playspace people experienced, the more improvisation capacity they developed and the more improvisation capacity they developed, the more playspace they experienced.

From: From Workplace to Playspace: Innovating, Learning and Changing Through Dynamic Engagement (Jossey-Bass, 2010)

In this short video I describe and demonstrate the relationship between playspace and improvisation capacity:

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Playspace Dynamics, Warm-up Exercises and Ideas | No Comments »

Purposeful Play

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

One of the common misconception about play is that it is necessarily purposeless, and therefore can’t possibly have any place in business. Harvard scholar and jazz pianist (and mentor) Frank Barrett calls improvised play a form of “disciplined imagination” reminding us that play can also be wildly productive and innovative.

What does purposeful play require?

Naming the Purpose: Whether the purpose is to play a game, energize a team, or create space to generate new product ideas, naming the purpose of the play is essential for engaging and aligning the passion and energy of all collaborators.

Making Space for the Play of New Ideas: This means valuing the space and its necessity for ideas to play within it enough to: Not check email, answer the phone, and engage in distractions, as well as fostering the relational, generative, safe, timeful and provocative dynamics necessary for engaged creative collaboration.

The Discipline of Playing Time: Star athletes and breakout artists mature their talent by dedicating hours and hours of playing time—not now and then, but routinely, with dedication and commitment that values both the process and product of their play.

Curiosity: Approaching the playing space with an attitude of inquiry, rather than a singular focus on perfection. Playspace is space for experimentation and exploration. People who play with purpose are always looking for a better, more interesting, and innovative way.

Persistence and Perseverance: People who are fully engaged are much more likely to persevere through the inevitable twists and turns of innovating, learning and changing. Returning to the essential core that sparked your passion for playing in the first place can regenerate the motivation and commitment to forge ahead and engage the discipline that allows the imagination to flow again.

Purposeful play transcends the work-play dualism that leads many to dismiss play as inappropriate for serious endeavors. What could be more serious for business than a commitment to making space for innovating, learning and changing?

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Best Practices, Engagement | 1 Comment »

What was the best thing about . . . ?

Saturday, November 28th, 2009

Today is the day after Thanksgiving. Despite the blare of television commercials and media reports from area shopping malls, we are choosing a quiet day of puttering around the house with vague plans for an afternoon movie. I am enjoying this calm and thinking about our dinner last night with friends.

At some point in our feast, between our non-traditional Thanksgiving Ceasar salad and Rita’s amazing stuffing, my partner asked “so what was the best thing about this year for everyone?” As we went around the table, each sharing a bit of gratitude and anticipation for the year ahead, I was reminded of the power of simple appreciation. The things we named—weathering a relationship rough patch and feeling hopeful; happy for abundant client work and interesting projects; excitement about creative energy in a new collaboration, and simply being able to create the space to share a decadent meal in the midst of it all—became a bit brighter in the claiming.

It is so simple, and perhaps a bit new-agey, yet has played out again and again in my experience: what we focus on becomes our reality. As we drove home, completely satiated and a bit over-indulged, I felt the opportunities and generative core each of us tapped guiding us. How nice that we take at least one day a year to slow down enough to notice this. And even nicer that we can choose to do it whenever we feel our vision of possibilities flagging.

Posted in Appreciation, Engagement, Playspace Dimensions, Warm-up Exercises and Ideas | No Comments »

Imaginative Variations

Saturday, November 28th, 2009

This past fall DePaul’s Center to Advance Education for Adults invited Meg Wheatley to keynote and lead an afternoon workshop at a conference we titled “Thriving in Transition.” (You can download Wheatley’s keynote for free at the CAEA itunesU site in the itunes store. See instructions here).

What stayed with me most from Wheatley’s talk and workshop was her provocative statement that “there is no truth” and “all of our stories are fiction.” She went on to say that we choose our stories and to consider choosing new stories if the one we are telling isn’t working for us. This was particularly timely as the morning panel discussion (also available on itunesU) was filled with stories of people who first looked on their transition as a horrible disaster, and soon found it to be a life-changing opportunity.

Brandy Agerbeck's Map of Meg Wheatley Themes

Brandy Agerbeck's Map of Meg Wheatley Themes

During the afternoon workshop we had some fun in small groups as we first told one version of our story, and then (after reconvening with new people) told a completely different version of our story. My favorite story was when, in response to the question “how do you respond to aggression?,” a very conservative-looking woman from the Chicago Archdiocese explained that she immediately began rapping when faced with aggression. In great detail she told us how she defused even the most violent aggressors by incorporating their criticisms and threats into her rap songs, and even occasionally broke into the latest street dance moves.

We delighted ourselves and each other with this lived experience of telling playful imaginative variations of our stories. Tales of fear and insecurity transformed into courageous acts; experiences of anger and frustration became filled with compassion and hope; and stories of victimization became doorways to empowered new beginnings.

Ever since that experience and the energy created in it, I have slowed down a bit and—if not in the actual moment of my story-telling, soon after—imagined other versions of the story. Perhaps the person cutting me off in traffic was not consumed in their own self-centeredness, but rushing to the aid of a sick child; perhaps the angry outburst at the board meeting was not an attack, as much as an expression of fear of the uncertain future. Each imaginative variation of the story gives us the power to reposition ourselves, make different choices and have different responses.

This practice seems particularly resonant with playspace which invites us to play new roles and create more play in the system.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Best Practices, Provocative Space, Warm-up Exercises and Ideas | No Comments »

The Tryanny of the Task

Saturday, November 28th, 2009

The other day at the start of a meeting with my Playspace colleagues I noticed an interesting impulse. I knew we had a lot on the agenda and a relatively short time to move through it all. I had the impulse to abandon our few minute ritual of taking some Be. Here. Now. Time to get into our bodies, release distractions and become present to ourselves and the collaboration at hand. In my anxiousness to get to the task, I also considered dispensing with a brief creative warm-up, another ritual we have adopted to bring playspace to life in our collaborations.

Gratefully, when I gingerly proposed “diving in”, Brandy and Christian spoke up and brought me back to our shared commitment. It was humbling to see how I, facilitator and champion of all things playspace and creative collaboration, can also fall prey to the tyranny of the task. The draw to get on with business can so easily eclipse the very presence and life energy that allows us to show up to that business with our whole person, and in the spirit of collaboration and discovery.

One of the many delightful paradoxes and creative tensions in playspace is that when we embrace the process, the product is oh so much richer and our level of engagement and access to creativity so much deeper—as it was in our meeting the other day. We didn’t just check off our agenda items, but had new insights and ideas at each turn AND we did so within our agreed-upon time frame!

The good news is that when we have embedded and reinforced the values of playspace in the organization, even when we momentarily succumb to the siren song of the task, we will have colleagues

Tags: , ,
Posted in Best Practices, Playspace Dynamics, Timeful Space | No Comments »