\u2018Engagement\u2019 means people notice your effort, buzz about it, and then come and play. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So it follows that our tactics can\u2019t be boring and predictable. You and your team will need to escape that awful gravity of those safe and predictable practices you\u2019re familiar with. (For example, no more ‘workshops’!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a team facilitator, you\u2019ll need good tricks to liberate the suppressed creativity of your team, and pump out original, noticeable and buzzworthy engagement tactics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are 6 methods I\u2019ve used (a lot). They always work. They\u2019ll bust your people out of the safe ideas they’re stuck with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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$\"\"$ <\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
The biggest block to creativity is the fear of embarrassment! So start by slaying that fear. Here\u2019s a method: anything that puts a smile on your people’s faces<\/em>. Why does that work? Because it\u2019s impossible for human brains to smile and worry at the same time!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I use party hats a lot (or, in Zoom, the fun Video Filters feature). It\u2019s impossible for people to put on party hats without smiling and feeling like kids again. And, hey, we ALL just embarrassed ourselves \u2013 so what\u2019s there to worry about?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seriously, party hats are amazing creativity boosters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve also used a round of \u201cWhat\u2019s the time Mr Wolf\u201d. That worked too. Also, letting people play with toys or Lego made a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2) Matthew Mazzotta<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n
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$\"\"$ <\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
There really should be category of inspirations called \u201cMazzottas\u201d \u2013 stimulations that blow people\u2019s minds with what\u2019s possible. When your people see how other project teams have adventurously \u201cgone beyond the box\u201d they suddenly have a new sense of possibility, hope and permission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just watch this and you\u2019ll understand: https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dMYvWg7JF3I<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n
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3) Sleeping on it<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
James Webb Young’s 1940 creativity classic, A Technique for Producing Ideas<\/em>, recommends a 5 step method for producing original ideas:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1) Gather lots of raw material (on topic and off topic). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
2) Digest the material (“feel it all over”) <\/p>\n\n\n\n
3) Sleep on it<\/p>\n\n\n\n
4) An idea will come when you don’t expect it<\/p>\n\n\n\n
5) The hard work of building and testing begins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We humans tend get our best ideas in the shower, out walking, in bed at 3.00 am, cycling or some other time when our brains aren\u2019t trying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So just stop trying and ideas will come when you don\u2019t expect them! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
BUT\u2026 DO consciously jump into Google Images and Pinterest, and immerse you and your team in possibilities! That job should be taken seriously before ANY brainstorm (truly).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s the \u2018engaging ideas\u2019 slide show I use to stimulate imaginations in the Changeology workshop. But really, make your own slide show! https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/Engaging_ideas.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
4) Mashups<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
“A (new) idea is nothing more nor less than a new combination of old elements.” <\/em>– James Webb Young<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s true. Innovations are mostly mashups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So, when trying to engage an audience, why not mash your serious project idea with fun engaging activities that people already love. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here are two mashup methods I\u2019ve used a lot. <\/p>\n\n\n
\n
$\"\"$ <\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
Mashup 1 – Passion mashing<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
The facilitator says: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
1) \u201cWrite down a genuine passion that you, personally, have, that\u2019s NOT related to your project, for example cooking, gardening, chamber music, kids, pets, cycling etc\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2) \u201cNow, in pairs, help your partner wonder out loud<\/em>, what would it be like if that passion was mashed into your project?\u201d (10 mins)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3) \u201cNow please share an interesting idea your heard with the group.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 10 minutes your people will amaze themselves. This is such a simple and quick trick, yet it always throws up excellent ideas, that often \u201cself inflate\u201d, taking on a life of their own (another James Webb Young idea), with lots of laughter. I often use it as a warm up for the next method.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mashup 2 \u2013 Classic fun activities<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n
\n
$\"\"$ <\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
Now repeat the same instructions, except this time ask your people to randomly select two numbers between 1 and 33, then refer to the activities in the list below. Once they\u2019ve chosen two activities, ask them to \u201chelp your partner wonder out loud what it could look like if one or both was mashed into their project\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This reliably causes a riot of delightful self-inflating ideas, many of which are seriously useful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then when you hear a good idea announce \u201cThat\u2019s a great idea. Do it!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1. Masked ball
2. Music festival
3. Cook-off
4. Mad Hatters\u2019 Tea Party
5. Easter egg hunt
6. Teddy bears picnic
7. Dance party
8. Card game
9. Kids birthday party
10. Music jam
11. Progressive dinner
12. Jigsaw puzzle
13. Olympic games
14. Food tasting
15. Queen’s high tea
16. Treasure hunt
17. Speed dating
18. Sand castle competition
19. Murder mystery party
20. Singalong
21. Projection festival
22. Circus
23. Musical chairs
24. Farmers market
25. Street party
26. Hide and seek
27. Day at the beach
28. BBQ with friends
29. Campout
30. Guessing game
31. Charades
32. Sculpture competition
33. Fancy dress party<\/p>\n\n\n\n
5) Ban the standard model<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n
\n
$\"\"$ <\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
This is a grown-up innovation method used by serious service and product designers.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Divide your people into teams of 2-5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Repeat these instructions:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
1) \u201cPretend you\u2019re a boring, conventional, project team: not you!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
2) \u201cIn 2 minutes write down the list of 5-6 tactics that the boring team would automatically use for this project. Don\u2019t think too much.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3) \u201cNow, I\u2019ve received a direction from higher powers: all those tactics are BANNED \u2013 you\u2019re forbidden to even talk about them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
4) \u201cNow, in silence, brainstorm what could you do instead.\u201d (10 minutes)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then ask your team to prioritise the ideas with dots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
See the example above. Notice how efficiently it \u2018breaks the standard model\u2019. (Thanks Waterwatch Victoria folks.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
6) Staring at nature<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n
\n
$\"\"$ <\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n
This is a 15 minute private activity. When you\u2019re blocked, stop thinking. Instead walk to a natural place, get up close to a bit of nature, sit quietly and stare at it. Notice everything you can, and think about its relationships, life processes and transformations. An idea will come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here is a podcast that leads you through the method. I\u2019ve done it. It worked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Inspiration Walk<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
http:\/\/knowfolk.com\/journals\/2016\/11\/18\/the-inspiration-walk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Change projects are fundamentally about engagement. \u2018Engagement\u2019 means people notice your effort, buzz about it, and then come and play. So it follows that our tactics can\u2019t be boring and predictable. You and your team will need to escape that awful gravity of those safe and predictable practices you\u2019re familiar with. (For example, no more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-facilitation-2","category-uncategorized","has-post-thumbnail","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pac6ss-MS","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3030"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3030\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3058,"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3030\/revisions\/3058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enablingchange.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}