Collaborative drawing is a great way to build trust and foster creativity on your team. This article demonstrates how drawing together enhances creativity.
A few weeks ago Vancity’s Learning and Development team worked together to create an impact map of Orientation Immersion. Our intention was to demonstrate how the program that we deliver sends ripples of positive change through Vancity, its people and the communities where our members live, work and play.
To get us in the right mindset, one of my colleagues shared this TEDx Copenhagen video by Ole Qvist-Sorensen:
An impact map is simply a big drawing that tells a clear and intentional story of how new and existing employees spending one week together learning about Vancity’s vision and values fosters interconnectedness.
For about 90-minutes our five-person-team scribbled the objects, players and values connected to Orientation Immersion. Here’s what we achieved during that time:
Our map before we linked everything together was a slightly cleaner product.
From events to professional associations to office supplies, we sketched and connected objects, players and values to Orientation Immersion (and each other).
From Vancity’s unique business model to the physical spaces where our program happens to The Earth we sketched and connected abstract concepts and really, really big things (like our planet).
Not only have we started the process of showcasing the significance of Orientation Immersion, but we also gelled as a team because of the process of drawing together. In addition to drafting an impressive illustration of an important piece of Vancity’s values-driven people-led transformation, our team also walked away from the experience with some pretty powerful takeaways.
1. Diversity of Thought Creates Better Answers
When people from different cultural, academic, socio-economic, and/or professional backgrounds are brought together to tackle a project, there is potential to achieve richer outcomes. With dry-erase-markers in our hands, we scribbled people, buildings, supplies, and abstract concepts like “health” and “love” on the white board, proving that greatness comes from the sum of a team’s parts, not just the individual contributors. For example, my background in higher education had me thinking and drawing about the day when Organizational Behaviour students will study the Orientation Immersion program. Folks who had worked in Vancity’s branches before joining People Solutions brought a wonderful perspective about the community-driven events (and the people who run them) and organizations in neighbourhoods throughout the Lower Mainland. And the guy who spent four years as a recruiter drew some great stuff about how the program affected our employer brand.
2. Drawing Together Fosters Trust (and Fun!)
When you suck at drawing and penmanship like I do, it takes a minor leap of faith that you won’t be judged by teammates when you put marker-to-whiteboard. Not everyone likes to express ideas rapidly. So, working as a team to generate, capture and connect ideas requires both an interest and ability to work together, respectfully disagree and, most importantly, build on (and riff off of) other peoples’ ideas. For example, when I noticed that someone was writing words instead of drawing objects or players, I encouraged the person to take a risk and draw something – this encouragement was loudly echoed by teammates and, eventually, the challenge was accepted, which eventually resulted in the creation of “Mr. Headheart” (the unofficial ambassador of Orientation Immersion who embodies the values-driven mission and margin of our organization). Clearly, we had some fun with this project, too.
3. Embracing Complexity is Important
Impact Mapping reflects a systems thinking approach to problem-solving. As evidenced by our super-connected-drawings, this exercise allowed us to analyze the complexity of our program. Oftentimes facilitators synthesize and/or simplify the words, images and ideas of participants through the process of reduction or summary (e.g. writing the word “suppliers” to summarize a nuanced discussion of how supplies, such as pencils, paper and coffee create impact). Through our collaborative, complex and –frankly – messy approach, we did a pretty good job of showcasing the complexity of Orientation Immersion, which is not unlike running a wedding or a conference every two weeks.
Whether you are planning a family vacation, solving a complex community-based problem, or mapping your career potential, ideas go farther and last longer when they are drawn together.
The ideas are great! I totally connect with the VALUE and IMPORTANCE and TIMELY NEED for us human beings to DRAW TOGETHER to move forward and engage our CREATIVITY in SOLVING some huge “man-made problems”!!! Thank you!