Download: CS-For-Business (79)
The last few decades have belonged to a certain kind of person with a certain kind of mind – computer programmers who could crank code, lawyers who could craft contracts, MBA’s who could crunch numbers. But the keys to the Kingdom are changing hands. The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a very different kind of mind – creators and empathisers, pattern recognisers, and meaning makers. These people – artists, inventors, designers, storytellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers – will now reap society’s richest rewards and share its greatest joys.
Daniel H. Pink, A Whole New Mind
The value and potential of your workforce cannot be quantified in $ terms. In order to evolve and grow in an outwardly competitive world, businesses must foster an inner culture of cooperative creativity. Competition within the workforce often stifles innovation and promotes compartmentalized thinking that negates rather than nurtures. The most forward thinking companies are those that invest in their people and encourage them to express themselves creatively. A creative employee is one who will be at ease in any situation, will have a flexible approach to problem solving and will fit effortlessly into different environments.
A WHOLE NEW MIND
Daniel H. Pink – www.danpink.com – in his book A Whole New Mind, has emphasised the importance of the Right Hemisphere of the brain (the seat of creative, holistic thinking) as we shift from the Information Age into the Conceptual Age. Due to the demand for beautiful and meaningful products made available through the Abundance of cheap goods, increased Automation and the outsourcing to Asia of routine white-collar jobs, organisations are moving away from the strictly logical when they recruit and are valuing skills that are:
“High Concept – involving the capacity to detect patterns and opportunities, to create artistic and emotional beauty, to craft a satisfying narrative and to combine seemingly unrelated ideas into something new; and
High Touch – involving the ability to empathise with others, to understand the subtleties of human interaction, to find joy in one’s self and to elicit it in others, and to stretch beyond the quotidian in pursuit of purpose and meaning.”
To thrive in the “R-Directed” world of the future, we need to be able to recognise our unconscious patterns, rewrite our programmes and free ourselves to access the innate creative abilities we all possess. Circular Sounds is a process that enables people to look at an issue or a problem from an entirely new perspective. Taking Einstein’s theory “ you can’t solve a problem from the same way of thinking that created it” we use the creative arts to access different parts of the brain which then opens up possibilities for new ideas to come through.
THE CIRCULAR SOUNDS PROCESS
The CS Process answers the question “Is there another way to look at this” by inviting you to apply it to any aspect of your life that challenges or holds you back. With the use of our six elements
LANGUAGE – COLOUR – SHAPE – SOUND – MOVEMENT – FEELINGS
you explore these challenges by transforming them from one element to the other through different creative media. This enables you to gain new insights with each successive activity. These include:
Guided imagery – visualisation and relaxation techniques access thoughts and ideas you never knew you had.
Games – assimilate new skills and ideas through play and laughter, relaxing the nervous system so that creativity flows.
Mandala – uses shape and colour to draw upon inner awareness and represent the creative flow of ideas by literally building your transformation within the circle before you.
Exploring as a
group
The focus of this process is individual exploration, but a great part of the value of CS is that this occurs in a group setting, allowing you to experience your creative contribution in successive levels of interaction with others. We work with the premise that action is fundamental to learning and once you have experimented with bringing your skills to a joint activity you will really understand how you can make a difference in the wider world.
CIRCULAR SOUNDS AND YOUR BUSINESS
As a training programme, CS will benefit your company and its workforce by addressing the following needs:
- Flexible and creatively inspired workforce
- Strong team relationships
- A cohesive organisation
- Groups that perform as “ideas and solutions” incubators
- Self awareness and understanding of personal and group dynamics
- A shared climate of enthusiasm and co-operation
- Individuals who welcome change, rather than fear it
Using our Six Elements, CS provides awareness of alternative ways to conceptualise any work related function or responsibility.
Problem Solving: Participants will learn to look at work related challenges from new perspectives. Once the current perspective has been identified, changing that from one element to the next sparks innovative ideas which transform problems into solutions.
Increasing Morale: Fun lifts people out of themselves and taking them away from the usual pressures of the work environment leads to increased morale and a re-energized workforce. This also opens receptivity to new ideas. Studies have shown that we are more likely to think creatively when in a good mood – though anxiety sometimes stimulates focus, it doesn’t help us to think out of the box.
Team Building: For teams the process of moving from individual to group creativity demonstrates that power is increased through group vision when it is achieved through harmony. This reinforces the importance of the individual within the group – each part makes up the whole and the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.
Learning to work with cooperative creativity will transform your workforce into a team of highly functioning individuals, each open and responsive to the needs of the moment and aware of their value and place within the whole. By tapping into the wellspring of creativity generated by the ‘whole’ your entire organisation will benefit from a cultural shift and be ready to thrive in the R-Directed world as it unfolds around us.
