Chapter 14
For this exercise you will need:
- Two blank sheets of flip chart paper for each participant
- Plenty of colored markers
- Because flip chart paper is large, a lot of space to spread out. (Some people will take off their shoes and sit on the floor for this exercise.)
- Tape or another method of hanging the paper on the wall
You can't expect anyone to execute something they weren't part of creating.
—Meg Wheatley
Think about how much of your messaging as a leader is saying to your teams, “We are here, and we need to be there.” Every day, in ways mundane and significant, leaders move people forward.
What if instead of dictating direction to your team, you invited them to help you articulate it?
That's the idea behind creative tension pictures, which is one of the easiest exercises in Circle of the 9 Muses to execute. (It rivals Visual Timeline for ease of implementation.) You can also scale it very easily. That is, it works with a small team of three people, and I have used it in a conference ballroom with more than 100 people.
In this visual exercise, members of your teams will create metaphorical depictions of the current state and then the desired future state of the team (or project, function, organization, or any other frame that you choose). It's a pure form of Storyboarding (which is described in Chapter 16), and it works for many of the same reasons. It is deliberately slow and reflective, and metaphorical thinking triggers the mind to access its network of thoughts, memories, emotions, and concepts. This simple exercise always yields a meaningful experience.
In his classic book Images of Organization, Gareth Morgan shows how he uses this exercise in high-conflict scenarios, such as in bitter disputes between labor and management. The exercise has the curious effect of diffusing the tension in the conversation. Because storytellers from both sides of the dispute are all focused on the rough stick figures in their collages, this has the effect of externalizing the discomforting feelings. When I tell the story of my two images, I'm no longer pointing at you or even at me but at the metaphorical representation that represents how I perceive the story. Conversations that have been mired in stalemate for years suddenly find traction and movement without defensiveness.
The instructions are simple. Draw a picture of your current reality; and then another of your desired future. Use as many images and as few words as possible. Take turns presenting your images and ideas. That's all there is to it.
The instructions are exceedingly simple.
- Give each of your team members two sheets of flip chart paper and some markers.
- Ask them to draw two pictures for you: an image of where we (as a team, function, project, or organization) are today and then where we need to be in the future (20 minutes).
- Instruct them to make their depictions visual, using as few words as possible.
Have them take turns sharing their images with one another.
That's it! It is basic, even remedial. But as is often the case with the simplest things, there are deep currents moving here.
What's Going On Here
Robert Fritz says his model of creative tension is the core structure of all leadership. It is also the most basic unit—the atomic structure—of all leadership storytelling.1
Creative tension is enabled every time a leader articulates two states: where we are today (our current reality) and where we want to be (our desired future state). When you articulate those two states, you create a tension that generates movement and change. We are here. We should be there.
Fritz depicts the dynamic with a memorable metaphor. Imagine a rubber band stretched between your hands. One side is current reality and the other is the desired future state.
An international group of librarians came together to discuss the existential crisis of their industry (“What does it mean to be a librarian in the age of the Google search bar?”). Hundreds of librarians began defining new visions for their future with Creative Tension Pictures. One of the insights that emerged was that libraries need to embrace a customer service and user experience mental model.
It is the nature of tension to resolve. Furthermore, it resolves in the direction of stability. In creative tension, the clear, compelling, consistent vision is the stable structure, like a stake in the ground. The current reality is unstable and always changing. So enabling creative tension creates movement that draws people toward the vision. Leaders who create and innovate consistently are masters at enabling this creative tension in their own lives and among the people they lead.
Simply articulating the two states creates tension and movement. In a very real way, this exercise is a potent act of leadership. This is not an exercise in preparing for change; the change is already happening in the room as participants sketch and engage one another.
By inviting your team members to articulate the current reality and desired future, you help them exercise their own cores of leadership; you also unleash their creativity to generate new insights with the potential to move the organization.
Options for Creative Tension Pictures
This is one of those basic exercises that is endlessly configurable, and sure to benefit from the creative adaptations you make to fit your team and context. Here are a few options.
- Go kindergarten. I once arrived for a program where I was intending to start with this exercise, and was surprised that the host of the event had placed a box full of glue, pom-poms, pipe cleaners, stickers, glitter, and googly eyes at each table. For a brief moment I thought about objecting, but what the heck? We went with it. It added a level of playfulness that served the group well, and members were ingenious in using the materials at hand (especially the pipe cleaners) to physically link the posters to one another, creating an impromptu, self-organizing network of desired future states.
- Mind the gap. The power of creative tension is that space between today and the future. It implies an urgent question: What will get us from here to there? Most often, when people share the narrative of their two images, this is exactly the conversation that emerges naturally. However, you can be even more prescriptive and add another round in which you ask participants to create a third picture—one that goes in the middle and depicts the journey (including the new behaviors, new tools, new processes, and new beliefs) that will take us to where we need to be.
- Sculpt it. Instead of flip chart paper and markers, give participants several blocks of modeling clay or kids' Play-Doh sculpting dough. Instruct them to create three-dimensional models of the current reality and the desired future state.
- Provide a cheat sheet. When you tell your team that you want them to draw pictures, expect to see a look of panic in their eyes. Emphasize that this isn't an art contest, and that rough is better. The idea is not to dazzle with beauty but to communicate something that matters. I usually will take it a step further and provide an Icon Cheat Sheet that I developed for these exercises to spark people's imaginations and reinforce that crude stick figures are a powerful tool for communication. You are welcome to photocopy mine to use for this exercise.
- Tell the story. The responses to the pictures will be a series of descriptive statements. These will be quite revealing . . . but the conversation becomes even more robust if you connect it to stories. This can be done with simple story prompts:
Tell me about a time (you, the team, etc.) embodied that current reality.
Tell me about a time we/they displayed characteristics of the future state.
When have you seen another person or team display the characteristics and capabilities that you desire for the future?
Where Do I Go from Here?
A next step may be to be organize in Story Circles (Chapter 2), so that team members can begin sharing the specific stories that are triggered by this exercise. You can also use the harvester/witness framework (as described in “Summoning the Muse,” Chapter 6) as a way of teasing additional meaning out of the images and stories.
See? It's just stick figures! An Icon Cheat Sheet is provided in the Appendix. Share it with your team members before starting this exercise to build their confidence in visual thinking.