Connecting the Dots

Posted on May 30, 2008 by Harvey Seifter
Filed Under Arts in Business, Creativity | Leave a Comment

One of the most important challenges we face is proving that arts-based learning provides the kinds of specific and tangible benefits that justify its cost.  Of course, we have a lot of evidence supporting the effectiveness of strategies that employ the arts in the service of non-artistic learning and behavioral outcomes in K-12 and post-secondary education, the civic arena, and even as therapeutic interventions in clinical settings. And at least some of that evidence is quantitative.  But its not enough.

If you believe (as I do) that arts-based learning in business is best understood as a subset of a much broader field — let’s call it arts-based learning in life — then its not a huge leap to hypothesize a relationship between these kinds of experiences and the outcomes of arts-based learning in business and workforce development.  But like any hypothesis, this one needs testing.  The fact is, we haven’t yet connected the dots between “arts-based learning”, “creativity” and “innovation” convincingly and until we do, we’re going to have a hard time making the ROI case to skeptical corporate decision-makers or convincing hard-pressed school officials to allocate scarce resources.

Of course, there are huge obstacles to developing the kinds of rigorous outcomes-based data that would have real impact, ranging fromthe inherent limitation of quantitative assessments of creativity, to the presence of vast numbers of unpredictable external variables that confuse the research picture. In fact, many of the key outcomes of arts-based learning may be inherently unquantifiable, or impossibly difficult and expensive to measure. 

But that doesn’t mean that all of them are, and we should not let the challenges become an excuse for inaction. We need to carefully analyze the possibilities, pick the targets we believe are most likely to yield productive results, develop our research strategies, and go!

Tapping into the Global Language of Creativity

Posted on May 10, 2008 by Harvey Seifter
Filed Under Arts in Business, Creativity | Leave a Comment

All over the world, corporations, governments and NGO’s are focused on acquiring the skills and
tools they need to tap into the creativity of their workers and unleash the creative potential of their organizations, because they see creativity as the “natural resource” that fuels the Innovation Economy. One powerful way to develop this resource is by engaging art - the global human language of creativity - as a learning tool.

Artistic expression represents perhaps the most the most concentrated and universally accessible repository of creativity in the world, and artists have profound insights into the creative process, as well as an extraordinary set of practical skills gained from years of high-stakes, high performance teamwork, communication across cultures, and “real time” innovation. Arts-based knowledge represents a formidable resource, waiting to be tapped by companies, organizations and societies in search of creative solutions; and leaders striving to empower and engage the imaginative and inventive powers of their employees.

Black Swans and Artists

Posted on May 10, 2008 by Harvey Seifter
Filed Under Globalization, Innovation | 1 Comment

The only prediction I feel that I can make with absolute confidence is that the world - powered by speed, complexity, social interconnectivity and by the global marketplace - will grow even more radically unpredictable over the next decade than it already is. We can absolutely count on “black swans” (Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s name for massive-impact, highly improbable events that lie far beyond the realm of normal expectations, such as 9/11 and the rise of Google) turning everything upside down in ways that we can’t possibly predict today, although with 20/20 hindsight these transformations will eventually seem to have been inevitable.

All the necessary attributes for dealing superbly with radical unpredictability - the ability to synthesize information across disciplines and focus on “what might be” knowledge, the capacity to integrate a generalist’s approach to problem solving with the mastery of a highly specialized skill set, comfort in fluid situational hierarchies and improvisational environments, and the willingness to embrace the unexpected — can be found in the processes, skills and experiences of artists, and not in a lot of other places.

Organizations with internal cultures that allow them to take advantage of arts-based learning will benefit greatly; the rest are likely to concentrate on what they already know, causing them to miss opportunities and making them especially vulnerable to disruptive change.

Arts-Based Learning in Business

Posted on May 10, 2008 by Harvey Seifter
Filed Under Arts in Business | Leave a Comment

In recent years, there has been a remarkable growth in the use of the arts to help businesses meet their employee training and organizational development needs. In the U. S. alone, more than 400 of the Fortune 500 and countless smaller firms now use arts-based learning to foster creative thinking, promote the development of new leadership models, and strengthen employee skills in collaboration, change management and intercultural communication. Clearly, many business leaders have concluded that there are valuable lessons to be learned from the experiences and insights of artists - lessons that can help their companies to stay profitable in these challenging times. (See www.creativityconnection.org for some recent examples and case studies.)

The Energy of Synthesis

Posted on May 9, 2008 by Harvey Seifter
Filed Under Innovation | Leave a Comment

One of the reasons we think synthesis (in all fields) is important is because of the energy generated when you cross boundaries, bridge gaps, and break through barriers. Where does that energy come from? Why don’t we all stay in our comfort zones and follow one well-recognized discipline? It seems like there are (at least) a couple of possibilities. (Pardon me for leaning heavily on Wikipedia for these paragraphs!)

Hybrid vigor, or heterosis, describes the “increased strength of different characteristics in hybrids, the possibility to obtain a “better” individual by combining the virtues of its parents”. By taking lessons from two or more disciplines, by avoiding “inbreeding depression” based on “homozygosity”, we get the best of both worlds and create a more vigorous multidisciplinary approach. Interestingly, there’s actually a Hybrid Vigor Institute that applies these principles to the intersection of natural science, political and social science, arts and humanities.

Catharsis crossed over from Greek as a term of theater aesthetics, though it began as a medical technique (purgation) and was co-opted in the early 20th century by the psychologists. At its most effective, it is not just heightened emotion, but a movement through and beyond emotion “resulting in restoration, renewal and revitalization in members of the audience.” It is generated “by the conjunction of stereotyped characters and unique or surprising actions” and can result in a release in tension and a change in perspective.

Change in perspective sounds an awful lot like paradigm shift, and that indeed is what we strive for when we deliberately blend or collide different disciplines. Interestingly, Thomas Kuhn himself believed that his concept applied only to the “hard” sciences and not to the social sciences or humanities, because he thought that they always studied previous models and thus always had different perspectives in view. But those of us who work in “soft” fields (as well as management and business) know that any discipline or organized pursuit can become an habitual activity, a comfort zone with its own less-questioned assumptions. Questioning assumptions by bringing together diverse disciplines generates new ways of thinking about the problem we’re facing, and sometimes a permanent shift in perspective, leading to the possibility of new solutions.

And that’s probably where the energy comes from, in the end. When people glimpse new worlds, when we offer ourselves the hope of finding solutions that were hidden and thus impossible before, there is an excitement unlike any other. Synthesis is not just “better in combination”. At its best, it sets the stage for the genesis of something completely new and filled with possibilities.

About

Welcome to Synthesis, a new blog by Harvey Seifter, founder of Creativity Connection, author of Leadership Ensemble, and editor of Arts-Based learning for Business. He'll focus on a range of topics at the intersection of creativity, business, and global culture, with special attention to the roles that the arts can play in meeting the challenges of an evolving global marketplace.

If you're particularly interested in a project you read about here, or in supporting these organizations, please drop us a line.

Categories


Archives


Recently