Transformational Change Requires the 'Creative Self'

In her essay Of Power and Time, poet Mary Oliver draws a distinction between the aspects of self that help the world go around and those that move the world forward.

The former’s job is to keep the gears turning.

Moving the world forward in transformational ways, however, requires the full engagement of what Oliver calls the ‘creative self:’ This, she says, is ‘something altogether different from the ordinary. Such work does not refute the ordinary. It is, simply, something else. Its labor requires a different outlook–a different set of priorities.’

When it comes to strategic ‘innovation’ or transformational strategy, the tools we use are all too often those of the step-wise ordinary world. The world of incremental shift, sticky-notes, and linear processes. When we use these tools, we’ll get a step-wise, incremental, linear process.

There’s nothing wrong with this. It’s necessary to navigate the world as it is. But it will not help move the world, or our work, forward in a visionary way.

For that, we need what Oliver calls the ‘creative self.’ This self engages with ‘forces that travel beyond realm of the hour and the restraint of the habit.’ Furthermore, there’s no telling what will come from the explorations of the creative self. The most we can do is prepare ourselves ‘body and spirit, for the labor to come–for [the] adventures are all unknown.’

The strategies, visions, and deep connections that come from working with the creative self form the foundation for true innovation and transformational change.

Yet, because such work asks us to relinquish attachment to pre-determined outcomes or well-trodden paths, it is generally shunned from staff retreats, board rooms, and strategic planning processes.

So we end up with plans, strategies, and visions robbed of creativity. Robbed of vision. Empty of Spirit.?

Bringing Creative Spirit Back to Visionary Strategy

At this point, we could wax philosophical about this and review some of the peer-reviewed research around the importance of creativity to visionary change (the book Your Brain on Art is great for this). Or we could simply look at a few concrete ways to invite the creative self into the work of transformation and strategy.?

1. Collective Art Making: At a recent team retreat, we engaged in a story-sharing exercise then took the themes that surfaced from the stories and used them as prompts for 30 minutes of art-making. Each person sat with a canvas and a pile of construction paper, glue, paint, and other materials and was invited to simply create, allowing themselves to be guided by the energy of the space. After half an hour, we assembled the art works and collaboratively positioned them to build a tapestry. With the pieces assembled, we explored the question: What story does this collective art tell? What vision wants to emerge and how might we put structures and strategies in place to support that vision? The vision and strategy that took shape was far beyond, and much deeper, than what the same team had arrived at through a three month conventional planning process.
2. Walking in Nature: During a recent coaching session, a client was stuck in a strategy and vision loop, rehashing old ideas and getting increasingly frustrated. Together, we scraped away the noise and boiled everything down to one essential question. Then I invited them to get off the Zoom and spend an hour walking in a local park carrying the question with no agenda other than listening to whatever emerged. When they returned for the second half of our session, the energy had shifted completely. The client had received a clear next step and the various pieces that had been swirling had settled into a coherent vision. All that remained was to follow the breadcrumbs and stay grounded in the vision (no small task).
3. Pull a Card: Card pulls, whether from a tarot deck or other ‘oracle’ deck (my favorite is the Wild Unknown Archetype Deck), are powerful, much scoffed at, ways to focus thought and invite insight. The idea behind working with cards, or any type of divination, is not to predict the future, but rather to gain perspective on what’s present beneath the surface in any given situation. Just like a good coach crafts powerful questions to provoke thought, a divination card helps activate the imagination and bring Spirit into the conversation. An example: During a recent group coaching engagement, the team agreed that their current strategy was missing something. ‘It looks right, but doesn’t feel quite right’ was the consensus. We pulled a collective card for the group and, before even looking at the traditional interpretation of the card, insights began bubbling up. Within half an hour, the strategy came into greater alignment and was something the entire team was excited to support.

Art, nature, divination–all three are universally accessible. None require special skills and they’re all close to free. While different in practice, all three of these tools set up a container of light ritual that invites the rational mind, the one we use to pay taxes or drive cards, to take a step back so that the intuitive, creative, connected self can step forward.

When that happens, the world moves forward in ways our rational mind could never imagine.

As simple as all that may sound, it can be challenging to navigate on your own. If you'd like support in inviting the Creative Self into you or your team's work through a retreat or ongoing coaching, please feel free to reach out to see what we can dream up together!