A few points from the Banff Centre’s Creative Leadership session at CanUX 2008 stuck with me:
- Once you are able to get a group of people working together effectively, be prepared to let them improvise. A team in harmony has the potential to enhance plans and processes by building on each other. Sticking to a single pre-determined outcome may limit the potential of this improvisation
- Pay attention to body and facial movements. What is unspoken is often larger and more complex than what is being said.
- Creativity is possible when you move too quickly for your inner critic to object or when you lull your inner critic to sleep and ideas surface.
- Quick full-body activities force you to surrender to the moment and allow natural ideas to flow.
- Calm or simple repetitive activities let your mind drift and ideas to come forward.
- We have a tendency to over think. Focusing on simple aspects of human activity (with an empathetic lens) allows insights to surface.
- Leaders need to practice leading just like musicians practice music.