Advice, tips and inspiration to help you perform at your best
The key to a great workshop is great planning. The first and most important task is to get to the heart of the workshop brief.
To help you do this, here’s a discussion guide to help you understand the real workshop brief. I’ve also developed a checklist, to ensure you’ve considered everything. As a rule of thumb, spend at least as much time planning the workshop as you do running it. The more you plan, the more successful your workshop will be.
When I look back on past workshops, the moments that stick out for me are the funny ones. I remember when someone brought their dog to the session and everyone played with it. Or when someone presented their ideas by taping a flipchart to their body. Once, we gave a prize to the most negative participant in the room. Something you’re never supposed to do - especially as he was the most senior person at the session. He played along with it, which was great.
One of the risks of running a workshop designed to generate new ideas is ‘Groupthink’. People will always seek consensus in a group setting and the facilitator encourages this. As a consequence, dissenting voices or challenging thinking will be squeezed out.
So how can you avoid Groupthink if you are facilitating a workshop? How can you ensure that individual voices and challenging ideas are seen and heard?
Here are a few suggestions.
Nowadays, online workshops have become the norm. So there has to be a great reason to bring people together for a real-life event. Expectations will be high. It has to be worth it. What you don’t want people to say afterwards is: ‘we could have done this online’.
So, how do you ensure that real-life workshops feel special? How can you ensure they’re worth the time, effort and money? Here are a few suggestions.
In a previous post, I explored how a coach could help you. However, a coach isn’t right for everyone. I wouldn’t recommend hiring a coach under the following scenarios.
Is it too late to make a prediction for the year? Probably, but I’ll do it anyway. In the world of business and marketing, 2024 will be all about humour and having a laugh. It will be the year of fun. I’ve seen anecdotal evidence of this. I’ve noticed that people re-branding their businesses have used playful cartoons. Or have incorporated amusing copy. Here’s an example. There were lots of funny ads during this year’s Superbowl. Celebrities were not taking themselves too seriously. The Beckhams. Ben Affleck. And in my favourite ad - Arnie and Danny.
So why is this?
I’ve recently finished the book ‘Four Thousand Weeks’ by Oliver Burkeman, which describes itself as ‘Time Management for Mortals’. I found it enjoyable and thought-provoking.
Rather than quickly moving on to the next book, I thought I’d stop, reflect, and capture my key take-outs.
Here they are.
The Stanley Tumbler phenomenon was brought to my attention by my daughter. I’d never heard of it, so decided to explore it further. It’s an amazing story of how a brand emerged from nowhere to dominate its category.
Over the past couple of years, the ‘Adventure Quencher Travel Tumbler’ - to give it its full name - has become an object of desire. In 2023, sales were around $750 million vs $70 million in 2020.
So why has it become so successful? Here are the key reasons.
I’m reading a great book on storytelling called ‘Into the Woods’ by John Yorke. What struck me was how rule-bound everything is. The way you structure a story, and how you create characters. How you create drama, intrigue, and heart-stopping moments.
All the elements of a great story follow a clear set of rules. And have done so for centuries, no matter whether you’re sitting around a campfire or creating a Hollywood blockbuster.
To be creative we’re often encouraged to break existing rules. I’ve heard this so many times - and said it too. However, I’ve concluded that this is not the best advice. Focus instead on understanding the rules of creativity intimately and become adept at following them. This is the true path to creativity.
Understanding rules is not just for storytellers. The same applies to any creative field. If you’re cooking, you need to understand food chemistry. What happens when heat is added. How flavours combine. The role of fat, sugar and acids and how they react to each other. (I got all this from my favourite Summer read - Lessons in Chemistry.)
The same with playing a musical instrument, drawing, dancing - anything. You’ve got to invest the time and effort into learning and following the rules. Alexander McQueen was one of his generation's most celebrated and creative fashion designers. Aged 16, he served a two-year apprenticeship in tailoring on Savile Row and worked for other fashion labels. He then completed a Masters in fashion at Central St Martins. He was a true craftsman and an expert tailor before he launched his brand.
Once you’ve mastered the rules, you can push and challenge them with more confidence and freedom. You’ll feel powerful enough to improvise and play around like a jazz musician. If, for example, you’re an architect, once you’ve mastered your craft you can experiment with new materials, new structures or add personal flourishes.
SUMMARY
Saying ‘break the rules’ is a trite and obvious thing to say when encouraging people to be creative. I understand why. Creativity is about standing out and being original. We mustn’t just copy and imitate everything that has gone before.
However, getting to know the rules is fundamental to creativity. Like the storytelling experts tell us, there are tried and tested ways of taking people on an emotional journey and keeping people engaged.
Mastering rules is hard and time-consuming. It requires practice and dedication. I guess that’s why being creative is a lifetime’s journey.
Self-improvement is on everyone’s mind at the moment. We’re inundated with articles on how to get fitter, how to achieve our goals, and how to make this year your best year ever. We’re certainly not short of advice and inspiration. It’s all around us.
I’ve only got one suggestion to make - to simply get going. No matter what your ambition is, just start small.
A few weeks ago I was listening to an episode of Desert Island Discs with Adrian Edmondson. When the host, Lauren Laverne asked him what he considered his biggest achievement, he replied - I hope that my best is yet to come. I loved that answer. Adrian Edmondson is 66. A successful comedian, actor and writer. Almost a national treasure. Yet he still felt his best years were ahead of him. I nearly cheered.
I’ve recently finished reading Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, a novel by Gabrielle Zevin. A great read. It’s set in the 1990s and focuses on the relationship between Sam and Sadie as they create a series of computer games. Whilst the Rick Rubin book teaches you about creativity, this book shows you creativity in action.
This is what I learnt and some of the questions it raised for me.
Rick Rubin’s book, ‘The Creative Act’, draws upon his extensive experience of being a music producer to some of the world’s most successful musicians. In it, he provides perspectives on what it means to live a creative life. In many ways, it reminds me of Julia Cameron’s ‘The Artist’s Way’, as he describes creativity as a way of being, not simply a vocational skill.
I loved it. Is it the best ever book written on creativity? Well, it might well be. Let me explain why.
