by John Brooker | Jan 10, 2012 | Facilitate meetings, Innovate
YES! AND… Facilitate, Innovate, Transform Creative Gorilla # 10 You may never be as creative as Beethoven, but would you like inspiration when you need it? “I need some help, some inspiration. (But it’s not coming easily)” Natasha Bedingfield “These Words“ I needed to write this Creative Gorilla article one evening when I had been facilitating all day and Natasha Bedingfield had written the above words for me. Luckily in these situations I have a short cut to tap in to some inspiration. I play my favourite piece of classical music, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, played by the Boston Philarmonic, conducted by Benjamin Zander. There is a moment in the Fourth Movement (“Double Fugue. Allegro energico chorus “) in which Beethoven (forgive me if I describe this poorly, I am not a music scholar) counterpoints three strands of music in a climax that raises the hairs on my neck. My spirits soar. At the moment he wrote this piece one might truly believe Beethoven was kissed by a higher being. Ludwig’s genius worked its magic again as I listened to the music and my mind began to work. Those of you conversant with Neuro Linguistic Programming will know that this is a change of “state” from unproductive to productive, by altering my focus (listening to a favourite piece rather than thinking of less inspiring things). In addition, I can reinforce the new state by altering my physiology. Often this involves just tilting my head back to listen, but sometimes I stand up (and if no one is looking, I might try a bit of conducting too!) You will have your...
by John Brooker | Jan 5, 2012 | Facilitate meetings, Innovate
Yes! And… Creative Gorilla # 5 How can you clear your mind of all those problems whirling round it? “I sometimes find, and I am sure you know the feeling, that I simply have too many thoughts and memories crammed in to my mind,” said Dumbledore…”at these times… I use the Pensieve.” From Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (J.K. Rowling). Do you ever have the feeling Dumbledore has? You have some kind of significant, complex challenge, something you are concerned about and all these pieces of information run around in your brain. Facts, questions, half formed answers, things people have said, ideas, things you said or wished you said, the emotions, endlessly running around in your brain like an iPod on shuffle. Dumbledore’s “Pensieve” is a stone basin in to which he places his excess thoughts and then views them from a distance, to help him analyse them. When I was reading the book it struck me that here was a magical version of the “Essay” technique, a well known creative technique that helps you to explore a nagging problem or opportunity very quickly. The technique is one to which I have added a few “rules” and it seems to help most people, so let me share with you what I am now calling the “Pensieve Technique”. Take a paper pad and a pen (tear yourself away from the keyboard) and write down everything you can about your situation as possible. The rules I have added are: Don’t worry about your spelling (imagine the paper has automatic spell checking), your grammar or the legibility of your writing...
