Using Arts-Based Dialogue to Lead Teams Through Transformational Change

Working with executives and their teams to develop creativity, innovation, and leadership capabilities, Linda Naiman brings a multi-disciplinary perspective to learning and development through coaching, training, and consulting. Her particular expertise is in utilizing arts-based learning and design thinking to lead teams through transformational change. She’s an expert in how arts-based dialogue can be used as a discovery method for creating a desired future in organizations.

In her essay, “Arts-Based Dialogue as a Catalyst for Transformational Change,” which she contributed with dozens of other authors to the book, The Secret Sauce for Leading Transformational Change, she explores how “arts-based dialogue draws upon visual and metaphorical thinking processes to foster a cohesive understanding that illuminates new insights, enabling decision-making and action.”

It’s interesting stuff – and it’s all brought to life through Linda’s vivid example of arts-based dialogue process in action. I’ve shared key insights from her essay below. The full essay can be found in The Secret Sauce book, for which I am lead author.

Setting the Stage

A growing network of organizational consultants and educators (“the Group”) was at a turning point, struggling to decide their next steps and how they would continue to work together.

The Group was interested in the ways people work together in complex human systems, whether in teams, across organizations, or in whole communities, through collaboration and capacity development.

They became especially interested in how art could be used to stimulate creativity and enhance collaboration as a way for team members “to get out of their heads” and access different ways of learning.

The Group engaged in a retreat setting with Linda and her team. Their goal was to use collaborative painting methods to help them have conversations they were finding difficult. One participant described it as an opportunity “for us to go beyond simply the words and create a picture of the story that was in the process of unfolding.”

Key Components of the Process

At the outset of the session, Linda set up a container where she asked each person to share what brilliance they’d brought to the meeting. She also asked everyone to listen for the brilliance in what others were bringing to the conversation. In this way, they could build on each other’s ideas rather than shoot them down. Naming what brilliance participants were bringing to the retreat, provided an opportunity for them to engage in image-making representations of what they thought their intentions were.

A “Visual Dialogue” activity designed to promote conversations using abstract imagery rather than words acted as an icebreaker. Pairs took turns through several rounds with different partners, making abstract images on paper, in response to each other, and thus had conversations. At the end of the process, participants were asked to describe what the images said about collaboration. This sparked a more involved discussion about artistic processes, collaboration, and how the Group was evolving.

Participants were asked to paint their responses to two questions: “How do I see my world?” and “Where am I at?” Each person painted alone, for five minutes. Group members then moved from painting to painting, talking about the symbols and images they had each created, and what they saw in one another’s work. The images revealed patterns, connections, and relationships that would never have been apparent otherwise. Why? Because it is easier to talk about sensitive issues when you are referring to an image instead of each other.

In another session, participants were asked to paint 10 collaborative paintings. As the products of collective vision, each painting proved very different. As participants began to talk about their shared creative experiences, a deeper understanding emerged. They drew on the metaphors in the paintings to share observations and pose new questions about themselves as individuals and as a collective. They began to relax and “let it come.”

Outcomes (in Their Words)

“Painting got us out of our cognitive, explanatory, and analytical headspaces,” wrote one participant. “It was an alternative form of expression. We didn’t start with a narrative, but a story emerged from the process.”

Another commented, “The paintings were a source of intimacy the group needs to stay together and provided a forum for rich and insightful dialogue.”

“We realized that the archetypes that emerged . . . represented the essence of what we wanted to convey about collaboration to our public. We have learned that it’s not about making art, not about performance. It’s about creating meaning together, using powerful visual symbols and images that come from the deepest parts of our being.”

The images created in an arts-based dialogue process can help leaders effectively mediate complexity, discuss the undiscussable, evoke storytelling, and engage the hearts and minds of participants in the exploration of new possibilities. Linda writes that, “Art is an invitation to have a conversation. It is not about performance; it is about artful reflection and storytelling that helps us explore the landscape of complex issues.”

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The Secret Sauce for Leading Transformational Change, from lead author Ian Ziskin and with contributions from dozens of senior business leaders, HR leaders, experts, coaches, and consultants, shares insight, vivid stories, lessons learned, and best practices for what it takes to lead, survive, and thrive in periods of transformational change. Learn more at https://www.transformationalchangebook.com.