The journey of an curious Imagineer

Hallo, my name is Chimene Adoptie and I would like to welcome you to portfolio “The journey of a curious imagineer”, in its own way describes the challenges of being a professional as well as inspiring individual. With this portfolio I hope to inspire you with the content I have created.

However, it is not only a book of answers that you are holding, instead you’re holding a collection of the most effective questions and knowledge that I have encountered along the way. These pages serve as a pep talk to honor that voice inside of you that is always reminding you have something special to offer. It’s a reminder that while there is no clear route for where you’re going and that many have traveled this road before. It’s invitation to unlearn everything you’ve ever been told you should do in order to learn what you must.

One of the things I value in life is hard work and also believing, loving and being passionate about what you doing.

With one of my strongest attest being my creativity, alongside the help of Imagineering I was given the opportunity to challenge creativity and really pushing myself to setting new boundaries.

One thing that will go unnoticed is the perpetual reference of me as a future entrepreneur. There is

a simple reason behind this and that is the ambitious side or the hungry side of me. For the past 3 years I have been working on several graphic design projects for various clients of mine.

With enough determination in the future this flower will bloom into something even greater and become an advertising agency with a twist of Imagineering. I have set many milestones for myself and the ultimate milestone so far is to get to he points where I can use my passion, knowledge and expertise on Imagineering I can help brands and organizations in the future to reach their full potential. Throughout my journey I will out useful tips for both you guys reading and myself.

It is a long road with a steep learning curve to becoming a professional, which is the ultimate dream. There are countless factors or competences that make a great professional with two of the most important ones being experience and knowledge of the craft, after all knowledge is power. The knowledge portrayed through my portfolio comes from school readings and what I took upon myself to read for my personal development. Next to reading I also frequently visit workshops and TED events. When looking at how much I have personally progressed these last two periods I see good personal growth.

Tips for the future Reading of the week Practical (workshop) Energizer

Before diving into my portfolio let me provide some context for the outline. There are a total of 6 chapters, with each one of those representing the 6 weeks of class we had within the two standard blocks per semester. In every chapter there are steamy information treats for you guys to unwrap alongside some tips for the future and at the very end there is a list of great and inspiring examples that I gathered during the journey. Now that this is out of the way let us begin with what we came here for.

It’s 11:30 a.m. on a Friday, and I’m clicking on “Save” to this document one final time before it begins its adventure into the world. Personally, I’ve found that things appear at the ideal time, nor before nor after.

Consider the possibility! That this book made its way into your hands because you needed it to. I am humbled and grateful that these words will find their way from me to you, somehow, in some way, at just the right time. Thank you for being part of this wild and wondrous journey.

6th January, 2016

“Make plans and achieve your goals�

W

hen starting out on a journey of self-

improvement, I found that staying on top of all there is to do can feel overwhelming. Personally I believe that by taking back control your planning and staying organized you can be much more helpful to yourself. In my case I’ve decided to set goals and deadlines and plan on working towards them. With that in mind I visualized my goals by mind mapping them, you can see that as the creative side of me coming forward. Every morning after waking up I gaze upon it, this iss a very easy way to stay focused).

Important deadlines: - November 17th research presentation - November 25th ITR report - December 2nd Literature review Looking back at all of the deadlines I had, I have to say that the literature review was the most challenging of the three since I started my masters. That’s mainly due to the fact that I am not that prominent in English. To make matters even worst I have also never had to write a literature review before during my entire school career. In other words, these were untested grounds for myself. But I am always down for a challenge so I took the challenge head on. This

experience made me a firm believer in the power of one’s mind. The truth is, it wasn’t easy but by simply believing in myself helped deliver with great result. I am very eager to share my journey with all of you.

Ready, set, go! Start block 2 Tuesday November 8th, was the official start of the second module. At the kick-off was our study coordinator Margo. Margo is a very enthusiastic individual and she told us everything we had to look forward to in the up and coming weeks.

What really made my day was the fact that we would finally be able to sit down with our application company for designing the 2nd assignment. Just imagine, what goes through a student’s mind when he or she has to sit in front of directors, managers and assistant of big companies. I can still recall the exact feelings and thoughts that went through my mind, so much expectations and enthusiasm. Before we knew it, there we were sitting with the research manager Mr. Ron of the “Jaarbeurs” Utrecht. I am not ready to tell you about my “Jaarbeurs” experience yet as I still want to tell you how the first weeks of my module went. I will tell you more about my experience there later on. First let me tell you what knowledge we gained during the first couple of weeks.

Tuesday November 8 , was the official start of the second th

module. At the kick-off was our study coordinator Margo.

Margo is a very enthusiastic individual and she told us everything we had to look forward to in the up and coming weeks. What really made my day was the fact that we would finally be able to sit down with our application company for designing the 2nd assignment. Just imagine, what goes through a student’s mind when he or she has to sit in front of directors, managers and assistant of big companies. I can still recall the exact feelings and thoughts that went through my mind, so much expectations and enthusiasm.

Before we knew it, there we were sitting with the research manager Mr. Ron of the “Jaarbeurs” Utrecht. I am not ready to tell you about my “Jaarbeurs” experience yet as I still want to tell you how the first weeks of my module went. I will tell you more about my experience there later on. First let me tell you what knowledge we gained during the first couple of weeks.

From analysis to concept: a practical approach Tuesday, by Frank Ouwens

T

he term “concept” is frequently used and most often not in the sense that most of us have in mind from

the perspective of Imagineering (and the field of concept development within Imagineering). And guess what, even as a graphic designer I often use the word “concept” wrong. This is why I find it important to clearly state the term “concept” in its basic meaning. First of all in the following memo/ summary of the article “what is concept” I will define the term concept. Secondly, I will discuss the term concept in relation with experience and functionality. Finally, by mean of numbers of great examples, we will shed light on various types of concepts.

Reading of the week: What’s in a concept?

Concept (as an elaboration of an idea) is a working principle that generates interrelatedness and directs the realization of one or more goals.

Concept= Idea à Working principle à interrelatedness à goal Link to Imagineering The definition of concept by Frank Ouwens refers to a tactical level, which sees Imagineering as an approach for design experience and value creation through the use of creative techniques (ABCDEF model).

A concept is a leading idea, a “red threat”, and the umbrella guideline. A principle and unique direction, based on values witch directs operations, services or experiences. – Frank Ouwens

TIP: make it value driven. Use it as a principle to connecting things internally (values) to externally.

“Inspiration is everything”: Analysis phase of the (ABCDEF “Imagineering” model) “Be knowledgeable about the topic/ organization”. Internal + external information: • Internal: Respect DNA, information, golden nuggets: look for the information nobody did (Gold Diggers Process) -> well prepared, have equipment, they know where to look but they still need to go through the process of digging until they find the gold Molecule principle by Ouwens Step 1: make 3 key ingredients of your concept,and connect them Step 2: Give it a name= a “one liner” How to make molecule principle work? (Rules of Engagement) 1. Search for the right term: play with words/language and images are an Imagineers’ ‘weapon of choice” 2. Choose words which are a principle in itself and which (when linked to another molecule) create new possibilities 3. Choose words which speak to the imagination 4. Don’t use too many molecules (keep it simple) (4 max) 5. Can you combine some words?

6. Find inspiration in completely other areas 7. Stay close to values target group/organization

“A concept is the working principle of what the organization should do/be”

In short, the term concept is inextricably bound together with the terms working principle and goal: Both factors need to be present, if you want to speak of a concept. In addition, the term concept only comes into the picture if the working principle is used consciously to achieve the goal.

On the following note I would like to end this section by reflecting. A concept definitely does not need to be profound or high-flown. Many successful concepts are characterized by simplicity and concreteness.

Personally, I am convinced that you should not look at concepts in a rational way, but in an emotional way: “Does it trigger of touches you?” If I have to explain, you should not understand. We should not have to explain what the concept is. We need to keep it simple.

If someone were to ask me “What the difference is between the concept Imagineering and advertising?” my answer would be as follow: “An Imagineering concept is value driven - you do not only use it for external purposes but also on how you are dealing with your own people, how you use it internally.” Imagineering concept vs Advertising concept

Tips for the future Things I ask myself when making a concept in the future.

1. Distinguee /innovative 2. Meaningful (Imagineering is a value based approach). Does it have a meaning to the target group?

3. Is it long-term? Sustainable? (The story can be related regardless to what lifecycle you are in; i.e. efteling: a world of enchantment) 4. Is it authentic?

5. Multiple layers a. Primary Interpretation (that what really happens) b. Secondary Interpretation (what you see in between the lines) c. Core interpretation (the essence of the story) 6. You should be able to apply it to different things 7. Easy to communicate it One must never forget “An Imagineering concept is strongly focused on creating value within the organization. Meaning not only for the outside world but also for the people that work for and with the organization. By this I mean how you are dealing with your own people, how you use it internally.

Great concept I don’t know from a scientific point of view, but I can tell you what works for me. You can train your brain by intentionally looking for inspiration, ideas and principles everywhere.

Story them: in a notebook, laptop or your mind, but be ACTIVELY engaged in gathering the right brain data: inspiration. Work on it. Find, gather, look for, note it down, memorize it, imprint it, remember everything that touches you, which makes you think and wonder. And yes that is exactly what I do. That hits the nerve we call inspiration. Trust your guts and intuition. If you find it TRULY inspiring, you will notice that at some point, somewhere at sometime, these ideas will help you to create concept that touch and connect with others.

Game plan Wednesday, by Angelica van Dam

“Experience the advantage of working visually”

Reading of the day: Game Plan Manual To execute a new project as “Jaarbeurs”, in a proper way it is indispensable to think about the approach of the project first and to put it on paper. In general, we call this a course of action.

However, it is not really that challenging to write such a plan every time in the same format. It can kill the creativity and may even seem as a “necessary evil” instead of a challenge. Therefore, we strive to work with different methods when

possible. Many times you see that during the execution of a project-plan different opinions arise about the direction, approach or performance of the team-member. Out of my experience, with the “game plan” you will get an insight before the actual start of the project in shared values, starting points and knowledge and skills of team member. For the project of “Jaarbeurs” was this really necessary

What is the game plan all about?

• Achieve something together • Visual overview (imagination) • Capacities all stakeholders • Dynamic (adjusting+ reflecting is possible) • Project tool and process tool

“Every project is a game, challenge”. Game plan seek to get you inside to design your project”

Toolkit: To start with a game plan you need a big piece of paper of about 1 by 4 meters. Different colored pens, post it memos, the project assignment, attendance of ALL project group members and don’t forget the brain food.

Game plan

Reflection As a curious imaginer my whole world is about finding ways to align “my team” in their thinking and most important of all how to be more creative in the project and how to be strategically focused. What I liked the most when practicing with these tools is that it helped us to get the feeling that together we can be cocreate of the future of “Jaarbeurs”. We also had the opportunity to phrase a great vision, which is: “Create a connected environment that opens up the creative mind to adapt to changes in the world (technology needs). With this vision “Jaarbeurs” will be the inspiring connector between business and people but most important of all people and experience.”

I see many future opportunities for us as professionals/entrepreneurs by using these visual approaches These visual approaches such as a game plan can be used to take such complex topics and simplify them so that everybody in the organization can understand them. Then you actually get to the essence of the project (the bigger picture). If it’s for this study or future projects as an imaginer I will definitely make use of this approach.

Thursday starter! 15 min

“One positive thought in the morning can change your whole day”

As creative person, I find it important to constantly stimulate your creativity but also maintain an oversight of the proceedings. In terms of daily startup and wrap-ups are definitely tools that are worth trying within a creative business. The word says it all, “daily” startup, you can do it every morning or at least two days a week.

It doesn’t have to take too long. Nice insides, other inspiring cases, examples and ideas/ tips that the team could use to inspire others. The result of this startup was that: We got to inspire others; share knowledge and most importantly open up gates of creativity.

Thursday starter

Tips for the future Dear Chimene, if you are reading this when you have your own creative agency, please let’s skip some of the traditional meetings and do yourself a favor and do some daily startups with your team. They will be inspired.

Tip: you can also ad an energizer to this tool

Designing participatory system: Dialogue and transformation Thursday, by Celiane Camargo-Borges

Article: Beyond postmodern times: the future of creativity and the creativity of the future Creativity and imagination are the most important ingredients to coping with post normal times. This paper looks at the way creativity itself is being transformed from the individualistic view of Modernity towards a more contextual, collaborative, complex approach. What I found really interesting about this article is that it made me appreciate the fact that in this age we don’t have the room to use our creativity and to really co create and collaborate with each other’s. Can you imagine that traditionally the “Who”, an eccentric genius, of creativity within an organization could be an individual person. In

summary, the creative person, he creative process occurred inside the person’s head, and was not influenced by the environment.

Personally, I think it is important to know the past in order to enjoy the future.

It explores the potential and possibilities for this more participatory creativity argues that the centrality of creativity must go beyond the mythology of genius and inspiration to inform philosophy, ethics, and action. Philosophical reflection and the imagination of desirable futures can emerge from a creative ethic that stresses the value of generative interactions and contexts that support creativity.

Everything is changing This probably won’t be your first time hearing this but you can never hear it too many times. The world is changing rapidly and we need to be aware of that. The changes in society, rise in interconnectivity is generating a new network of people that invites the society to become participative. Customers want to have a voice in the products/services produced or offered. Hence requiring the organizations and society at large to decide together on what is valuable.

A new approach is needed where Dialogue, imagination, and co-creation are described and embraced and not just as theoretical concepts, but also as practical resources that can be actualized in conversations and interactions. When we are working with dialogue and co-creation we are searching for new meanings.

As far as the linking of perspective goes as an imaginer for social constructionism this is it.

“Together we can create new knowledge” The statement written above refers to the article Social constructionism, which is seen as a theory with a philosophical framework that focuses on the processes of understanding and addressing social change in the postmodern society, in a wider sense, and on organizations specifically (Gergen, 1994; Hosking & McNamee, 2006). In other words the perspective of social constructionism sees science as not the ultimate truth= one-way of producing. “It’s beyond science”

• • • •

Makes sense of the world around us Create new actions, new possibilities Systemize practices Produce new knowledge

As a curious imaginer, the central question for design such as participatory systems where the dialogue and transformation emerges. The answer is simple, but with great impact: “mastery of the arts of asking proper question, will leave you surprised by the result”. It goes without saying that the “master of social constructionism” is Celiane, who was there to educate us in her arts. In as few word as possible I will provide some highlights, whom for me were utterly relevant and continuously lets you feel play around with this powerful tool.

The art of asking questions “words create worlds” HOW? • Ask unconventional questions: ask something to take out of comfort zone • Ask circular questions: dialogue that engages relationships. Example: if I ask Bart about you, what would about you/ about an organization • Ask projective questions: ask something far. Example: if you can be a animal, what would you be • Ask metaphor language: people can interpreter it.

Let’s experiment “The power of asking good questions”, try this!

We did an exercise in class today, which is “the power of asking good questions”. I thought it would be an great addition in case anyone would want to give it a try.

1st round: Choose a topic and elaborate on it. You always need a context.

2nd round: Interviewer asks questions and makes remarks 3rd round: Turn around and listen and be inspired.

Why inspired? Because in the third round the observer and the interviewer will be talking about their experience as well as how they would formulate your interview.

I have personally experienced that I get very inspired by new ideas and new perspectives that you don’t easily come to yourself. It is by asking the right questions that you realize how many different perspectives there really are that can create new meaning for topics.

The facilitator TODO list “enabling, supporting and assisting participants to: • • • •

use collective imagination develop stories together design a space facilitating the intervention

I was not simply telling my story but I also left with new ideas on the topic that I chose. Curiosity making you anxious to see what new ideas came from this? You can read it in the final section themed; tips for the future. Seeing that Celianne is the main author of the readings of this week’s theory, the connection was also namely pointed in its direction. I also gave a summary of the previously mentioned. With this theory and summary of the article given by Celine, I believe that not only my portfolio but also the notes I took will help both the readers and myself very well.

Enough small talk, let s dive into my experience during the full day lectures by Celianne, which I experienced as truly inspirational.

Reflection Past few days haven’t only provided me with a broader knowledge of social constructionism but even more so by providing personal growth.

Words carry a lot of weight. Be it in organizations, commercials of personal, your word create your world! The other part of the workshop of “asking good questions”, I have to say that I am already making good use of it.

Tips for the future What I want to leave you with whether you understand the previously mentioned section or not goes as follow. The problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make a story become the only story.

• Ask good questions, unexpected great ideas can come from it. As promised a nice idea to work on in the future: Idea: What would you say to the 5-year-old you?

Important to know: This section called “tip for the future will be present through out. In this segment I will share things that I find important and useful for the future.

To do: create inspiring content that can light the passion in others. Like I said in the beginning one of my philosophies of life is that “I believe in hard work. I believe in doing what you love and feel passionate about. Just like I am doing something I am passionate about, I want to inspire the youth especially those on Curacao through my social media and its content naturally with a twist of Imagineering. In this way you can make a video interview and bring forward topics that are close with the interviewers life.

Topics that that can bring back their inner child or childhood memories which make for very personal content making it more relatable to many. I won’t spoil to much of the good stuff, but one thing is for sure is that by asking good questions and using your imagination you CAN inspire others.

And last thing you don’t have to be amazing to start, you just have to start. So, who knows I might be sharing this with you live before I round of this chapter of my life.

Doing Research.

Usually it feels like a hassle when reading research methods, this time I plan on doing it in a fun and interactive way. This is how I will entitle the 2nd week. This research week consisted of 2 full days of master classes on data collection and data analysis methods in pairs of two. Every master class took no longer than 45 minutes. This includes an interactive element in which the class practices with a topic, in this case the method.

There were several interesting Data collection methods scheduled such as: participant observation, interviewing, mobile interviewing, focus groups, mystery guest, data collection grounded in complexity theory, but also data analysis methods such as: participant observation, case study, design thinking, content analysis I laddering.

Our “focus group” workshop experience What we wanted to do was gather opinions and input from a group of people on a designated topic. The idea behind is was to ultimately and collectively guide future action. You have to believe me when I say that by analyzing the input from a focus group, you get the real answer. This is what focus group is all about.

By researching (information inquiry), brainstorming and by exchanging ideas with each other Miarka and myself worked on a great concept for this workshop. Not only did this give us what we needed to give a good workshop but now I am convinced that by letting students do the master class themselves makes for increased learning.

There is this saying that goes like this “You don't learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over “this means that the best way you can learn something is to do it yourself which makes for even better results.

Having your priorities straight is very important.

Our priorities right now are mastering of our focus group theory. After we had that taken care of we asked the logical question which was” what is the best way to interactively apply this?” And after brainstorming we came to the following conclusion.

Our title came to be “Let’s unite our Neighbor” Seeing that this focus group is mainly being used to acquire opinions and inputs about community related problems where two parties meet, led to our topic being culture differences. This topic happens to be a reoccurring one for our class.

For the sake of not making it too personal, we opted to go with the neighbor standpoint where we wanted to get behind what make differences in culture. The diversity in our class made for interesting content. We got to know what was in the hearts of people of different cultures, and how the see people of other cultures.

How to: 1. Involve your community/stakeholders that are directly relevant to the topic."

2. Invite them to keep the dialogue going further."

3. Don’t be afraid of losing control or receiving negative feedback.

Focus group main On Thursday 17 of characteristics: November we had our 1. Groups: a maximum of 12 focus group workshop, people" which you try to love 2. Using people appropriate through by the pictures. in the community" There is no other way to 3. Lasting between one or put this than that it was two hours" an amazing experience.

4. Recording and taking We opened the session notes" with a positive thought to put everyone in a happy state. The actual presentation followed with an explanation of key aspects of the method based on research perspective of an Imagineering. Followed by a theoretical background in which the method, focus group, is grounded. Here we explained what the method entails, how and when to use it.

However, we also provided some insight in the benefits and challenges dilemmas of the method.

You are probably asking yourself how we managed to make this interactive. It was very simple but it took some creativity. We kindly welcomed everyone and put the class in two groups. Without anyone noticing we put every “Dutch” person on the left side and the “Internationals” on the right side. This is where we started to make the workshops more interactive.

Again entitled “lets unite our neighbour”, we explained the idea and let everyone look around them where they realized that they were grouped by culture.

The reason behind this was to portray the “case” system in a realistic way. Everyone laughed and really started to pay attention to what we were doing. Feel free to use this as well when the opportunity arises.

Tip: Group the participants in the very subtle way followed by giving them some time to observe/reflect. IT is guaranteed that you will see some priceless reactions.

Feedback After every master class there will be a 10-minutes break. This will was used to fill in the feedback forms to enable groups to switch. In our feedback session we received some great feedback. One of the most well received by myself was that some classmates experience focus groups rather frequently. Next to having gained knowledge on this method, we also got to know what it means and feels like living under someone else’s culture where you potentially bring together a community.

“I had an amazing experience. Focus groups are very useful to have in your arsenal.”

T-lab

by Frank Crucq & Suzan Lindhout 16th November our 1st T-lab meeting for the 2nd block, where in a small group sat together and reflected on ourselves under guidance of Frank. In one of the most relaxing atmospheres we asked each other our thought on the pervious block and about our development thus far as imaginers. After all this is what it is all about.

“Build a life that works for you”

I think that everyone struggles sometimes with questions about life, about future work and about

his or her meaning and purpose in this world. It’s not different in my case. As a recently graduated student and currently working on my master’s degree, I sometimes ask myself, now what? I firmly believe in the fact that everything will work out at the perfect time. But I also believe that you can design/create the life you want to live. By this I mean, set your goals and enjoy the experiment of life. This T-lab meeting gave us the opportunity to speak to fellow classmates that also have questions about their own future while also giving you a minute to reflect that led to the following conclusion.

Goal:

“I value hard work and I believe in doing what you love and feel passionate about.” Personally I think that one of my strongest assets is my creativity.

With my passion for creativity, knowledge and expertise on Imagineering I want to help organizations to convert ideas into extraordinary concepts.

Despite I already know what my plans are, the big question is: HOW can I design a life / future that works for me? How do I build a career that will give me a good living?

For me the best project that I can work on the upcoming periods is myself. How can I do this? I can achieve this change by being creative, productive, changing and evolving. To help me transform and create the future I want, I do not have to only wish it but also be determent to succeed.

To help me during this process of transformation I choose to add to my book collection with the following inspiring book; • Design your life; build a life that works for you • Don’t read this book; time management for creative people • Talk like Ted By reading these books and especially ‘design your life’ I realized it gave me the mindsets to be curious, bias to action, reframing, awareness and radical collaboration. The last one is very important and it means you are not alone. This is also something that I’m going to work on. I think that the strength on being transformative mainly lies in collaborating with each other. Discussing topics will not only give you the opportunity to inspire others, but it will change your perspective of how you see things.

Dealing with deadlines This last part is something is a learning curve for the 2nd block is “dealing with deadlines”. We are closing in on many deadlines especially since we are in the end of the 2nd week and almost starting with the 3rd. Like I mentioned in my introduction, there are going to be many ups and downs during this journey and believe me that meeting deadlines was definitely not one of my favorite moments.

The ITR 0 report is a part of T-lab and during we took the time to cover this topic. It wasn’t that clear for many of us what we had to do.

Something very important that I took away from it was that in stressful moments got used to focusing and solving the problem at hand. How great would it be if we didn’t only theoretically talk about zooming out etc. but also get the opportunity to apply it on a daily basis. Let me put this in a better perspective. Do not only focus on meeting deadlines but instead zoom out and also ask yourself how you can actually manage doing so. We did so by taking a step back and

analyzing recapping on block 1 together and also by reading each other papers.

Looking back at it, I see it as a learning point and something that I can make use of in the future where you can not only focus on your work but inspire others and get inspired by them as well.

At the end of the day I did manage to finish ITR successfully and also get meaningful experience on how to deal with certain situations that will help me when in similar situations. I received a lot of great feedback from my coach, which I am very grateful for.

Tips for the future We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created themAlbert Einstein. Instead of stress, take a moment “zoom out” I look at the bigger picture. You can make bigger changes than you can imagine.

3.

Creativity

Creative processes: creativity and organization Keynote speaker: Geoff Maree

“20 kilos of books on creativity”

today our lecturer brought to class about 20 kilos of books all based on creativity and laid them on the table for us to use as inspiration. Teachers have several ways in which they can tech, in the next section I will show how our teacher Geoff Maree.

She does it seconds so with various examples, quotes and sometimeseven games that get used to bring across topics of creativity. In my opinion this writing is a very effective your name way of teaching. He looks, amongst other things, how to use creativity in education

In creativity, it is important to go through the process and laughing about it: to focus on the process and not be afraid of the result, so let’s see where we get. Before we go any further let us sit still at some of the ways our classes started.

TRY THIS: This are the rules 1.

Drawn your own self portrait in 60 2.

3.

Use your left hand Draw this upside down and finish it by

This great playful tool to start a creative session in organizations. It is fun, it open space for creativity and enable us all to be “creative”.

DAY 1: Introduction to creativity and creative processes When you hear the word “creativity” what comes to mind? If you are like many people, you may equate “creative” with “artistic”. Or you may feel that being creative is a fixed trait- either you have born with creative genes, or you’re not. This full to days’ lectures on creativity by Geoff Maree is about the opposite of this “myth”. It foundation is the belief that we are all creative.

Creativity is becoming more important than ever CEO’s cited creativity as the most important leadership quality over the next five years Top

leadership qualities: 1. Creativity, 2. Integrity and 3. Global Thinking One of Geoff Maree philosophes that he shared with us is to: Never stop asking why, how and acting surprising “Gosh”. He introduced the word CQO, which stands for Chief Questioneering Officer. Be creative leader and embody it à be curious!

Tip: If you are not focusing on the final, focus on the process. Don’t be afraid of the result.

Creativity

What is creativity?

• “Creativity is the ability to produce work that is both novel (i.e. original) and appropriate (i.e. useful)” Sternberg • “Creativity is the set of qualities of products or responses that are judged to be creative by appropriate observers” Amabile • “Being creative is seeing the same thing as everybody else but thinking of something different” anonym • “Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes and having fun” - Mary Lou Cook • “Every act of creation is first of all an act of destruction” - P. Picasso • Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way” Edward de Bono • “The creation of the new or the re-arranging of the old in a new way” Mike vance, Walt Disney Corporation • Van Gogh Syndrome: the value of something might only be discovered later.

You want to feel what creative process really means? If you really want to find it, give this exercise a try.

1.

Set your timer to 60 sec 2. Hold your breath for as long as possible “Creativity is all about straying under water”. The moment when you chose to be creative it can be feel like you’re under water. It’s all about start behaving on a different way, till it becomes a natural intendant.

3 creative rules to never forget: 1. During a creative process you have to make creativity a habit.

(Time, place and people) 2. Take a tour. Don’t do the things that immediately take you to the solution.

3. Autonomy, mastery, purpose à book: a whole mind: DRIVE

• • •

Open Challenges Explorative behavior Reward is in the process

So the key is to “embrace creativity”, train your brain to be creative”. HOW? Tip/ tool: Practice the art of “Chindogu”, the principle of finding something you are not looking for expected (Serendipity).

DAY 2: Creative session, creativity within organization I will provide you with a little bit of context of what happened on day 1. We covered some theory and the importance of creativity and also some useful tools to help us practice and embrace our creativity. Because at the end of the day we all have some creativity in us. You don’t need to become a design consultant or quit your job. But I personally believe that the world needs more creative policy makers, managers etc. Whatever your profession, when you approach it with creativity, you’ll come up with new and better solutions and be more successful at it. I am convinced that with the same impact that creativity has on people can be transferred to an organization. But rather unfortunately creativity is

killed more often than it gets supported, undermined to maximize the coordination and productivity of the businesses, unconsciously designing businesses that systematically crush creativity. It is our task as imaginers to develop the best of both worlds: organization in which business imperatives are attended to and creativity flourish. How to manage creativity within organizations is another essential question. In the next chapter will go deeper into this topic.

Building such organizations, however, requires us to understand precisely what kinds of managerial practices foster creativity and witch kill it. Un di e interesting readings of this week that covers this

topic is the article of Harvard Business review in Reading: How to Kill Creativity To many managers, creativity refers to the way people think- how inventively they approach problems, for instance. Indeed, thinking imaginatively is one part of creativity, but two

entitled “How to Kill Creativity”.

others are also essential: expertise and motivation.

1. Creative-thinking skills determine how flexible and imaginative people’s approaches to problems and solutions can be. The skill itself depends quite a bit on personality as well as on how a person think and works.

2. Expertise encompasses everything that a person knows and can do in the broad domain of his or her work. The larger this space, the better 3. Motivation Expert and creative thinking are an individual’s raw material, but the third factor motivation determines what people will actually do. Not all motivations is created equal. An inner passion to solve the problem at hand leads to solutions far more creative than do external rewards, such as money. “Money doesn’t necessarily stop people from being creative, but in many situations, it doesn’t help”. More importantly, money by itself doesn’t make employees more motivated about their jobs. And here I think we as future CPO’s (chief passion officers) or managers can play a big role in the vision to help as many people as possible to rediscover their creative potential. It is very interesting to know how managerial practices can affect creativity? Given below is a short enumeration of 6 essentials keys according to e article “How to Kill Creativity”.

“People mostly feel creative when they feel motivated primarily by the interest, satisfaction, and challenge of the work itself.” – Principle of creativity

6 essentials keys 1. Challenge: match people with the right assignments.

2. Freedom: people will more creative if they are allowed to choose or decide on how to climb the mountain. Here you didn’t let them choose which mountain to climb, but clearly set goals. Goals should stay meaningful. They rise in creativity because it increases their intrinsic motivation, and gives them ownership.

3. Resources: Two main factors that affect creativity are time and money. Need to judge the situation.

Time pressure can foster creativity, twist it and say for example that the competitor will launch a new product in a few hours. However faking deadlines is another suppresser of creativity, you need to give the employees time to explore and find their way out the maze. Creative process needs open, comfortable offices.

4. Work-groups: Create mutually supportive groups with a diversity of perspectives and backgrounds.

The power of new perspectives. Diversity is not only the key, managers should put a team that shares excitement, willingness to help, and recognize the unique talents members can bring to the table. These factors enhance the motivation, expertise and creative thinking skills. The right chemistry, level of diversity and supportiveness.

5. Supervisory encouragement: Sustaining passion can be difficult, it’s important to help your employees to stay passionate and motivated. Managers can generously recognize the creative work by individuals and teams before the outcome is revealed. Don’t mention time, or post pone a reply, or give harsh comments, or look for reasons to not use the idea. This kills creativity because people become focused on external rewards, increasing their extrinsic motivation. Supervisory encouragement comes in other forms besides rewards and punishment.

6. Organizational support: Encouragement from supervisors certainly fosters creativity, but the support of the whole organization enhances it. Creative leaders should emphasize values that

make it clear that creativity is appreciated. Creativity-supporting organizations make us of rewarding creativity, avoiding the use of money, as people could feel used, and under-appreciated.

Information sharing and collaboration sharing.

In a few words, thus far we covered what creativity and its process entail. We also covered creativity in organizations and finally how to manage creativity and influence motivation of your employees. The issue here is mostly intrinsic motivation. Furthermore, according to Geoff Maree the physical environment is something that can’t be neglected. Geoff really put a lot of emphasis on this during his presentation, which I will cover more openly.

“How you influence others by environment is important.” Creative environment is of importance to foster creativity within organizations.

Great examples of this are: • Creativity world forum • Marriot innovation headquarters and use of scrum method/ training • Derick Brown: influence on your ideation process • Coolblue interior 5 basic skills for creativity in business 1. Postponing judgement: hold your judgement in. Always treat bad ideas as possible ideas 2. Creative observation: be open to everything you can observe. “There is always more”!

3. Diverge + converge Diverge: look at different, multiple variation: “challenge yourself to get more ideas” Converge: make choices “Don’t look for similarity, look for difference” 4. Develop your imagination: train your brain.

5. Association Reflection: To close of this chapter regarding creativity I want to share this last thing with you. Creativity is like a muscles- the more we use them, the stronger they get. As kids we were all creative, but over time, so many of us are discouraged in our creative endeavors and eventually focused our energies on more traditional pursuits. In creative confidence, the Kelly brother (authors) remind us that creativity is a mind-set, a way of thinking and proactive approach to finding new solutions. We may not all be artists, but we can be more creative imaginers, lawyers, doctors, managers or teachers. So let’s build some creative muscles for when we need them most.

Tip for the future 1. Make creativity a habit. Train your brain.

To practice: use your time wisely. Make a chindogu while waiting. And document them. You never know when some of these great ideas will come in handy.

2. Creative environment

Either in a managing position or as a practicing entrepreneur of my own agency, I will make use of and focus on creating a creative environment that will help foster the creativity of my team and maybe even draw inspiration of how CoolBlue is doing it.

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3. The 6 Managing creativity keys: Challenge, Freedom, Resources, Work-groups, Supervisory encouragement and organizational support

Just an energizer.

You are halfway through my journey now and I think by now you have read a lot. Let us take a moment do this simple energizer with me, believe me you won’t be disappointed.

1. Pick a piece of paper/ a post it memo 2. Write down your worries 3. Through it away 4. Take a deep breath and continue reading.

I am certain that both the theory and what I experienced will leave you entertained in this chapter. The 4th week was one of the busiest weeks thus far filled with learning material. I want to take you along to my visit to the “Jaarbeurs”, talk about my literature review (dealing with deadlines), some interesting lectures about poetic language, playfulness & “gamefulness” in Imagineering and last but not least business innovation games. So, enjoy this journey!

“The Jaarbeurs Utrecht experience” Monday 28th November was the day Floris and I headed “Jaarbeurs” Utrecht. At the “Jaarbeurs” we had two interviews planned, one being with the project manager while the other was with the international affairs manager. Jaarbeurs Utrecht.

When sitting in the lobby, naturally I started observing my surroundings and employees. As time passed the more anxious we started getting to see what the upstairs looked like. We had the pleasure of getting a small tour of the work floor and the remainder, which was given by Daan. It was my first time having experienced something that well put together and especially having that big of an impact on The Netherlands. I keep using this word a lot but the interviews this had a very big impact on myself. When there he feeling of being a student was no longer there instead I felt like a young professional.

Everything about that day was absolutely unforgetful with great people around us, nice skyline above Utrecht accompanied by a nice cup of coffee during the interview itself. Ruwan, manager of the international affairs department, was nothing short of an ambitious person and so very proud of “Jaarbeurs” and very open to sharing his experiences with the “Jaarbeurs”.

It goes without saying that we were well prepared for the interview. We had a list of questions not the most “conventional” way of doing interviews but we managed to get a lot of information by using techniques of appreciative enquiry. We were very curious to get to know more. It was an amazing feeling when the eyes of the project manager were light up in the most positive way when she was telling us about the organization she has been working with for over 10 years.

Time ran out before we got a chance to talk about the second conversation.

It is interesting how this experience, simple in form change my whole outlook on the “Jaarbeurs”.

There was a lot that went one before we got to be ambassadors for the “Jaarbeurs”. There was a ton of information that had to be processed that went on to form the base for the creation of our assignment. The whole group had to take part in this during the first design lab under the guidance of Dr. Wendong Deng, who was also the coordinator of Design assignment 2. Curiosity is probably getting the best of you so just turn the page and read more.

This experience was extremely satisfying and unforgetful. If I couldn’t be more convinced before I am now that as an Imaginer’s job starts at the very first encounter with the client. If I learn anything from this experience is that there is great power behind being able to ask the right/good questions. The reactions will leave you amazed and as an imaginer it is an experience you can’t miss out on.

Jaarbeurs Utrecht

Design Lab “reframing the vision” Dr. Wendong Deng During this meeting we shared our idea for the first time with Dr. Wendong who was someone on the outside. During our talk with Dr. Wendong, we came to realize that that our approach so far was too broad for the short time span and expected result. Primarily the focus was internally orientated where we wanted to bring changes to the department. The conversation led to us reframing our vision to something more feasible. Which happened to be the transfer from internal focused à to external focused. To put this in a better perspective: FROM: Vision game plan (week 1): Create a connected environment that opens up the creative mind to adapt to changes in the world (technology needs). With this vision “Jaarbeurs” will be the inspiring connector between business and people but most important of all people and experience.”

TO: A new vision (week 2): An advice on branding to create a “high concept” with core values they can use to create different concept with in mind the goal of creating a strong brand and community around the Jaarbeurs. With that you can create brand ambassadors and the goal of stopping the decreasing attention line after a venue will be achieved. To follow up on our advice we can suggest the company to use the brand advice in their internal solution.

I last but not least we managed to formulate a planning according to the ABCDEF Imagineering model, which made the approach of the assignment much more visual.

Dealing with deadlines - literature review organizational change. As a professional there should be a balance between creativity and knowledge of theory. Writing this brings me right back when I had a meeting with Margo and Diane. They advised me to go deeper into the topic and practice so that this topic comes more natural to me. By taking this challenge and choosing the key topics: organizations, strategy, change management I Imagineering gave me ample support to broadening my scope of knowledge.

“Before I realized I found myself in a work filled with books and articles”

The deadline for my literature review entitled “Why change management fails” was on December 5th. It should be clear by now that I have been striving to get the best out of my masters. It has been extremely beneficial for me that I am very curious to learn and welcoming to challenges that come in my direction. This assignment also had its challenges.

One of the good things about the literature review assignment is that we were allowed to choose our own topic. As uplifting as that is, choosing your own topic is soon turned into a challenge of its own. Choosing the right topic amongst countless possibilities is very difficult. My initial thought was to write my literature review about creativity, which again is what I am passionate about. After some long thinking I figured that this wouldn’t be challenging enough for me so I went with a topic outside of my natural scope to broaden my scope even more and acquire knowledge about

Writing about the topic itself was a challenge and even more so as a literature review. With me not having written a literature review before I literally threw myself in untested grounds. But with enough determination it all became worth it at the end with a passing grade of 7 and extremely educational as well I have to say.

It all seems impossible until it’s done- Nelson Mandela

Sustainable organizational development: about play, poetry and provocation Inaugural Lecture. Nyenrode Business Universiteit.

Keynote speaker: Danielle Zandee “The Word Sustainable itself is Becoming Unsustainable”. We all now, the “sustainability” is becoming kind of a hot topic nowadays. If you for example look at company websites now a day you can see how sustainable they are supposed to be. This does not mean that the people within the organization are deeply involved by making their business sustainable. According to Dr. Daniella change here is necessary.

Let’s define Sustainability • The originally definition: Sustainable development meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability for future generations to meet their own needs (Brundtland, 1987) •

The business translation It’s about the people, planet, profits- Triple Bottom line (elkington 1997).

I personally believe that a business shouldn’t be solely about making money but every company now seems to only be worried about their bottom line and practicing empty gestures. It goes without saying that you need revenue to continue operating, but let’s not forget that it is as much about the people and the planet.

People saw it as the trade-off (you have to make a choice). However, I think it can also be a win/win proposition. You can do really great stuff but also survive in terms of economics. Look at great example like: Patagonia, Whole Foods of neighborhood care here in The Netherlands.

Did you know that: on September 25th 2015, countries adopted a set of goals to end poverty, protecting the planet, and ensuring prosperity for all as part of a new sustainable development agenda. Each goal has specific targets to be met over the next 15 years. It has to be collective effort and everyone needs to do their part if we want to see any major changes: governments, the private sector, civil society and people like us.

There is no denying that the world betterment idea and sustainability are things that need to happen. We hope that soon these changes start to happen. We covered some more practical poetical themes and how inquiries might bring upon these changes.

But how do we make sustainability embedded in an organizations DNA? We have to look for new languages and maybe practice based languages that gives us the energy. With todays topic being poetry I am certain that one of the principal elements will bring things to life.

“Here is a very good example that I want to share with you guys which is the Amnesty International 4 minutes of eye contact #lookbeyondborders 4 minutes of eye contact brings people closer to each other better than everything else (Arthur Aron, psychologist)

This is poetics of world betterment!

The power of sharing personal stories and images HOW TO: How can we collaborate?

How can we join and influence “internal dialogue” of individuals, organizations, communities and society?

What are new dreams and stories for the world?

Let’s experiment- Inquiry as Intervention Inquiry is already an intervention. Change starts with the questions you ask. It is change from a constructionist perspective that’s why it is important to ask the right questions and so did we. This serves as good practice to embrace poetics of world betterment.

If I were to analyze this day, I can link it with many if Celianne’s lectures in week two; to take a risk with words, shake up the conversations; generate

new formations of intelligibility, new images and sensitivities.

The workload and stress of having to hand in my literature review was a bit too much for me to handle and I had to take a day to rejoice myself.

At the time I thought that I made the right decision but looking back at it I knew that it wasn’t the right decision.

“Fun never ask how old you are”

Business innovation Games Dr. Jonathan Clark Life isn’t always peaches and cream therefore you always have to keep the fight going. That’s a motto many could live by and take every day as an opportunity to earn more. I actually took it upon myself to read some of the suggested reading material and next to that I also watched an online video. I made a summary and a short analysis of the reading material and video.

At the moment I am reading this amazing book called “creative confidence”. This however isn’t exactly one of the suggestion readings given by Jonathan Clarck, but I noticed that there were many similarities between this book and the must read factsheet of innovation games. In today’s business world, creativity actually manifests itself as innovation. Tech starts just like Google, Facebook, and Twitter have unleashed their employees’ creativity to change the lives of billions of people. Today, in every department- from customer service to finance- people have opportunities to experiment with new solutions. Companies are in desperate need of employees’ and insights from across the organization.

Most businesses today have realized that the key to growth, and even survival, is innovation. One of IBM’s recent surveys of more than 1,500 CEOs reports that creativity is the single most important leadership competency for enterprises facing the complexity of global commerce today. We need new ideas of course!

And we need these ideas to have an impact, in other words something has to be done and a new approach is called for. I am convinced that companies need as much innovation and creativity to design their process as they do in developing the idea themselves. In practice this is harder than we think.

The Kelley brothers (authors of Creative Confidence) said that originally they thought that the primary challenge in this process would be to teach creativity to people who saw themselves as the “analytical type”.

However they soon realized that all of the individuals they worked with already had creativity in spades.

It is also partly our duty as imaginers. We just need to help people rediscover what they already have: the capacity to imagine- or build upon new- to-the world ideas. This all by help them recapture it by sharing skills and mindsets. You will be stunned by how quickly people’s imagination, curiosity and courage are renewed with just small amount of practice and encouragement. Here is where innovation games will play an important role. The better we can inspire the participants to work together and collaborate, the more fun they will have. And guess what, innovation games ta are crucial to this part. These group activities (innovation games) that use game dynamics to engage the participants more effectively than any other technique.

Innovation games: “creating breakthrough product trough collaborative play Innovation focuses on the whole innovation process from market research, gathering insights and from idea generation to propitiation. I help make sense of the problem and to explore in new

Tip for the future- Games that I might find Helpful to use in the future Find out what’s wrong / where the pain points Co-create ideal products and services Discover unexpected uses of your (existing) product Describe a vision for the future Quick & easy priority setting

Uncover hidden problems in a fun way

“Speed boat”: Boathttp://www.innovationgames.com/speed-boat/ “Product box”: http://www.innovationgames.com/product-box/ “Show & Tell”: http://www.innovationgames.com/show-tell/ “Cover Story”: http://gamestorming.com/games-for-design/coverstory/ “20 / 20 Vision”: http://www.innovationgames.com/2020-vision-old/

“My Worst Nightmare”: http://www.innovationgames.com/myworst-nightmare/

Playfulness & gamefulness in Imagineering Keynote speaker: Jessika Weber In my learning journey as an imaginer I have been trying to understand how playfulness can be employed in creating meaningful and memorable experiences for users. Playfulness is an important but often neglected design quality for all kinds of products. Features that make games and play engaging can also make other kinds of products more enjoyable, elicit more meaningful experiences from them, and ultimately increase the quality of the overall user experience and, respectively, the market value of a product. Playfulness, in other words, can be a positive feature in products that goes beyond pure entertainment.

Takeaways Play: voluntary, unstructured joyful activity to test skills and abilities in a training situation; Game: define what makes us human and life, artificial conflicts with meaningful choices separated from the real world following its own rules; Motivations for Play intrinsic: 1. connections with others, building bonds; 2. Autonomy; 3. Competence create a flow of experience Motivations for Play extrinsic: 1. Badges 2. Points 3. Leaderboards As a reflection piece based on the keynote from Jessica Weber, a short extract below iterates the progression from playfulness to gamefulness.

How well we perform is very crucial to fundamentally develop and broaden our expressed experience with our surroundings, fostering autonomy and also freedom. In order for us as individuals to be able to rejoice our understanding and clarification of the numerous concepts, objects, people, emotions and the planning between these variables we as individuals must explore and experiment for incrementally, iteratively and continuously means.

However it is easier said than done.

Unfortunately the world has become a place were education no longer encourages students to think outside of the box but rather constricts them to measures within certain contexts. If one were to be creative, he or she most likely won’t fit in the

measures and assessments that were made pivotal to the learning process. Truth be said these measures and assessments are practically the only way that leads to the desired learning outcomes and may forms of certification. Luckily with good change or implementing play alongside these perspectives could forever increase motivation intrinsically. Of course proper and formal structure are required when obeying to the play-learn rules and supplementary measures.

However there is still one on answered question which is how does one design of such pivotal change and make it happen as naturally as possible without limiting whilst also giving room to feedback cycle happen? Therefore, these games are a means that can be used to analyze play in a more objective manner, that fi done right will lead to purposeful and also meaningful engagement.

Tip for the future on “How to optimize Player Experience�

1.Challenging activity that requires skills 2. Merging action and awareness 3. Clear goals and feedback 4. Concentration on the task at hand 5. Sense of potential control 6. Less awareness of self-consciousness 7. Transformation of time 8. Self-rewarding experience

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Transformative Approaches to organizational Development.

This week’s title is transformative approaches to organizational development. Following transformative approaches, I will cover several methods that can be used for achieving organizational change. We had an agenda filled with interesting lectures and creative sessions from external guest speakers. I can stress enough on how insightful these guest speakers were on how transformative processes could get facilitated through creativity, storytelling, art, dialogue, improvisation and also role plays. The next section will be divided in 3 interesting parts, which are how to create space for transformation by Shirine Moerkerken, Storytelling; an Introduction by Dr. Moniek Hover and last but not least an extra surprise content. Just sit back open yourself up and enjoy my journey. I am positive that you will get inspired and experience joyful reading.

5.

How to create space for transformation?

Keynote speaker: Shirine Moerkerken

On tuesday there was a full day planned with workshops with Shirine, an intervention specialist, that’s how she referred to her self as. Shirine definitely lives up to her name; she is amazing at showing how we perceive certain situations with our axioms. Her interventions for complex situations are surprisingly practical and near. She also happened to have told us her biggest secret, which is that: she throws herself with her hart and soul in the battle.

She being the kind of person she starts telling us very spontaneously to “get all tables out of the way, put our pens and paper away. Because the important stuff we will remember and that which isn’t you will forget”. Keeping this in mind you will know why I wont have that much theory in the next section. Furthermore, this will also lead to the following: When you first enter an organization the 3 sentences or in the first 2 or 3 min you see everything. That moment when you are really in present you get a lot of information due observation to know what is important within the organization. But the big question is: How can I disrupt this pattern? It is all about observing what is normal for them and try to disrobed them.

But first: “you have to know what your patterns are in order to transform others” You have to know what to change. So let’s experiment!

Master the art of asking good questions.

By observing (step2) you see that it becomes a pattern. At that time functional and dysfunctional patterns accurse. But at some point the company has to change and the original patters will be dysfunctional. That is the moment when you want/ have to interrupt. .

Take away from the exhibition: “let’s make exhibitioners brand ambassadors” What doing this exercise did to us is by bringing the small observation in the conversation you begin to break the pattern of the client? By doing this exercise you can make deals as consultant and most of it get the insight on how you can help the other. Of course you don’t just only ask 3 or 4 question but rather you ask questions around it.

And that is also what we did during the exercise.

Let’s take our assignment for the exhibition as an example. When analyzing it we came to the observation that we ourselves had become brand ambassadors. Why? Simply due to the insightful experiences we had during our visit as mentioned before. I consider the experiences accumulated and the analysis of the workshop very good take away. This will all be very helpful for our design assignment 2, which is for the exhibition organization. Where the focus will lie on using storytelling in order to communicate this observation to others and create potential brand ambassadors.

My “observation” To close of this part of the lecture/workshop of Shirine Moerkerken I will do the following reflection.

Shirine puts my mind to work, confuses me and lets me think differently at my current practices. It makes me aware of my language and those of the people whom I work/live with and how we give meaning to one another. This gives meaning and touches me. It also helps me to think further into how we can facilitate changes and most f all prolonging to be able to put this in practice and making this a part of my being and acting as a Imagineering consultant

Tip: “Be full present”

Tip for the future How to make a good consultancy intervention?

• Be curious and interested • Observe body language • Make it personal • Use appreciative enquiries. * • Try to feel the urgency • Analyze observations, not judgements TO DO: Make your observation in order à analyses this and see the patternsà break the pattern

The storytelling Storytelling; an introduction Dr. Moniek Hover Article of the day: Storytelling between Tradition And Innovation Highlights • Words and images that are exchanged a certain cultural context, becoming a through all sorts of (interactive) media, reflection of the past and present and can be directive for the future. people select those aspects that may be • Stories represent your identity. meaningful to them. This plays an • A powerful, layered story or story important role because the process of telling and receiving stories enable us to fragment forges links internally and give and extract meaning. externally.

• Storytelling also comprises the creative • Stories connect us together. process of thinking up, designing, • The trans media storytelling at the representing and/or staging stories.

Fairytale Tree aims at strengthening the • In the world of leisure and new media, meaningful re-experience mainly through story telling can bring meaningful recognition of fairy tale characters and experiences. E.g. Efteling, theme parks. fairy tale like stories.

• Stories often become emotionally or symbolically charged, and are re (told) in There is a growing interest in storytelling. In a very interactive and interesting way Moniek Hover, one of my favorite masters of storytelling, shared her knowledge of this craft. By reading articles like De Efteling als Verteller van Sprookjes, Efteling and the Fairy Tale Tree and storytelling between tradition and innovation made me very curious to experiencing the person behind all of this knowledge and experience. In these articles, Hover and other authors deals with what makes a story and which aspects play a role in the meaningful experience of stories. In doing so, they scrutinize fairy tales in particular and sketch the interrelatedness of fairy tales and the Efteling. On the basis of the concept of Fairytale Tree (‘Sprookjesboom’ in Dutch), they illustrated how the Efteling shapes innovations in line with the tradition of fairy tales and the Fairytale Forest (‘Sprookjesbos’ in Dutch).

From the continuous flow of stimuli, words and images that are exchanged through all sorts of (interactive) media, people select those aspects that may be meaningful to them. Fictive or true stories play a crucial role because the process of telling and receiving stories enables us to give and extract meaning.

What is storytelling?

From a narrative perspective storytelling can be defined as “connected events which are caused/ experienced by scene character”. As a narrative practice, storytelling also comprises the creative process of thinking up, designing, representing and/or staging stories. Stories can be ‘told’ or they can be evoked not only explicitly (with words) but also implicitly (through images).

It’s all about capturing imagination, minds and heart of people. If there is an organization who is doing well in capturing the previously mentioned its Dsiney and Efteling. By studying these great examples and also the whole context you can see the factors (social, personal and physical context) that play a role in a meaningful experience. Experience model picture: 1. social context: other visitors, employees, company that you’re with 2. personal context: motive, former experience, expectation + 3. physical context: environment.

Here some key aspects of a good storytelling: • Making connection between events • Ordinary or framing: shared frame of reference to cultural context • Charging what you are communicating emotionally/ symbolic experience • Creating meaningful experiences

Let’s experiment Have you ever personally asked yourself why you love your favorite story? Whether they need a beginning, middle or an end and need a character who character who develops through the story.

In fact, a story does need to consist of several parts that in theory are called the setup, climax etc.

Depending on which one you use will help capture the minds and hearts of those who will end up falling in love with our stories. By applying the next 5 steps in your story will give it a good direction of how to build up the climax to making a meaningful experience.

Storytelling 5 steps model: Setup – Motive - Turning point - Climax - Resolution Tip: whether you want to write a story, film a video or just simply wanted to give a presentation, the 5 steps will have added value no matter what.

Reflection: I have to say that I was extremely impressed to study this great example, how to properly use storytelling as a narrative practice and to become ever more competent in it as well. I still remember how before the class started I asked, “if everyone could become a storyteller”. Well, I have to that the results of that workshop gave the answer to my question as a yes. From the experience gathered working in a workshop group of 5 people, we got the opportunity to show in 2 examples a dissected story by means of a video showing the 5 steps. In one word, which is useful, explains how I feel about the 5 steps. I definitely plan on using them in the future to write a good story line. As a creative person who on a daily basis uses video captures and images a lot, I found that this on a short term basis gave me a good view on how to make my designs more meaningful. The last thing I want to say is that aside from planning on using storytelling in the future I also want to experience Efteling first. While being there I also want to analyze in practice how storytelling is being brought over in a social way (employees).

Storytelling

Corporate Storytelling; NHTV Hein van Oorschot

The key question is: How can an organization apply storytelling? By using the NHTV as an example, executive board member, Mr. Hein van Oorschot, explained to us how he used storytelling to give vision of NHTV’s strategy for the years 2012-2016. In order for me to put this into theory of storytelling in organizational studies uses storytelling as a reflection of the past, present and also as a compass to the future.

What is storytelling’s goal? It is all about: Setting an example Operation dilining value Making things happen

TEDx storytelling workshop “Do you have what it takes to share an idea worth spreading?”

In my personal opinion everybody has a story to tell. And yes, me to! If you want to be an entrepreneur, you have a story/ service you want to tell. This is also the main reason for me to attend to this event. As in “curious” imagineer like I like to refer myself as, we all walk around with questions like” what is my story?” How do I tell my story? What makes a story a story that you can share?

There's no single formula for a great talk, but there is a secret ingredient that all the best ones have in common. During a storytelling workshop at Venture Café Rotterdam, TEDx Rotterdam’s operator director Cintya Maasdeik shares “this secret” with some pointers on how to tell a good story. In this workshop you have what it takes to share an idea worth spreading?

Here some important key takeaway on “how to tell a good story”:

•

• • • • •

Start by asking question. Find out what interest them first. Get their attention.

Think of what triggers your audience. This brings us to the following point.

Know your audience.

The problem. Let them feel that they are part of the problem and solution.

Bring emotion to the table Be authentic Be true to yourself

Linking the workshop with what we got during the master Imagineering got me to believe that this information is a lot more generalized. I have to say that going to these events is super inspiring and widens your view to see different angles of a topic. In this case we can see how this workshop was more focused on how to give a good talk and how to present yourself, which I find much more interesting as an Imaginer. My experience in one word was great and I managed to meet many other youg entrepreneurs from the Rotterdam region.

Tip for the future After seeing the result of storytelling I believe that “storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today”. And yes I will make more use of this tool.

Designing alternative futures and designing for the social world These are the most critical topics that will be discussed during the last week of my journey to knowledge. These two topics were discussed by two of our guest speakers. The first guest speaker was Dr. Albert Postma with the entitled “Exploring opportunities” and the second guest speaker was Dr. D. Nijs with the entitled “Design for social systems”.

Just like every other week we had reading preparations for the lectures, this week wasn’t going to be an exemption. The following part will contain valuable information that was gathered during classes and also a summary of the article.

Seeing that I opted to read the article on hindsight made it very easy to comprehend and link to the information that I acquired during the class. The information we received this week is unlike any other we received so far in the masters.

Exploring opportunities Keynote speaker: Dr. Albert Postma, a professor at the European Tourism Futures Institute Reading of the week: Article: The future of European Tourism Tourism is a phenomenon that is very complex and so closely intertwined with what happens in today’s society, that it is simply impossible to know how the future will look like.

In the article the authors’ opinion on tourism itself is very heterogeneous. It is composed of different domains; think of Olympic Games, holiday product and so on.

These services and facilities are all owned, or managed and/or influenced by different parties: residents, businesses, governments, nature organizations, etc. In order to offer tourists, businesses and residents as much value as possible the alignment of these values and interest is of utmost importance (Postma, 2003).

The industry is challenged to create strong networks and strategic alliances to be able to deal with the uncertain future, to profit from global trends and to meet the fast-changing customer demands in a flexible way. The technological developments are going so fast that it is hardly possible to imagine how the world will look like in the 2030s or 2040s.

To get grip on a future that is only partly achievable and is surrounded by uncertainties, it is important for governments and business to anticipate the future with a vision, strategy or new concept that is able to resist possible changes. Van Asselt et al. (2010) and Prince (2005) discuss two approaches to deal with uncertainty: by denying it or by using it as a starting point. Keeping this in mind and looking back at the lecture Dr. Albert Postma gave, he defined the two approaches as following: Forecast of the future or foresight: anticipating future uncertainties.

The first approach to the future can be seen as a rational and linear process. Traditionally if businesses make plans for the future they look to the past. Qualitative and quantitative trends and developments are projected by means of forecasting, based on trend analysis and trend extrapolation So they monitor all kinds of development. They make projections, they make prediction of what could happen in the future, and that’s what they base their plans on.

But according to Dr. Albert Postma we don’t make forecasts of the future but rather foresights. And these foresights are made possible by anticipating future uncertainties. In this approach it is believed that today’s society is too complex, intense and uncertain to apply the conventional method of trend analysis and forecasting in an adequate way to explore the future. The conventional method ignores the hyperconnectivity, changes, discontinuity of trends, lack of linearity, and indirect causality that characterize contemporary social, economic, political and ecological systems. What the second approach “exploring opportunities” entails will be dissected in the next part.

Introducing the foresight and scenario planning We are living in a world that is changing drastically, sit still for a moment and imagine how the world will be in 2030. This constant change raises some very integral question, however there is one that stands out. The big question is, how can we survive al these changes around us and build on a future proof strategies?

“This is how we could see the future”- Dr. Postma We all have a preferred future in mind, but we also know that this future is an unlikely one especially due to future/ trends. However there is a chance that we can succeed, but in order to succeed we have to know about the probable future and by trying to learn particular parts of it, called scenario. This refers to small parts of preferred future, probable future and possible future.

Traditionally if businesses make plans for the future they look to at past events. Moreover, an alternative approach has been in the works, which is getting very popular amongst business. We already talked about this approach before: foresight, which again means anticipating future uncertainties. By foreseeing these uncertainties companies try to understand what the future will hold and make plans based on these findings. Dr. Postma defines foresight as the ability to take a forward view. It enables action to be taken with reference to, and within the context of, the future”. This is what great businesses/ entrepreneurs do.

Changes that we should take in consideration in order to be “future proof”: 1. Shift of generations 2. Technology, the major driver of our society Shift of generations: millennial “agents of change” This group is often referred to as “the digital makers”; it is this very generation of 1999 and 2000 that were born directly into the digital age.

They think and act differently. Whit in the next 50 years the world will be taken over of Millennia’s.

Millenials “agents of change” • 33% believe they won’t need a bank in 5 years • 50% are counting on tech startups to overhaul banks • 14% of Milenial small business owners use alternative (non-bank) financing

Technology, the major driver: If we look at our lives at present time, you come to realize that everything around you happens so fast and that you don’t even remember these “stone-age” devices. You most likely don’t even remember when you were using them.

Actually change is inevitable and now happening faster than before. There are a lot of changes waiting for us.

And by all means we have to keep a close eye on technology. Granted that it is for this exact reason that there are even bigger changes about to happen. Therefore my method of prognosticating future technological change is technology hype cycle research method (Gartner 2015).

Tips: Gartner is a person of interest.

Linking this knowledge to Imagineering!

In a nutshell we can see a shift of forecasting to the foresight approach If we look at the foresight approach in the perspective of Imagineering, personally I link it with the believe that where we are right now the is definitely changing. And with this change come co-creation, living labs and design thinking social innovation.

In my eyes we have to start by seeing ourselves as imaginers, as designer of the future, where we look at things from the social constructionist perspective. The future is something that is construed. There making group process the key: “Strategic learning” that opens up opportunities to envisioning alternative futures. Which in turn refers to the scenario.

Foresight • Non-linear thinking (creative) • Future studies • Scenario planning • Uncertainties as starting point • Process oriented • Stakeholder Participation

Scenario planning Scenario planning by a nutshell is to look at current uncertainties and opportunities and use them to create multiple futures in any given situation. In this view uncertainties are not regarded as difficult or disruptions of trends, but instead as a challenge and a starting point for policy and planning. It is believed that it is possible to anticipate such uncertainties and thus to develop policies and strategies that are more robust and future proof. Let’s take a look at the following example: Topic: A garden party 1. Always start with a question: “How do I get a successful garden party next weekend?”

2. Then you need to come up with Key uncertainties (i.e.): • The weather • Attendance 3. Think of two scenarios: • sun → rain • People show → no shows

It is important to realize that the focus lies on the learning process as well as the participation and the interaction of stakeholders. Consequently, the formulation of the policy issue, its meaning and the possible solutions are regarded as a game with various actors. Future uncertainties are collectively explored and defined. During this process, different interests, opinions and experiences are brought together, exchanged and discussed so that all parties are challenged to discover their own leads. This is precisely what I have experienced so far during the workshop of scenario planning. Let go into it a bit deeper.

“Exploring opportunities for the amazon” We got the opportunity to sit together and put our minds together using several of the moderation techniques in order to come up with different scenarios for a “sustainable amazon. A “sustainable amazon” refers to a field trip we had back in March in Brazil. The central question behind the field trip was; How can the Amazon area be transformed into a sustainable tourism destination?

In laymen’s terms this is the process that can be used to reach possible outcomes of scenarios.

1.environmental scan à 2.identify driving forces à 3.Critical uncertainties à 4.possible outcomes During the presentation Dr. Postma illustrated the following steps in a visual way that really stuck with me and made me really not want to leave it out of my portfolio. I’m going to leave you with a sketch of it.

I provided pictures that will help you get a better picture of how we were working on what the assignment for the Amazon process resulted.

My reflection of what I experienced here was that by doing this workshop you start to notice patterns, which are very critical for the principal of creating scenarios. What we wanted to get from the workshop is that uncertainty’s shows how unsure we are about possible developments. This means that we look at the opposite direction of environmental factors that could be developed. This is what my perception let me believe. For that purpose let us think outside of the box and look things that could happen. Even then in a short period of time we were able to come up with a very interesting sketch that will serve as a virtuous input for the Brazil assignment.

Design for social systems Dr. Dianne Nijs As always during this master program, Dianne always brings valuable content for us as imaginers. Not to mention that there is no one better to bring up designs for social systems then Dr. Nijs. If you take the time to really study your fellow students you can see by their head movements that they are taking up all of this information in a way that none of it seems like new or unknown to imaginers. This is one of the phenomena about this class that I really enjoyed watching.

Moving forward with the point of view Donella Meadows with her statement; “The future can’t be predicted, but it can be envisioned and brought lovingly into being” and linking it with previous lectures you can clearly see that there is a link between them. So if we were to put on our complexity glasses we start to see problems and mainly social ones in a very complex way. Furthermore, by analyzing the BBC case of problems problematic families find themselves in there are many nice examples how to deal with domestic problems in a traditional manner. In that same case they mentioned a government initiative to help the most disadvantaged families in England that made no "significant impact". The Bottom line here is, telling people what they should do is simply - linear approach – dictating. There is call for a new approach, where Family by family - tasci Australia would be a great example.

Tip: to become e better designer it is important to study great examples By going over the lecture I can draw the following conclusion. We can’t do more with less, but we can do better with less.” As an imaginer we can also account for bigger ripples. Notably, it is not by implementing change of dictating (BBC example) but rather by simply beginning to look at an organization as a living being.

This in turn can already make way for people to change. This entails that the problem would have to be approached social problems from the complex perspective. Closing of with Dr. Dianne Nijs’s lecture entitled “6 building blocks” will make way for very promising results.

Inspiration

Ideation

Implementation

a.

Analysis the appreciative way (zoom in) b. Brooding on the system (zoom out) c. Creation of concept/ strategic generative image d. Design of experience(s) e. Experience platform f. Follow-up

Tip for the future A future proof business “The challenge of creative businesses is to anticipate change. It is actually the best entrepreneurs are the once who see new changes coming on the horizon and create new business models and concept to develop.”

TIP: 1. If you have a business idea/ concept alternative yet plausible futures (scenarios). No predictions!

Make an appealing ‘pictures’ of the future Inspiration for innovative: • Visions & strategies • Concepts • Business models • Products, services, facilities 2. Shift of generations: • Tin un tremendo 3. Technology, the major driver of our society 4. Study great examples

The end Every journey must come to an end and u truly hope that you were indeed inspired and that you found many interesting tools that you yourself can apply later. As for me it has been my foremost pleasure to take a part in this process. I can’t to share my story personally with you all on the 9th.

See you then, Chimene

Idea bank

“Good designers study great ideas”

Domestic social problems • Family by family http://familybyfamily.org.au Concepts How unpredictable it may be, you will notice that if you structurally “feed” possible connections, new concepts and ideas will emerge.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

House of Katmandu - Spain (upside down house) Subliminal Advertising - David Brown http://www.momondo.com/ T-Mobile: (Life is for sharing) sharing experiences – communication FHBDDO advertising agency Always: rewrite the rules “like a boss” The fun theory.com Olympics “sustainable” Fish market (pick place fish market): first Starbucks attraction. Fish tent experience “interaction”.

How they turn it into a world wide known business Put your friend to the test (Carlsberg advertising 2013: advertising by connecting with value. About friendship on a very fun way Sublimely advertising video (derel): he wanted to show how much influence advertising has on us.

How created process really works.

Momondo “DNA journey”: Company that sells ticket.

Rio 2016 Olympic games “thank you mom= strong” My dad is a liar Children full of life

Branding • Estonia Nation Branding “using DNA of the city/ organization” :https://justestonishing.atavist.com/estonia-nation-branding • Subliminal Advertising - David Brown • http://www.momondo.com/ Advertising agency • http://creativity-online.com Sustainability • Lush Shampoo: https://uk.lush.com/products/shampoo-bars • Mud Jeans: http://www.mudjeans.eu/ • Patagonia: Don’t buy this jacket • Amnesty #lookbeyondborders:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7XhrXUoD6U Innovation games: • www.innovationgames.com • www.gamestorming.com Technological Trends & Prediction • Gartner http://www.gartner.com/technology/home.jsp Organizational change • Gameplan: working visually. http://www.grove.com/index.php

Good readers • De kracht van passie: CPO “being an CP(passion)O • Design your life; build a life that works for you • Don’t read this book; time management for creative people • Creative Confidence: unleashing the creative potential within us all • Talk like Ted • Inovation Games: Creating breakthrough products through collaborative play. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Addison-Wesley. ISBN 978-0321437292 • Gamestorming :A playbook for innovators, rulebreakers, and changemakers. Sebastopol, Calif: O'Reilly. ISBN 978-0596804176 • Visual leaders: New tools for visioning, management, & organization change. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1118471654 • Sibbet, D. (2010). Visual meetings: How graphics, sticky notes, & idea mapping can transform group productivity. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0470601785 Sibbet, D. (2011). Visual teams: Graphic tools for commitment, innovation, & high performance.

Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1118077436 • Metaphors & Story Telling Made to stick: Why some ideas survive and others die. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0099505693