[Ailist] using art in the Dream process

Tue Jul 24 16:07:15 MDT 2007

Dear Karin and AI Colleagues:

Over the past 15 years I've been using graphic illustration as  part of my 
work with clients. If your are considering this as a format I can say  it's an 
outstanding way to help a group of people create the collective  expression of 
their desired future. Every time I've used it, my clients taken  the 
vision/graphic and used it in many ways, not just during the co-creation  process. In 
some cases, if the illustration was created with the top  leadership team, we 
have done what I call a "journey walk" with the vision up on  the walls so that 
all employees can see it and hear about it from the leaders as  they walk the 
halls together.

It acts in the same way as the old cave drawings - when young  boys were 
initiated as adults into a culture .... here is a story taken  from my last book - 
The DNA of Leadership -  and in the chapter on co-creating community - which  
speaks to the importance of this approach. We have used it enough times and 
have  tracked our client success with this approach, and we know that both 
during the  creating process as well as the sharing process, it has a profound 
impact on  enabling vital conversations about what the future could look like and 
the role  people can play in the story as it evolves. 

One company - New Wave Entertainment - featured in a  story in the 
"Navigating Chapter" (N-Gene) used this process as a way to expand  their vision for the 
future, and it had such an incredible impact that they  expanded so much they 
had to buy a new building to accommodate the  growth....  please feel free to 
ask more questions about this is  you need more information...

Here is the Anthropological Story from the Co-creating  community chapter 
(C-gene):

Rites of Passage as Told by  Cave Drawings 
Starting with the Neolithic period,  communal ceremonies gave people a frame 
of reference for the culture to survive  and thrive. With these rituals, 
societal norms became a way of life and people saw how they  fit into the overall 
community. 

In  prehistoric times, when a boy turned thirteen, he was welcomed into his  
community with a formal ceremony that began when he was escorted into a cave. 
An  elder held the boy’s hand as they left the sunshine, with only a torch to 
guide  their way. Inside the cave, the elder cast light on the natural rock 
canvas to  show the boy the drawings by his ancestors, images that illustrated 
the rituals  that the boy needed to learn to become a part of the community  

The images were explicit and spoke  about the hunt and catching food. They 
spoke about protection from harm. They  spoke of spirits and gods who were there 
to protect and provide sustenance. They  spoke of working with others to 
build their community. They spoke of thwarting  outsiders who could become 
communal threats. And they spoke of birth and  death. 

During  the ceremony, the boy experienced psychological shifts; he was asked 
to take on  new responsibilities, and to become part of the community—to share 
in the wisdom  of the culture. He learned about group aspirations, and his 
whole frame of  reference shifted from I  to WE.  He saw and understood the 
framework that would guide him from then on. When he  accepted, he was considered 
an adult and he assumed new responsibilities,  accountabilities, and an 
obligation to carry on community  traditions. 

Replicating Organizational  Inclusion 
Ancient rites of passage have their  modern counterparts in myriad religious 
and civic celebrations. In business,  leaders must learn and pass on inclusive 
behaviors to perpetuate a thriving  organization. In the business community, 
inclusive behaviors must be ritually  performed to perpetuate a thriving 
organization. 
Once you notice the dimension of  inclusion and exclusion, you will start to 
see it everywhere. It’s a dynamic  tension that lives inside of all the 
decisions we make, from choosing who to  include on an e-mail list to how to answer 
people at a meeting. The basic rule  is that those who feel excluded or 
outside of the community react against the  organization; those who feel included 
support the organization. To create and  sustain a top-tier organization, you 
need to ask yourself some  questions: 
    *   How can we shift from a  competitive and stagnant environment to a 
collaborative and growing  one?
    *   What behaviors and actions support  innovative contributions from all?
    *   How can we coach one another for  personal growth?
    *   How can we grow our brand  together?
    *   What do our customers value? How  do we meet their needs better?
    *   How can we create the future we  want?

Imagine that you have the ability to  shape and craft your environment in the 
same way a artist can sculpt a piece of  clay. Focus on the practices you can 
introduce into your everyday life that will  help you up-regulate and 
down-regulate as called for, and, when necessary, knock  out whatever is getting in 
the way. Get rid of the junk DNA that is floating  around in conversations, and 
eliminate beliefs that do not serve the journey you  are embarking on. Be 
diligent and fanatical about getting the results you want.  Leadership is about 
taking the high road and seeing the magnificent  possibilities on the other 
side. 
You can replicate inclusion  throughout your organization, and ensure that it 
is ongoing, by incorporating  community gene leadership practices to create a 
culture where people feel  involved and engaged at all times. 
Judith 
Judith E. Glaser, CEO
Benchmark Communications,  Inc.
_www.creatingwe.com_ (http://www.creatingwe.com/) 
jeglaser at creatingwe.com

Author: Creating We & The  DNA of Leadership
Liminal Faculty & Board  Member

116  Central Park South 9-D
New York, NY 10019
212 307 4386
212 307 0699  (fax)
917 864 8466 (cell)

5 Shorehaven Road
Norwalk, CT  06855
203 838 6982
203 838 7166 (fax)

"We must welcome the future,  remembering that soon it will be the past; and 
we must respect the past  remembering that once it was all that was humanly 
possible." 
- George  Santayana  
Karin

I don't have it to hand, but Peter Senge's 'the Fifth  Discipline'
describes a Nordic organisation that produced its vision in the  form of
a painting. It halved its accident rate even before it took any  tangible
health and safety measures, simply because people had internalised  a
vision of safety.

Hope that  helps

Perry

-----Original Message-----
From:  ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu
[mailto:ailist-bounces at lists.business.utah.edu]  On Behalf Of Karin Silet
Sent: Tuesday, July 24, 2007 6:30 PM
To:  ailist at lists.business.utah.edu
Subject: [Ailist] using art in the Dream  process

I'm wondering if anyone can point me to research that shows the  impact 
of articulating organizational dreams/visions using art (drawing  actual 
images, creating collages, etc.)  I use art a lot in trainings  I do, but

am not sure where to point a graduate student who is trying  to argue its

validity in her dissertation.

Thanks in advance for  any help you can provide!

Peace,
Karin

-- 
Karin  Silet
Outreach Specialist
School of Education
University of  Wisconsin-Madison
608-265-9568
www.education.wisc.edu/outreach

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The  Appreciative Inquiry Discussion List is hosted by the David Eccles 
School of  Business at the University of Utah. Jack Brittain is the list 
administrator.  For subscription information, go  to:
http://mailman.business.utah.edu:8080/mailman/listinfo/ailist

Judith E. Glaser, CEO
Benchmark Communications,  Inc.
_www.creatingwe.com_ (http://www.creatingwe.com/) 
jeglaser at creatingwe.com

Author: Creating We & The DNA  of Leadership
Liminal Faculty & Board Member

116 Central Park South  9-D
New York, NY 10019
212 307 4386
212 307 0699 (fax)
917 864 8466  (cell)

5 Shorehaven Road
Norwalk, CT 06855
203 838 6982
203 838  7166 (fax)

"We must welcome the  future, remembering that soon it will be the past; and 
we must respect the past  remembering that once it was all that was humanly 
possible." 
- George  Santayana 

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