What we learn from avalanches: How a strategic mindset sparks creative excellence

by Jonny Hepburn - Director of Creative Team

In 2019, I was introduced to the concept of a strategic mindset—a deliberately adopted outlook for a group to make decisions with a shared lens. To use a strategic mindset is, on one level, a simple idea. Emerging from Canada’s avalanche industry, it’s a way to manage risk. But applied more broadly, a strategic mindset lays the foundation for productive creative partnerships.

Ever since the Canadian Pacific Railway was built over Rogers Pass in 1884, Canadian industry has been reliant on avalanche control. For many years, the focus was on important physical questions: Where will avalanches happen? When will they happen? What triggers them??

But physics only gets you so far. Managing risk is a fundamentally human process. Fatigue, group dynamics, and the quirks of interpersonal relations mean that groups with the same information make different decisions. Similarly, inter-organizational project teams face complex decisions that are nested inside an effort to manage risk. If stakeholders’ mindsets are poorly aligned, the work gets harder.

In 2014, a long-time ski guide named Roger Atkins shared a new tool at an industry conference in Banff. Based on environmental conditions and team circumstances, guiding teams deliberately select a strategic mindset each day.?

Working in a new location after a big snowfall? Assessment is an appropriate mindset—select safe terrain, make observations, and gather more data. With more information, and more confidence, a team may choose to be stepping out—ratcheting up into more challenging terrain as long as observations support that exposure. Conversely, persistent hazards may lead to an entrenchment mindset. For instance, in much of British Columbia the 2022/23 winter featured a deeply buried weak layer that forced teams to stay patient and conservative all season long.

So what does this have to do with exhibit design? It’s increasingly my belief that we do our best work when we have a shared strategic mindset both across our team, and with our clients.

Early in the design process, with an idea of what you want to achieve, but no specific vision? An ideation mindset supports an honest exchange of ideas, an interrogation of visitor experience assumptions, and an invitation to approach creative challenges from a new angle. Staring down a demanding schedule, with an installation on the horizon and the budget spreadsheet looming large? An execution mindset closes the door to new feedback, emphasizes “must-haves”, and stays focused on robust completion. Have one exhibit that still isn’t quite right? Might be time to take a fresh look, perhaps by inviting new team members to the table.

It’s not rocket science. But it is powerful. Poorly-aligned expectations seed frustration and drive wasted effort if groups work with different assumptions. The challenge is to surface implicit expectations. As always, solid communication that’s built on trust and partnership helps us engage in authentic dialogue that supports alignment, effective process, and ultimately the delivery of outstanding visitor experience for our audiences.

What are you working on right now? What’s your mindset? How do you know? I invite you to experiment. Give it a try.