At the “campfire!”
For centuries, humans have gathered around campfires to share food, drinks, and stories – stories that compel us to connect, empathize, learn, and reach higher. They have been and are often still at the very center of our shared human experience.
The Learning Map® experience is a continuation of this tradition. It captures the essence of the time-honored campfire. It brings people together from all walks of life and all levels of organizations to connect, empathize, learn, and reach higher. It’s a “campfire” in the sense that it’s an experience in which business leaders and their teams create and share stories. In the case of a Learning Map® experience, these stories help to strategically align their organizations. The experience dares people to step into ambiguity and vulnerability and create the next chapter of their shared human business experience.
And this is where imagination comes in…
Here’s a question to ponder: How do these seemingly simple, strategic images we use in Learning Map® experiences help the solution rise to the top of the best engagements in the corporate world?
Before you can fully understand, we should examine art, story, and their practitioners a little bit more closely.
Artists
Artists say what can’t be said in ways that can be heard and often felt. They draw it, write it, sing it, and dance it. They’re the town criers for the community. Art and literature are often at the center of social movements. Art knits communities together, often without a lot of talking, and opens portals to new realities for societies. Art can do all this for our organizations as well.
Art speaks truth to leaders – it gives them valuable insight into what makes a company tick from the vantage point of the front line. Art also speaks truth to the front line, giving them valuable insight into the business strategy and why leaders make the bets they make. It speaks truth to people, systems, and leaders in ways that encourage companies to come together to see beyond their current limitations and perspectives.
Storytellers
Artists are storytellers.
Storytelling gives us shared narrative. If we all agree on the future we want to create, we’ll have a much greater chance of realizing it without too much fuss. Storytellers can reveal the expression of a culture’s spirit. They can help us imagine what the future state could be or even reveal what’s holding a group back from achieving it.
What comes out of a Root artist doesn’t come from them, but through them. We listen to your stories and use visual stories to share them back to you. This creates a collective “group think” communication loop that helps people get aligned.
Art + Story + Strategy
The reason the Learning Map® experience is so powerful, both in its development and deployment, is that when expressions of art carry shared stories for a group of people, you have a creative and strategic power that’s available to everyone for their individual and collective use. Teams that share a collective story are not leading with their personal objectives or issues, or even their team or function’s objectives or issues – they’re leading with what’s real, and that comes with cultural healing and fortitude.
Developing a story as a group is a collective act of raw imagination. The experience encourages everyone to embrace the art of the impossible made possible – to use their imaginations to look beyond everything we hold true. It activates your entrepreneurs and change agents! It activates your culture and people! And in this world, at this time, they’re screaming to be heard – and they’re looking for outlets to share and activate their ideas at the “campfire.”
