I can’t believe we are half way through November already!

Much has happened since returning from the Art of Management and Organization conference in Europe.

A couple of weeks ago I presented at the QWRRRN Queensland Rural Regional and Remote Women’s Network conference in Roma.   The theme Connect Network and Inspire along with Cultivating Confident Women drew a large range of women from throughout regional Queensland.   The conference celebrated and recognized the amazing personal and business achievements and contributions rural women are providing Australia, particularly in Queensland.

I conducted a one-hour interactive workshop on Creative Wellbeing for 50 people. We explored the connections between creativity and wellbeing and the choices we make in relation to these aspects in our lives. The feedback was very positive and self-affirming for the participants.  It generated great energy and conversation.

During November I will be presenting at two other conferences. Firstly the The Australian Centre for Arts and Health is hosting the – The Art of Good Health and Wellbeing Conference in Sydney.  I will be sharing my own personal story of working through a major health crisis, open-heart surgery for a congenital heart condition, and the creative approaches I explored in the lead up to and in the process of recovery and healing.  This short presentation will be presented in spoken verse and through a visual narrative.  I’ll also be conducting a one-hour workshop on Creative Wellbeing.

After that is the Story Conference in Melbourne where I’ll be conducting a workshop on Provenance and Professional Practice.  This is a story-based process for professionals that enable them to reflect on significant aspects of their professional lives, and provides opportunity to gain insight into their practice.  This is a powerful experience for professionals  to reflect on the journey of their work and to consider their future.

I have attended numerous conferences as a delegate and as a presenter/speaker/workshop host and I have asked myself the question-

• Why do I go to conferences?
• Why others do?
• Do we think conferences have value and offer benefit? 

The answer to that is that we must do given the number of conferences that take place throughout the year.

From my perspective a conference provides opportunity to meet new people and grow networks, it’s a place to learn and be inspired, it provides an environment to present ideas and get feedback, and potentially gain business.  I have a particular interest in how we build a sense of community at conferences.  How do we create a feeling – a ‘vibe’ where people leave feeling motivated, connected and with great ‘take home’ knowledge?

I have written a paper exploring this theme entitled Conferences: Building a reflective learning community through creative interventions that explores this topic.  If you would like a copy of that paper send an email and I will send you a copy.

Conferences can enable and inspire however they can fall short of expectations.  Of course it is up to the individual to make the most of their experience, to stretch oneself, get out of our comfort zone, meet new people, stop hanging out with the usual suspects, and take a few risks.  If we don’t do that then we are selling ourselves short.

It is also incumbent on the organisers to do their best in providing an inviting experience for delegates.  Understanding their audience, offering relevant topics and speakers along with some left of field presenters to shake things up a little.  I believe good community building processes can go a long way to helping people connect.  Don’t just assume this happens – sometimes the best thing we can do is to make introductions and provide deliberate opportunities for people to connect with their conference community.

I have instigated and been involved in a number of creative community building processes and activities at conferences and have found them to be well received by delegates.
Consider these attributes the next conference you organise and call 0406007753 or email  for my presenter/workshop information.

Photography by Vikki Hartley, Hartley Beef

In the meantime here are a few tips to make the most of your next conference experience:

• Do you homework, have a look at the program, the speakers/presenters and delegates.  It’s good to plan and be flexible.
• Be prepared for opportunities and connections to emerge.  That’s the great thing about conferences – you never know who you may meet.
• As much as it’s nice and safe to hang out with friends it can also limit the opportunity to meet new people and interfere with spontaneous interactions.  You can arrange to meet with friends and colleagues at different times.  Head to different sessions and share what you have just learned.  And of course you can always introduce your friends and colleagues to your new connections.
• Take yourself off to a session that you might not usually go to.  It’s good to hear and see things that may not generally come into our sphere.  It’s a great way to spark new ideas and thinking, connect new dots and meet different people.
• Pace yourself – conferences can be very full on at times particularly if you are a presenter/speaker.  Make sure you eat properly and hydrate well.
• Take time to reflect.  Carry a notebook or journal to capture ideas and reflections.  Find moments of quiet time to reflect on what you have been hearing and seeing and what it means to you.
• Be present and take time to really appreciate and savour the moment.  Particularly if you are in a great location and near nature.  It is a great restorer.  Part of the joy and learning of a conference is the opportunity to experience different environments and cultures.  Take time to explore your surroundings as well as all the other things conferences have to offer.

I’ll be in touch to let you know how the above conferences go.

Yours creatively
Cathryn Lloyd

Reflections on an arts-based conference and creative management school.

I am currently immersed at the intersection of arts, business, management and organisational inquiry. Over the past 10 days Bled, Slovenia has been my home. In particular the IEDC Bled School of Management has been at the heart of that. I came to Bled for the 2016 – 8th Art of Management and Organization Conference, and IEDC, the school with a view, played host, and what gracious and generous hosts the people from this organisation have been. This year the conference attracted 160 delegates from over 23 different countries.

The school provided a creative and beautiful environment for the conference. Situated near Lake Bled, surrounded by the Julian Alps, we were spoiled by panoramic scenes of the lake, mighty trees, medieval Bled Castle, and the Pilgrimage Church of the Assumption of Mary on Bled Island.

Firstly, I want to acknowledge the IEDC for their professionalism and hard work in accommodating the diversity of people and needs. There was an enormous amount of good will and interaction from IEDC staff. Secondly, there is much to say about the aesthetics of the IEDC building. The architectural design is a story of art, people, space, light, culture, renovation, rejuvenation, the past and future . The building connects people to place, and place to people. The love for and integration of art throughout makes for a truly inviting experience. IEDC has a stunning corporate art collection and is the only educational institution in Slovenia with a concisely formed concept of collecting. Interestingly, Slovenian companies do have a mindset for collecting artworks. It also means that IEDC is a gallery/museum in which business and management education happens. It provides opportunity for inspiring artful thought, aesthetic experience and practical knowledge.

Art in this context is more than decoration and entertainment. Creativity is built into the pedagogical philosophy of IEDC as a crucial imperative for success, as a learning environment where business and management professionals and students are introduced to art, classical film, music and artists as a way of thinking about and doing management and business. The art collection is a curatorial story of paintings, sculptures, drawings and graphics of well known and less recognised artists. As President and Dean of the School, Professor Danica Purg states, ‘the school is designed as an art gallery, a place for reflection, creativity, innovation and change’.

And so the IEDC was the perfect environment for the gathering of the AOMO conference; which brings together the arts, business, management, research, academia, creative practitioners and other professionals.

This is my third AOMO conference. Each time I have been to AOMO I have actively participated in some way. From presenting doctoral research in 2008, co-developing the City of Thought project in 2012, and this year curating a stream with my colleague Dr Geoff Hill.

The conference theme Empowering the Intangible: Exploring, Feeling and Expressing Through the Arts included streams, workshops and presentations which sought to illuminate the intangible aspects of organisational life.

Our stream focused on Stories as a valuable and creative method for understanding and making the intangible aspects of organisational life tangible. We were delighted to receive a great response to our call for experiential presentations/workshops. Through careful curation we created a stream of storytelling. Over one and half days we had a range of workshops and presentations from creative practitioners, researchers and management professionals that wove together an eclectic and cohesive series of experiential sessions. The stream was a rich collection of various ways people draw on stories for inquiry and making sense.

The response to our stream from both presenters and audience perspectives was extremely positive. Those who presented and attended our stream commented on the quality and creativity of the presenters and workshops as well as the flow of the stream. People have told us how much they learned from one another, and how it has impacted on their own practice.

I feel hugely privileged to have been involved with the conference and to spend time with the people who helped make our strand in the conference such a success. I have gained so much from the experience of curating a stream, working closely with Geoff, working with such a high calibre of professionals across different sectors, and the AOMO organisers.

Equally I feel privileged to have stayed on at IEDC, spend quality time in such a beautiful environment and getting to know the people. The IEDC helped create a climate for creativity, ideas, energy and passion to flow and flourish. So a big thank you to AOMO and IEDC for helping to make the past 10 days an artful and memorable experience.

Thank you to our workshop presenters, Nick Nissley, Kate Carruthers-Thomas, Hedy Bryant, Michelle Le Baron, Nadja Alexander, Jack Pinter, Tracey Cutler, Donatelli Paoli, Terje Gaustad, Jo Trelfa, Martin Ely, Mark Young, Matthias Anderegg and Inge Brokerhof for your input, creative energy, professionalism and enthusiasm.

Last but not least thank you to my colleague Geoff Hill, and to a creative working relationship I deeply value. Our work is not finished as we have negotiated with IPMA the International Professional Management Association journal to co-edit a special arts and business edition that will feature papers from the AOMO conference. So watch this space…

Now for a bit of R&R. It’s time for a break and spend time with friends exploring this stunning area. By the way did I mention that late one afternoon I swam across the lake to the island with the church. It was an exciting and magical experience, one I will never forget.

Yours creatively

Dr Cathryn Lloyd
Maverick Minds Founder

• Restoration. A break away from the busy world is restorative. It allows us to rest and repair and return with better focus and attention. There is a concept around this called Attention Restoration Theory that asserts the cognitive benefits of spending time in nature. Even looking at images of nature can help with mental fatigue.
• It allows your imagination and creativity to flourish. When we find a way to let our prefrontal cortex quieten down (meditation/mindfulness practice is helpful) our imagination network is stimulated. The network tends to get activated when we engage in ‘mellow’ activities like walking, showering etc. That’s part of the reason why we get flashes of insight and aha moments during these times.
• Expansive thinking, being in a state of awe, is a powerful emotion that plays an important role in creativity and psychological well-being.  This state of outward thinking can help us gain new perspectives and move us away from habitual thinking.
• Soft fascination – a state of calm – that meditative feeling. Soft fascination frees our minds to wander, and seems to be one of the best ways to get the creative juices flowing. Soft fascination occurs when we’re listening to leaves rustling or watching the ocean flow in and out. It’s when our attention is very gently focused on the sensory stimuli around us. This is in contrast to hard sounds that push the brain into “hard fascination” where we become focused on the stimuli that’s bombarding your senses. Think of the constant pings and other sounds of technology that gain our immediate attention (one way to monitor and control this is to turn off sound notifications).

I believe we know intuitively that nature nurtures us. The work of Ecopscyhologists tell us stories about ourselves and our relationship with nature. Researchers and authors like Rachel and Steven Kaplan shed light on the our experiences with nature in their book The Experience of Nature: A Psychological Perspective. Researchers and authors like Rachel and Steven Kaplan shed light on the our experiences with nature in their book The Experience of Nature: A Psychological Perspective.

I’m privileged to live near a state forest where I can go for regular walks. I’m also an avid swimmer and find early morning or evening swims hugely restorative. Not only because of the swim itself, the natural setting provides a calming back drop. At night I gaze at the stars and allow myself to be in awe of the night sky and wonder what it would be like to be out in space, looking back to earth. The imagination is certainly being activated during this time.

I have experienced ‘soft fascination’ with one particular moment etched into my memory. An early morning swim provided a moment of beauty and clarity. As I was leaving the pool I could hear a tinkling sound I’d not heard before. At first I couldn’t figure it out. I know I stood in ‘soft fascination’ observing the situation completely intrigued by this delightful new sound. And then all was revealed. I happened to be passing under a Jacaranda tree and the tinkling sounds happened to be the Jacaranda flowers falling onto the wooden deck. I was mesmerised and in awe of this remarkable sound. So much so I was inspired to do a watercolour image as a visual response to capture a truly special moment.

We all need time out and away from the ‘busyness’ of things. There is time for focused laser like attention and action, and there is much needed time to be open and spacious, a place to allow our imagination and creativity to flourish.

We are fortunate that it doesn’t have to be one or the other. The art of being human is to be aware and discerning so as to choose what is needed when, and to be enriched by both ways of being.

It’s probably time to go for a walk.

How about you?

As a result of a recent investigation, I came across The Ware Collection of Blaschka Glass Models of Plants at Harvard University Museum of Natural History

My discovery was not in person mind you. At this stage I’ve not had the privilege of seeing the real life version of this famous collection of highly realistic glass botanical artefacts. Having discovered it, it is now on my ‘collections to see’ wish list. From my observation these exquisite glass treasures reveal incredible attention to detail, craftsmanship, sensitivity and a commitment to capturing the intricacy, beauty and essence of numerous plants and flowers.

The sculptural beauties were commissioned in 1886 by Professor George Lincoln Goodale, the first director of Harvard’s Botanical Museum. Mrs. Elizabeth C. Ware and her daughter Mary Lee Ware financed the collection and presented it to Harvard University as a memorial to Dr. Charles Eliot Ware, Class of 1834.

The Glass Flowers were to serve as a 3 dimensional, educational botanical study, to aid in teaching, and serve as the premier botany exhibit. Goodale wanted life-like representatives of the plant kingdom for teaching botany. At the time only crude papier-maché or wax models were available. The life-size models include 847 species, with remarkably accurate anatomical sections and enlarged flower parts. Since the Glass Flowers are always in bloom, tropical and temperate species may be studied year-round. The models were made from 1887 through 1936 by Leopold (1822-1895) and Rudolf Blaschka (1857-1939), father and son glass artists who lived and worked in Hosterwitz, Germany, near Dresden.

When real life plants are pressed they become one dimensional and lose colour in the long term. The commissioning then of the Glass Flowers was a creative, pragmatic and visionary response to a challenging situation. How might we be able to continually observe and research the natural world?

I love this collision of beauty and function. The Glass Flowers and the cases that house them are being carefully restored. The collection continues to provide audiences with a unique way to observe, appreciate and study the natural world. Given that some of the plants and flowers captured in this collection may no longer be in existence, it is an enduring legacy that enables generations of people to engage in a remarkable aesthetic experience of the world around us.

That creative and pragmatic thinking is essential to my work with clients. Much of it is about helping people and organisations to shift their thinking, gain new perspectives on challenging situations, and create positive change. As part of that engagement I often encourage clients to produce artefacts that reveal aspects of their organisation. Working with various materials they are asked to consider the aesthetics of that artefact. What does the artefact tell us about that organisation? What is the underlying story, the current situation, or what is the new story they wish to communicate?

Imagine then, if you were to produce a powerful organisational artefact, one that represents the essence of your organisation and stands the test of time. Imagine that people continue to see value and beauty in what you do and want to engage with you over time. What would they see? What might that be? What would they say? What would be your Glass Flower legacy?

Cathryn Lloyd is the Founder/Director of Maverick Minds.

Maverick Minds creative professional development programs are designed to shift your thinking, gain new perspectives and create positive change.

Experience the power of our creative learning programs.

Artwork by Dr Cathryn Lloyd

Last night was such a night. Dinner cooking and glass in hand we stood gazing at the emerging night sky. Lost in the moment, in my own world, I was brought back into my beloved’s world, telling me about the clouds he could see floating in the distance. Yes, I could see them I told him, and we had a brief chat. He was not convinced that I was actually seeing the clouds he was eager for me to see. We stood in our different places looking into the sky at our clouds. Me convinced we were looking at the same clouds. He was less convinced and so moved to my location. Not those – these and we moved to where he had been standing. I could now see that we had been looking at different cloud formations. So now, standing together, looking from the same perspective we were observing the same clouds.

It was such a reminder how easy it is to get caught up in our own view, our own perspective. How we position ourselves literally and metaphorically – stand our ground on views and opinions. Sometimes unwilling to give ground and move our position for whatever reason. Gaining a new perspective is quite simple really. How prepared are we to move from our position – to give a little bit and move toward another position to potentially gain new insight, new ideas and a whole new perspective. What are we prepared to let go of, that will open our world to new possibilities, and cloud formations?

Madeline Somerville is a regular writer on consuming less:

Yes, you recycle. But until you start reducing, you’re still killing the planet

Buying begets buying: how stuff has consumed the average American’s life

Oliver Burkeman regularly shines a light on a range of topic:

Can you shop your way to happiness?

It’s interesting to note what gets our attention. I began the year with my own de-clutter and found a number of people in my network looking to consume less and get rid of stuff. I even had a conversation with a friend about the intriguing artist Margaret Olley and her huge collection of material objects in which she found inspiration. It was a fascinating discussion and another story.

For me, as a hybrid professional, that crosses sectors – business/creative industries/education and the arts – I am acutely aware of my inner bower bird – the collector that resides within me. I gather objects, artefacts, journal articles, material, paper and other attractive paraphernalia. I use this ‘stuff’ as inspiration and for a range of purposes – writing, making artworks, in creativity coaching, facilitation and running workshops. I’m also conscious that some of it has been dormant for some time.

The summer break was spent clearing away some of this. Getting rid of things that have sat idle for too long. I’ve taken time to review what I have and have begun the process to see if I can breathe new life into this odd assortment of materials and objects. It is a form of re-cycling, up-scaling and re-design. The same goes for my business as I reflect, re-frame and re-design.

Doing this got me thinking about how this relates to business. What stuff do we have lying around in our businesses that take up space, time, energy, and may cause stress. It could be old technology, archival boxes never opened, draws never emptied, and ideas that have sat idle and never landed properly.

Sometimes we really do have to dismantle and let go of ‘stuff’ in order for other things to happen. I know many creative practitioners that will eliminate or even destroy their work in order to create something new. The poet David Whyte suggests that sometimes we have to ‘unmake’ aspects of our lives to get back to living the life we want. Sometimes we may have to unmake aspects of our business, to move it on, or to reconnect our hearts with our business. What we love about our businesses, what inspires us and why it actually exists.

With that in mind what stuff are you holding onto in your business that needs to be dismantled, discarded, given away, re-cycled or up-cycled? This applies to ideas as much as material things. What ideas are you sitting on that are well passed their use by date, what ideas might you breathe new life into or completely re-design?

It’s still early in the year and a good time to review what is going on and set the scene for the year ahead. So here’s 3 things to reflect on:

1. What stuff, be it material objects or ideas, do you have in your business that simply need to be got rid of. They have taken up too much energy, time, thought and money. What’s some of the small stuff that you can move on easily with little or no sweat?

2. What stuff or ideas are lying dormant – that given the right sort, or amount of attention, are worth keeping, but need up-cycling? How might you do this? Who can you talk to about your idea to help you gain a new perspective and shine light on it from a different perspective? Who might you collaborate with? Who in your business or network can help you breathe new life into it? If you don’t have the energy for it, who else might, and who might you offer it to- gift it to someone else who can make it happen. All it might take is a conversation to help you move your ideas and stuff on to the next stage – whatever that is…

3.Does your idea or stuff require complete transformation. This is more than recycling or upcycling – this is innovation. Think of it as the diamond encased within the carbon, waiting to be revealed – to have its time. Where are the diamonds hidden in your business?

Whichever way you go requires levels of risk, courage and trust – often a leap of faith. Remember – when one door closes, another opens – and that’s a good time to get rid of stuff.