Basically, we jointly create an incubator, in space and time, where: group exercises and insights help stubborn knots to loosen and fall away, shared learning and trust inspire new visions and strategies, and new awareness and ways of relating carry your team from vision to reality.
You may ask, can't leaders do this for their own organization or initiative? Of course, yet it is often difficult to muster the skills, attention, and best practices to successfully manage a creative space. As leaders, we are often too close to the issue, too busy, or unable to sustain the space well over time, undermining the results. This is why a skillful consulting partner (Opening Creativity!) can be essential to helping you move forward.
What Happens in this Creative Space? What Does It Look Like?
Some of the time, private, one-to-one interviews and sessions build individual confidence and safety to participate in group sessions and ensure the relevance of the project focus and approach for the organization and current challenge. Other times, we arrange retreats or half-day meetings where one-to-one work feeds into group activities. Some of the work is research and reflection by the consultant, along with a few emerging leaders from the organization who volunteer small amounts of their time to work side-by-side with Opening Creativity to strengthen the project and their own leadership and facilitation skills. Additional work includes one-to-one conversations and on-line surveys to gather critical information to inform the project.
In other words, over time we partner to develop some physical, emotional, and mental room within the organization or initiative. In this space, people come to feel safe, relaxed, and trusting with each other. Or, at least, they feel safe enough to participate at first, and over time gain genuine trust with each other. Then some collective learning as a team can lead to transformative moments that lay the groundwork for positive new realities and results. Why Are Safety and Trust So Important?
To some, safety and trust may sound like silly or overly sensitive concerns, or like an excessive aversion to risk. Yet, once groups experience what can be achieved and sustained through safe and trusting groups (and what risks can be taken therein!), they will appreciate the value of shared safety and trust: they positively impact the bottom line, organizational health, and team performance.
What Happens in these Creative Spaces? Opening Creativity helps clients become comfortable in this temporary, exploratory space, where rich learning and exchanges can happen. This creative time is essential, and together we never lose sight of the key issue. In good time, we return to the issue with expanded ideas, new energy, new hope, new trust, and a clearer vision of what is possible. Learn more about the different phases of projects on our Services page and read Case Examples.
Talk to us! Let us know your questions, hear stories with past clients, and learn about the broad range of methods we can use to custom design a project to meet your needs.
s u p p o r t i n g s a f e s p a c e s a n d t r u s t - b u i l d i n g f o r p o w e r f u l r e s u l t s
