break-out

Image of person leaping wildly - metaphor for intentional diversity

#034 – Going Wild – Intentional Diversity

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Bring your whole self to your work place – Make diversity matter in all of us

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The benefits of Intentional Diversity

Why take this challenge?

Be fully diverse and inclusive for a day

Explore how intentional diversity can release unexpected insights and opportunities in all of us

Build deeper relationships through greater appreciation of shared experiences in being

 

Graphic image reflecting different pathways to take the adventure

“To what extent do you feel comfortable in bringing your whole self to work?”

When I first heard this question asked, I was puzzled by it. After a while, I got it, but my mind began to conjure up an anarchistic dysfunctional parody of what the reality might be like. I mean, I am someone who seeks to talk regularly to Jesus, but I am pretty sure you don’t want that in your face all the time, do you?

Of course the fact is that we are all more sensitive than that, and the reality is likely to be far more pragmatic. But then, if we accommodate the needs of others, can we really ‘bring our whole self’ into any situation beyond those with the people we are most intimate?

And yet the question is more sophisticated than my initial interpretation of it. It asks “to what extent do you feel comfortable?”, and I confess, that if the situation required it, I feel comfortable.

Diversity needs to be more than just inertly holding diverse elements in an unchanged environment. More than our ability to give people the time and space to fit in with the prevailing culture’. Too blend in. And to belong. To deliver its full potential we need diversity to be intentional diversity.

 

Graphic image reflecting the idea of a Pack of resources to support the adventurer in the challenge

You may find the following resources helpful in tackling your challenge or in gaining further benefits from the skills and insights you develop

To catch up on past adventures you may have missed, feel free to browse our Adventures Library

 

Graphic image suggesting the idea of posting a record of the adventurer's journey

Let us know how you get on.
Share your experience, your insights and your observation using the comments section at the bottom of the Linkedin post.

Please help us to extend and develop our community by sharing what you are doing. Click on the links below where you are most active, and then like or share the article to your network. Thank you for helping.

And share your progress and insights with the Twitter LbA community using #leadingbyadventure

Useful links:

 

Picture of tree in mist with sun behind it reflecting a sense of mystery startpoints

#021 – Mystery Startpoints

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Massively increase your creative options for finding novel ways forward – Use Brutethink to give your brain a real workout in making new connections

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Benefits of using mystery startpoints like Brutethink to stretch your imagination

Why take this challenge?

Move outside the invisible confines of our current thinking patterns

Develop techniques and skills to introduce radical new ideas to your work

Build a culture of more innovative working patterns and processes

 

Graphic image reflecting different pathways to take the adventure

Our brains are immensely powerful organs. But they are also correspondingly lazy. They like spending time in what they know and where they feel confident and comfortable. As a result they tend to get themselves into ruts, and to justify that by being very competent and confident in that rut.

Creativity, by its very nature, is about stepping out of the rut.

I caught a clip for a reality TV programme recently, with one of the judges expounding that ‘You can’t teach creativity’. The phrase and the tone annoyed me – it conveyed a sort of ‘you’ve either got it, like me, or you never will!’ arrogance. But, in a way, what she said is technically correct. You can’t teach it! And ‘you can’t teach it’ because we all have it. Even if statements like the example above make us believe we don’t. What we need to teach is the confidence to access it.

Developing that confidence can benefit immensely from creative tools. Our brains may be reluctant to find ways to climb out of their comfortable ruts. But if, by means of a simple tool, you place them a distance away from that rut, you will be surprised at the speed and pace they can make connections to get back into it. The thing is, that any way in is also a way out. And once seen, it cannot be unseen.

This is the premise behind the Brutethink technique which Michael Michalko describes on page 157 of his delightful Thinkertoys book. Take a word at random, and make connections between it and the means to resolve your current issue.

 

Graphic image reflecting the idea of a Pack of resources to support the adventurer in the challenge

You may find the following resources helpful in tackling your challenge or in gaining further benefits from the skills and insights you develop

To catch up on past adventures you may have missed, feel free to browse our Adventures Library

 

Graphic image suggesting the idea of posting a record of the adventurer's journey

Let us know how you get on.
Share your experience, your insights and your observation using the comments section at the bottom of the Linkedin post.

Please help us to extend and develop our community by sharing what you are doing. Click on the links below where you are most active, and then like or share the article to your network. Thank you for helping.

And share your progress and insights with the Twitter LbA community using #leadingbyadventure

Useful links:

 

Writing paper plane in a open sky as a metaphor for where words can transport you - verbal voyages

#013 – Verbal Voyages

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Only say ‘Yes, and …’ and see what new perspectives await you – Give your curiosity a serious workout today!Header gif of a writing paper plane in a open sky as a metaphor for where words can transport you - verbal voyages

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Benefits of taking verbal voyages

Why take this challenge?

To practice plussing and develop the skills, language and reflexes of building on ideas

To explore the impact on people, situations and your own learning of sustaining the positive

To practice skills that challenge your team and help it grow in creativity and insight

 

Graphic image reflecting different pathways to take the adventure

I am grateful to Andy Denne for this week’s exercise. And I have to admit, it is going to be every bit as big a challenge on me as it will be on you.

You may have seen the film ‘Yes Day’ promoted recently, where two parents decide that for 24 yours they will only say ‘Yes’ and not ‘No’. Well this is not that, well not quite.

This is ‘yes’ day with responsibilities built in. It is ‘yes, and …’ day.  As in “Yes, and … to make that work effectively we need to find a way to … overcome this obstacle … or deal with these risks/consequences”. Not “No, because …”, nor even “Yes, but …” – For an entire 24 hours, only “Yes, and …”

“Yes and …” comes from the world improvisational comedy, but has great application to the world of business also. The challenge will be how quickly and creatively you can think about what else needs to happen to make what is suggested not only possible, but a good idea.

It is not about putting your reservations to one side, it is about embracing them and  turning them on their head to invite further creativity in how to deal with them. It is a really great skill set to have. It leads to new possibilities, innovation and adventure. It raises energy, grows ownership, and encourages vision and teamwork. It is about seeing and staying with possibilities long enough to fully explore their potential.

The interesting thing about human beings is that we mentally emphasise the downsides of new ideas. We see the risks many times faster and more clearly than we see the possibilities. And because of this we tend to write things off before we’ve had any real opportunity to fully explore their potential. We stifle innovation.

But innovation rarely comes as just one new idea. It usually needs a lot more smaller new ideas around it to make it work. And those supporting ideas take openness and a bit of time.

“Yes, and …” buys that time

So the challenge this week is to determine, to commit (because it does need resolve) to give “Yes, and …” a try. And to see where that takes you.

 

Graphic image reflecting the idea of a Pack of resources to support the adventurer in the challenge

You may find the following resources helpful in tackling your challenge or in gaining further benefits from the skills and insights you develop

To catch up on past adventures you may have missed, feel free to browse our Adventures Library

 

Graphic image suggesting the idea of posting a record of the adventurer's journey

Let us know how you get on.
Share your experience, your insights and your observation using the comments section at the bottom of the Linkedin post.

Please help us to extend and develop our community by sharing what you are doing. Click on the links below where you are most active, and then like or share the article to your network. Thank you for helping.

And share your progress and insights with the Twitter LbA community using #leadingbyadventure

Useful links:

 

Tactile puzzles represented by a matchbox

#010 – Now for something completely different …

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Tactile physical puzzles can provide helpful respite from Zoom fatigue. Give yourself a short break from the screen – try something manualTactile puzzles can provide a welcome distraction

Please help us to get the word out in just two clicks – click here – then click the like button

Benefits of a Tactile puzzle

Why take this challenge?

Give yourself a screen break

Trying out different modes of relaxation and renewal

 

Graphic image reflecting different pathways to take the adventure

During my research to pull these adventures together, a number of people emphasised the use of small physical challenges to get away from the screen. Things like learning to juggle and mechanical puzzles take the brain somewhere totally different and, for some, that can be amazingly helpful.

So this weeks adventure is to see whether you may be one of those people.

If you have a puzzle at home to use, then try that (as long as it is not screen based). If not, then I have populated the tracks with simple ideas you might use with common objects.

 

Graphic image reflecting the idea of a Pack of resources to support the adventurer in the challenge

You may find the following resources helpful in tackling your challenge or in gaining further benefits from the skills and insights you develop

To catch up on past adventures you may have missed, feel free to browse our Adventures Library

 

Graphic image suggesting the idea of posting a record of the adventurer's journey

Let us know how you get on.
Share your experience, your insights and your observation using the comments section at the bottom of the Linkedin post.

Please help us to extend and develop our community by sharing what you are doing. Click on the links below where you are most active, and then like or share the article to your network. Thank you for helping.

And share your progress and insights with the Twitter LbA community using #leadingbyadventure

Useful links:

 

Black paint on face - metaphor for Breaking through the invisible boundaries (paradigms) that confine our potential

#002 – Fixing ‘That’s not me!’

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Breaking through the invisible boundaries that confine our potential; Take a moment to experience the cathartic effect of small freedoms

Why take this challenge?

Helping us to recognise and move beyond the insidious and unconscious barriers that hold us back from what is available for us to experience.

To provide perspectives which might offer more out of life and give ourselves conscious choices about engaging with them.

 

There is so much I want to say about the importance and the joy of liberating ourselves from invisible bonds and conventions – about Rumi, about The Rose, about my own experience. But suffice it to say here, that this exercise is about doing things differently – because we can!

 

 

Please help us to extend and develop our community by sharing what you are doing. Click on the links below where you are most active, and then like or share the article to your network. Thank you for helping.

 
 

Useful links: