How to Integrate Arts-Based Interventions Into Your Work

The hardest part about integrating arts-based interventions (ABIs) into our work isn’t logistics; it’s the stories that we tell ourselves about why we can't. We don't want to look silly! What will our colleagues think? Are the benefits really there? We've been told for a long time, in many ways, that work should be logical, practical, rational and things should go from A to B to C in that order in a straight line to maximize efficiency and effectiveness. But what if that’s not true?

So how do we bring ABIs into our work activities? We plan and prepare. We anticipate and address factors such as: How long is the meeting? What are we trying to accomplish? How many people will be attending? Is the meeting virtual, in-person, hybrid, synchronous or asynchronous? All those things matter and will have an impact on the activity or activities you choose.

Back to Basics

Generally, I suggest people seeking to add ABIs to their work start with something small: a guided visualization, a scribble drawing or perhaps making a sculpture out of things on their desk. Do it at the start of a team meeting! In some cases, it’s just a different form of icebreaker that many teams started doing during the pandemic.

Make sure you debrief the activity afterwards. See what people thought: Did they like it? Did they have any insights or things they would like to share (they may, or they may not; either is fine).

Bringing these quick activities into regular meetings helps start to build the culture around creativity and reflection. These activities also help to build trust and psychological safety, both of which are key to being successful in the world we live and work in.

Creating Time

Knowledge work requires time for reflection and diffuse thinking. We spend much of our time doing focused thinking and trying to solve problems by crunching more data, but the magic happens in the white space between the boxes. Innovation and novel ideas come from diffuse thinking — taking the focus away and letting our minds wander and do different things.

Albert Einstein was a big proponent of this approach. He called it Image Streaming, as author Win Wenger described in “The Einstein Factor.” One of the things Einstein did to encourage diffuse thinking was playing the violin. In a 1931 interview, he wrote, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly speaking, a real factor in scientific research." Arts-based interventions fuel imagination.

Now, back to the hardest part of adding arts-based interventions: they’re new, different and — in many cases — uncomfortable for people to facilitate. I encourage starting with a team or group that is already friendly or familiar and to frame it as an experiment — something you’re trying just to see what happens. It’s a learning experience, for the facilitator and the participants, so keep that in mind and be curious about potential outcomes. If your experience is like mine was, the first time I tried scribble drawings with a group that were providing input in a knowledge management strategy and technology requirements workshop I was leading, you will be pleasantly surprised. The energy and engagement will shift, you will get responses that are more thoughtful and detailed, and you will be glad that you tried the experiment.

An Open Approach

Some other tips for starting out:

Feel the fear and do it anyway. In all the times I’ve led arts-based activities, I’ve never had a bad outcome. I’ve never had anyone get mad and leave a workshop over it. If anything, I’ve gained credibility for being brave enough to try something that goes against the norm and people have been happy and surprised at the outcomes.

Related Article: How Creativity Fuels Digital Transformation

Be curious and playful. Remember when you were young, and just did stuff to see what would happen? Cultivate that sense of wonder again. What are you afraid of? Share it with the group, if it’s a group that you know and/or are comfortable with. People will appreciate your honesty, which not only helps build psychological safety but also gives them permission to try and do something different or share some thoughts or questions they may have been hesitant to share.

Start with an easy activity. I’ve mentioned scribble drawings a few times. They’re my go-to activity when I need something quick and easy to do. Everyone has a piece of paper and a pen/pencil, and that’s all it takes. The idea is to get people out of their heads for a few minutes. I’ve had people solve problems they had been struggling with for months because they did a scribble drawing.

Scribble drawing instructions, online version:

Put your drawing tool on your paper.
Scribble for about 5 seconds with your eyes closed.
Open your eyes. What do you see?
Add something to your scribble.
Spend five minutes finishing your scribble drawing. Bring out shapes or objects you see — it’s like laying on your back and looking at clouds.
Make a list of the first five thoughts or words that come to you when you look at your drawing/scribbles. No censoring.
Write for five minutes, stream of consciousness style.
Debrief.

If you’re crunched for time, you may want to skip steps 6 and 7. Or, if you’re in a physical space together, you can pass the pieces of paper around the room a half-dozen times and have each person add something to the drawing. (When you do the in-person version, make sure everyone writes their names on their papers, because they won’t recognize them when they get them back.)

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