DRAWN to CONNECT

How might drawing - literally - help us connect with each other, our content and collaborations? How do we connect authentically?

Authority figures give prizes for speed and efficiency. Our bosses always want us to move faster, and marketing scientists (we haven't even met) have literally rewired our brains by using intense physical, mental and spiritual biases via television shows and social media. We are starved for connection - for meaning - for love.

I have the great joy of collaborating with two amazing women, Denise Easton and Barb Siegel. Together we are building a program based in complexity, art, communication, and neuroscience called DRAWN to CONNECT (currently in beta).

We're designing a program consisting of three online workshops and one in-person retreat. Our first online workshop, DRAWN to CONNECT: Meet the Technique, ran in June 2018 and was a valuable experience from many angles. It's multifaceted, allowing participants to benefit in ways that best suit them.

As facilitators, we're always re-learning what it takes to build and sustain a community. We asked many questions and had great fun experimenting in our first workshop by attending to what emerged from the group - and WOW!

We've learned to share information live only when it needs to be live in order to make the most of our time together; to allow for different levels of interaction thereby honoring the intention (and personality) each person brings individually. Individually experimenting with how we pay attention, how we present information, ask for input and respond to suggestions can lead to different insights.

There is a subtle art to hosting interactions that fit the group’s collective personality while inviting each individual to show up in their own way.

Shifting the content and modes of engagement to the needs and preferences of those who are present can make for a dynamic experience rooted in complexity. Operating in this way creates a mirror for us as we begin to see how our human experience is mirrored in nature AND how we are part of that nature. This means having a plan and being willing to deviate from it!

As we progress through our daily lives with technology at our sides we begin to find that the clear cut edges of efficiency (of how our apps work in a linear way - and how we interact with these apps) is how we try to live our lives - fitting them into linear processes and clear dichotomies. Hello, frustration!

See, we’re wired for change, for adaptability. Our bodies and minds hold so much information (energetically embodied and knowledge based), simultaneously taking information in and giving it out. What does it mean to feel free? We explored this question as a cohort. Everyone’s drawn answers were different. Below is my drawn response to what freedom means to me.

In the image, there’s a wave of a sort, dots of potential engagement and a few figures (or various perspectives of one figure) emanating energy. One could interpret this drawing in many ways. There is no ‘RIGHT’ way. As we chatted about what freedom meant for each of us we found smiles and laughter and were struck by emerging patterns.

We found through conversation that being open and honest in our conversation brought a sense of freedom, inviting us to be in touch with our most authentic selves. We were able to continuously keep the collective in mind and heart - allowing differences to exist in harmony (rather than always seeking agreement).

As for our DRAWN to CONNECT program, we'll be formulating our next steps soon! Want to be one of the first to know when it's up? Stay tuned via PlexusInstitute.org or email Denise at admin@plexusinstitute.org or reach out to me!

#drawntoconnect #plexusdrawn #onlinecourse #workshop #plexusinstitute #complexity

artists and systems, a relationship

Artists.

Hearing the word artist conjures a myriad of ideas, assumptions and perspectives about artists. Each of us has our own understanding of what an artist is and does based on our experiences, education and feelings. Part of why people have many perspectives on what artists do, how they do it and ultimately who they are is because artists have the capacity to hold tension (opposing views) since they are taught to see differing perspectives in a non-judgmental way - a skill absent from most other fields.

There are many types of artists and many types of art. Imagine bringing art, or some elements of art-making into your work. If initially you laugh and say, ‘That will never work,’ I boldly ask you to suspend that belief for a moment while you read this post (and perhaps beyond). If your eyes light up with energy at the thought that work could be more creative, I hope this post can begin to liberate your creativity, giving it a place at work!

The act of creating art, practicing creativity, naturally asks us to step into a realm where anything is possible - where ideas and concepts intertwine, intersect, become one and then again go on their own way. This ability to open to possibility and hold contradictory ideas as equal is part of what could be called creativity. Artists see these ideas and concepts and explore how and when and… they might fit in harmony or pop in contrast or flow in parallel.

Systems.

I love how systems are ever changing - parts adapt therefore influencing new behaviors from other parts. Thinking in systems involves a fair amount of ‘beginner’s mind’ - one must keep an open mind to seeing new adaptations and understandings continuously rather than studying the entirety of one or two or five parts!

The parts, the whole of the system and its environment are changing so it’s helpful to see the system from as many perspectives and pay attention to the whole, the parts AND the environment with curiosity. (Curious for more on complex adaptive systems? Check out the Plexus Institute Complexity Primer.)

Artists AND Systems.

Oh, the relationships! Artists see systems by seeing process and product simultaneously. I invite you to take a page from this relationship and do the same! What project are you working on right now that you could visualize both as product and process? Grab a piece of paper and try it! Tweet your result with #plexusdrawn!

Creatively,

Amanda Lyons in conversation with Barb Siegel

#plexusdrawn

* first published at plexusinstitute.org/complexityblog/

#plexusdrawn

I'm super excited to be part of the Plexus Institute community as a Board Member and Catalyst! There are so many amazing projects going on in this community. If you don't know Plexus Institute, I suggest you jump in by perusing the website or attending a Pop-up talk (a lightly facilitated informal online zoom conversation). Plexus is a network full of people and projects who apply complexity thinking in many ways who are part of the network to learn about complexity (think members) through volunteering and other learning initiatives or build complexity-based change initiatives (think consultants and clients). Wait, complexity thinking? (There's a whole written Primer - a great place to start!)

#plexusdrawn is a new initiative led by Barb Seigel (Look2Listen.com) and I. We'll be blogging for Plexus and exploring how to visualize complexity?! It's going to be an awesome adventure! Here's our first post, saying hello to the Plexus community:

Hello there! It’s Barb and Amanda. Great to be here. We’re excited to be blogging together with Plexus as we’ve both been a big part of the revitalized Plexus Network. The connections we’ve made at Plexus events and through the Plexus network have been incredible on so many levels. Forget simply being colleagues, we’ve become great friends with many folks through the network and find the high level of work that this crew does (applying complexity science to our world) awe-inspiring.

Our guess is that if you know how complexity changes the conversation, you therefore know what it’s like to feel like the odd man out as you spend time listening to the group you’re working with continue to focus on more traditional approaches and thinking. AND if you don’t feel comfortable with “complexity thinking”, you may have a lot of questions. Our hope is to tell Plexus’ awe-inspiring (and sometimes downright gritty) stories of complexity using visuals and simple language in a way that people can grasp; to inspire deep listening, thinking and feeling around complexity work; to become better at who we are as we learn with the Plexus community; and to have a blast while doing it!

As Barb and I continue to share how we, as visual practitioners, artists, facilitators, and humans think, feel and draw out complexity, we’d love to hear your reactions and stories too! We’ll be creating ways to open the conversation and practice. Watch our first Pop-Up Conversation, Seeing, Diagramming and Drawing Systems to see how you would like to be part of this emerging work. 

We’ll do a more in depth post on who we are. For now, a friendly wave hello. WELCOME to our #plexusdrawn conversation!

Creatively,

Amanda Lyons 

in conversation with Barb Siegel