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We live in the world, where everything is created by a conversation. Words create worlds, and nowadays it becomes more and more visible. With seeing that traditional hierarchical companies fail to achieve innovation, go further and progress, we also see that we are in need of a different approach.

When the wind of change blows, the hierarchy company would fail, while the self-organising company, where they use appreciative dialogue as a powerful tool, would remain and find an emergent way of staying on the flow. (Rowley, 2016)

The core of appreciative conversation is asking the right questions. If you have the ability to ask the right question, it might be more important than knowing the answer. Asking a person to share their story, to get there together, be an active listener and provoke inspiration is something that can get the conversation on the next level.

During the class of Danielle Zande of poetic language me and my fellow classmates were asked to think about a powerful story or image. Back then we went outside and started sharing what was the story for each of us that created such a meaning, that ever since stayed with us. Many of us started thinking about movies and reading about war, and how horrible it was, but there was one similarity and each and every story of ours. We all underlined how inspiring human connection was during such hard times. People shared their stories, their trauma and devastation. They understood they are not alone in this, and people united thanks to those shared meaningful stories. We stayed over there and almost got late to the class, because such a powerful question made us share and talk and talk.

Another thing discussed in our small circle was that a word is a powerful instrument and it can bring a positive change, but also a negative one. There is a danger of a single story, as it is very easy to create a wrong perception about something or someone based on a story told in frustration. Image based on a single story is not a unique thing, That made me think, have I ever experienced that? The answer came to me shortly, and it was positive. I cannot recall how many times I thought something different about a person basing my perception on a single or maybe couple stories I heard. It makes you think you know everything, it makes you form something that is far away from reality, and if you open your eyes and heart you can see that it is not true. One time I was told that a new Italian restaurant was awful. I obviously never went there, but how surprising it was when I finally went there and tried the best pizza in my life…

The lesson here is: if you want to know if pizza is good before having it, try to ask for more than one story about it!

How is it related to Imagineering approach in organizations?

We cannot solve complex problems with the same thinking that caused it. Even if there is no clear answer of how to do it, collective effort and dialogue can help us get there and figure it out together. Multiple perspectives are so much needed to play with the complexity. (Zandee, 2011) This is one of my favorite approaches in Imagineering. Before I used to think that instead of wasting time on explaining something, I would rather do it fastly by myself. I was stubborn and it was always a challenge for me to accept the fact that it is true, until I started noticing that it works 100% of the time. Even if a person does not have knowledge about a specific topic, their ideas are as valuable as all the others, because together building up on each other we can create something that would never have a chance to appear if only one person brainstorms. And here comes the reason why it is so important to include appreciative dialogue and inquiry as an intervention to make everybody feel safe to speak, and understand that all crazy or weird ideas are useful and needed. Facilitating conversations in a group is an important task that everybody should keep in mind. I tried to practice it during a Hackathon (project that lasted 3 days, working in groups of 4) and during the workshop of LEGO serious play in a way that if I see that somebody is being quiet, I try to encourage and give space for them to talk by inviting them to the conversation. I saw that working out extremely positive, as all ideas were heard, everybody felt included in the result and inspired by the job that has been done together.

During our lecture from Danielle Zandee, we were introduced to four lenses of inquiry into sustainable organizing:

1. Appreciative lense appeals to hopeful constructionism. By asking such questions as: “What gives life to our team/organisation? What would our most satisfied customer say?” It is about reframing problems and valuing mistakes. A good example would be the experience we had during experience design week. The company stated a challenge of how to pitch a digital system of traffic lights to the EU for them to take an action into implementing those practices into life. They were appealing to sustainability and safety, which, of course, are very important competencies, but we appealed to something else. Reframing the challenge helped us to recognize that those characteristics are very essential, but a bit general. That is why we decided to appeal to human factors and underline the importance of time, which was a huge success in my opinion. There is a human behind every institution and that was also a very helpful idea. But before coming to this solution, we had a long and bumpy road. Acknowledging, accepting and seeing the value of our mistakes was an essential part of the journey.

1. Discursive lens is about how dialogue approaches change. Questioning and constructing “grand narratives'' is also an essential part of seeing it through the paradigm of discursiveness. Self-organizing organizations are constantly changing with new narratives, stories, images and conversations. The role of a facilitator in this case would be to support  new ways of talking and thinking that lead to the emergence of different possibilities. Asking generative questions may be very surprising, as it has not been discussed before, and it causes people to reflect on what is going on. It helps them to keep track as well. They force us to look at reality with a different perspective (Zandee, 2011) After coming up with the factor that we wanted to appeal with during experience design week, we had to come up with a narrative that would help to create a common vision of what we were trying to say. We had to be very critical to ourselves and have a strong belief that we will come up with something breathtaking, deep and inspiring. We decided to use metaphors, stories, new voices and that helped us to create the whole experience, where everybody had to close their eyes, and trust us that something transforming is going to happen.

1. Artful lens is seeing the limits of the language, but not the limits of our world. It is about imagination, experimenting with what works right, and what could work better. Danielle Zandee in her article of sustainable organizational development as a generative process: About play, poetry and provocation states that managers should become more designers, than decision makers. And it is again related to the approaches that organizations use, where finding the smartest, fastest way towards the solution and to the fact that it does not work anymore. Instead of digging down to the whole, sometimes it is more beneficial to dig to the side.

2. Relational lens is appealing when we become in a relationship. It is about the small interactions within the group and outside of it. Small acts of kindness and creating valuable customer experiences. Being sharp and seeing the dynamics of a relationship.  Shared value creation is only possible when we include all players in the value chain and the local “cluster” to which the company belongs (Porter & Kramer, 2011).

“To take a risk with words, shake up the conventions, generate new formations of intelligibility, new images and sensitivities” (Ken Gergen, 1999)

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What does it take you to get creative? Are you even able to do anything creative? Or think in a creative way? The answer is yes. Everybody has creativity inside of them and that is only a matter of fact of how to ignite it. It was also hard to believe for me at first, and I used to think that creativity is not for everybody. I used to think that until one day, when one of my teachers asked a person who did not consider herself creative: “Who dressed you up in the morning then?”. Indeed. Creativity and art are definitions that are often misconducted, and that is such a shame, because people are creative by nature. Every choice of ours beginning with what to wear in the morning and ending with how you cook your meal is an act of creativity.

Geoff Maree during the class underlined 3 points that are essential for creativity:

1. Open challenges

2. Explorative behavior

3. Reward is in the process

What was interesting for me is the third statement. Me being a bachelor of marketing, thought that motivating people through end rewards would help the efficiency and pace of working, but Geoff explained that extra motivation could actually kill productivity in heuristic problems. Heuristic problem is the one that does not have one single solution, where we do not know the concrete answer and you would have to go and try to see if it works. Hence, creative tasks are always heuristic. For instance, if you were asked how to plant a tree on Mars, you would have to find out experimentally. Heuristic problems can be solved, indeed, by including open challenges, with rewarding the explorative behavior during the process.

Enough with problem solving. When we deal with creativity, solving a problem or a challenge is only a part of a thing to do, the real challenge is to find that very challenge or problem. For instance, I understand this one very well, because usually creative challenges are so complex, that you have to dig very deep, zoom in and out to get the right insight of what the problem actually is. Often, you have to kill your darlings, and be very open to find the right solution. For instance, in our case during experience design the challenge was stated, and our team was struggling to find a solution, but after rephrasing the challenge and asking the right set of questions it was not a challenge, it was an angelic song with the solution based on the challenge.

Creative sessions require teamwork, collaboration and co-creation. When working with a brainstorm it is highly important to build up on each other's ideas and add up to each other. So instead of thinking that some of the group members have more expertise, so they need to come up with a final decision, it is important that everybody has some room to speak, add, ask questions, and fully participate in a process. You may not come up with a solution, but your initial idea or some parts of it may give birth to something great. For example, during the same project we were trying to rephrase the challenge, and I was thinking about my personal experience with traffic and driving roads. Why would I want it to be faster? I don't even have a driving license so it is not really my cup of tea. What I do have is my boyfriend who travels 3 hours instead of one coming to me from Amsterdam to Breda during a week. Time that we have here is so precious, and I honestly hate waiting for him for so long. That was the beginning of our concept of time that is so valuable for a person. That is why inclusion is so essential in any teamwork.

Another important factor of creativity is feeling safe. All the ideas are valuable, we already know it, but how to deal with shy people who are not so confident to share every crazy thought with everybody? There are always multiple ways of doing that. The example of Geoff Maree is that the Japanese system, for instance, allows the young people to speak up first, because young people do not dare to contradict alders if their ideas are different, for example. Also good facilitation in a group like that would also help, of course. If everybody is excited about each other's ideas, trying to add to it, instead of criticizing it, then it might be easier for shy or not so confident people to express themselves.

Wrapping up everything that was stated before, I would like to put an emphasis on the fact that everybody is creative. In the end, there is a philosophical question: What is the thing that only God and a human can do? The answer is - create. So, please! I encourage you to do so!

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When was the last time you played? Probably many people would think about a while ago, when they were children. And why is it common to play when you are a kid, but as you grow as more weird it gets to play games outside with your friends? The answer is lying in definition. According to Weber, there are four game characteristics:

1. Games are voluntary. Because if everybody is forced to play, it is not a game at all.

2. You have to create space and time. Often during games you come up with rules, which suspend the reality for you at the moment. I find the connection with being present in the moment, because only being fully in the process would allow you not to think in the limitation of your own life.

3. Participants need to be explorative. Games encourage free exploration and choice, and people's decisions are leading.

4. Social change. During a game it is necessary to create a safe space where players can engage and act in the way that they would never do in normal life. Players enter a shared world in which the key is interaction.  (Jessica Weber, in class interaction)

One of the main insights for me was the realization that storytelling is a part of a game. There is a relation to a hero, players are triggered by the story and they have emotional binding inside of a game. And when telling a story we apply to 3rd person when we talk about literature, when the author is describing the situation to the author, 2nd person in cinema, when the viewer is observing, and in a game a person is experiencing everything by themselves which brings storytelling to the new level of participating in a story from 1st person. That is what I really find inspiring. When in the game, you have to be there and be present. For instance, I felt it for the first time, when Laura organized the workshop with other classmates of mine. They suggested to play this game, where you have to walk in the room, and look each other in the eyes trying to count to 20 without saying another word. This was such a nice experience, where we had laugh, were present, had fun and got in the mood to be present for the next program they had.

During the workshop with Jessica Weber we played the game of city model. Being there and seeing that we are creating a story of a city by playing a game, where our decisions took the main role was an experience that kept me present the whole time there. Our actions impacted the situation in the city and it was visible, so we had to be careful before making decisions. Working together and seeing the consequences of our actions has helped us in collaboration with each other and it was very beneficial before the Hackaton, because it was a true life model of the city of Breda and it was a good dive into the upcoming challenge that we had.

Now, why do I think that playfulness is so important for businesses? As it is known, we are now going away from our previous model of living. Bureaucracy and hierarchy were ones of initial parts of the progress, thanks to which we are appearing where the human race is right now. Those models were working perfectly fine in a system that we created for ourselves. However, there is a lot of evidence nowadays that those systems are not working anymore and the world is in need of innovative approaches for further progress of society. The main point of being innovative is opening your mind to new ideas and processes, it is about brainstorming and creativity. And while business systems have clear ways to get from A to B, it has cause and effect change along with predictable sequences, games are allowing us to trust the process, make new choices and unpredictable paths which lead to innovative thinking. Moreover, games erase hierarchy in the very core of its definition. Everybody feels safe and has space to bring new ideas, speak up if they do not like rules, or do not agree with certain actions. That brings equality and space for fresh perspectives and improvement.

Gamefulness in imagineering is an undivided part of it. To be able to set yourself free, be present in the moment and fully commit to the process is a part of what we do. The Imagineering approach is tightly connected to innovations, so I will look at innovation from an imagineering perspective here. Games itself is a powerful tool of collaboration. It creates a new culture around the players, it gets them to interact and bond over a shared interest and to add to each other's experience within the game. It helps socially connect and increase altruistic behaviour and find new ways of looking into the possible outcomes.

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What is a concept? Is it an idea of something new or is it a structured plan of what and how to do it? Well, according to google, yes, kind of. The definitions state's two main bullet points: a plan or intention and an idea or invention to help sell or publicize the commodity. Us, Imsgineers we see it a bit deeper than that. There are different types and levels of concepts, and in this section I am going to elaborate on how we see it and a little bit of how I see it myself.

So, where do they use concepts? It is widely used in design, advertising, communication, politics, business, science, etc. Why is the process of concepting such an essential part of all of those varieties of spheres? Well, when we`re talking about businesses, for instance, it isi important to come up with a structured idea of what you are going to do, for who, what is the vision and what is it that the company is breathing with. Not only those aspects, but also the necessity to be unique is there. Come up with something that has not been previously known is a true challenger in creating a concept. And how to determine if the concept is good? How to understand which darlings to kill, and which gets to live? This unfortunately you have to find out experimentally.

However, there is a method of evaluation of concepts that are already there. The concept scale (Ouwens, 2019), states that there are three levels of concepts such as: operational concept, concept and high concept.

1. Operational concept.

Operational concept is very much like design. So there is a potential of becoming a concept or even high concept, but there is something lacking. It usually prescribes exactly how something should be approached, so it is something very concrete and detailed. A good example is Starbucks or DoubleTree, for instance. For Starbucks you know exactly how stuff will behave with you, you know the smell, there are very specific colors. So it is not an actual product, but it is a worked out experience that actually works. It is a very detailed plan, not the end product, but how you deal with it.

1. Concept

Concept is the second level on the scale, and usually it is an idea behind something, but also neither product, nor outcome. It is more like a formula that works and you can apply it everywhere. An example would be an event for Breda, where in summer they ask everybody to bring some friends, alcohol and an air mattress to have a party all over the canal. So the point is that it is not so unique. The word iconcept s used here without that deep meaning that is used on two other levels. Here it is more like an idea.

1. High Concept.

High concept is an abstract approach and unlike the previous two states, they have a formula and they can apply it to every aspect of their company. This is what I was talking about, when I talked about values that company breathes in and breathes out with every movement they make. Tony Chocolonely, for instance, would be a good  example for that. Critical, entrepreneurial, fun and opinionated are the principles that they apply everywhere, beginning from the story of the brand and finishing with the pricing and marketing, and small everyday jobs that they do, so it really becomes a formula or method.

So, why do we use concepts in Imagineering? It all relates to creating a shared meaning, which is the core and principle of co-creation and collaboration. It touches people's hearts and relates to their values. It is about experience, process and aspiration in this case. And here there comes the difference between vision and concept. In the first case we are talking about the goal and direction you want to follow, while in the second one, it is about the approach to reach that goal and a view transfered to the method. Unlike marketing, where the focus is on external values, the concept is about both: internal and external matters. It is not only made to sell something it is a value based system, which you either relate to or not,

Another tip for finding inspiration for your concept is mixing ideas and thoughts. “A great idea is not an invention, it is a discovery”. That saying really worked for us during Hackathon. When our group found out that the idea we came up with and cherishes do much already existed, we were stressed and very down with ourselves, however talking to Geoff Maree and him saying this quote really helped us to look at this situation from another angle. We thought that all our work meant nothing, because something similar already exists, but then we understood that we could add our touch and add some new features and different people already find it interesting and beneficial. So here we are talking about a concept in general, and for new concepts you do not always have to come up with an invention.

Unlike those concepts, high concepts require much deeper look. Like in chemistry where atoms are the essence of matter, high concepts consist of a key formula (molecules) which determines how you deal with things and your working principle. That what I am talking about is Molecule Principle. I find this comparing with concepts fascinating, and that only proves the complexity of a system we live in, and the interconnectedness between all the spheres we could possibly think of.

An Example of a successful formula would be Dutch even Serious Request. At first I thought that the whole idea of starving in a room to raise money for charity is kind of absurd, but it only made me wonder, how come it works so well? A serious request, as far as I understand, is an event, where people from radio go in solitude to a room, where they are locked in for three days without ANY food and they go live putting songs on request for a voluntary amount of money, which will be donated to charity. In Leeuwarden in 2013, for instance, they raised 12 million euro with 12 million Dutch people watching the campaign. So, what brought it to such a great success? According to Frank Ouwens those factors are: inclusion, as every age, gender and occupancy was involved in the process. Transparency, because the amount of money collected was on the desk, fun, of course and time pressure (5 days). Hence, those were the success factors in this high concept. I think that those could be taken in mind while coming up with a concept for an event. It might not be a high concept, but it could still bring you to the point you want to reach.

In conclusion, I would like to mention that there is not a better concept on the scale. Disney is a high concept, but they use plenty of operational concepts to make it work. Concepts are everywhere they are needed and a tip for you if you want to be a concept expert ( :) ) is to start seeing and differentiating those concepts one from another. Use those models to evaluate existing concepts and have clearer goals for your desired concept. In order to be distinguishable, meaningful and valuable, we need to start asking why more often. And that creates abstract and value based concepts so desired for us.

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Storytelling is not a new process. It was not innovated recently and not even hundreds of years ago. Stories are everywhere. Images, sentences, oral verbal and non-verbal communication. Stories take place for 30 000 years in images, 4000 years in writing, 2500 in theaters and over 100 years on film and radio. The youngest storytelling appeared 20 years ago and those are internet stories and online games. So, why is it so important to have stories as a part of our life? How does this relate to Imagineering and how to implement it to a “serious life”?

At first, it is important to understand what the process of storytelling (for organisations) is at its core and how it is different from a narrative. It is well-known that you cannot buy a corporate culture and a strong brand. Hence, the only way to achieve those goals, you would need to develop this culture and make it visible for everybody who can potentially ignite with your organisation. So, that is where storytelling would come there to help to enable and activate the “company's DNA visible”. (Fog, 2005) And while narratives` main aim is information, storytelling is aiming at emotional experience. “A well-told story captures our attention, holds us in suspense and pays off with a meaningful emotional experience.” (Mckee, 2018). Narratives are recreating the event by listing the things that were happening and unlike those, stories are value-charged and progress intensively.

As it was mentioned before, storytelling is highly essential in every type of organisation. Monique Hover, for example, shared her story about the city she lives in, that they have a guy named Bombass in Osterhoudt and he represents the mood of the city, and the city is known by the image that that guy represents. Rebel, joy, fun and active is the image that they would like to represent and was always there for the city.  So, even governmental organizations are in need of a story. It sets a powerful and illustrative example, it operationalizes values and actually makes things happen, as it is seen from the example of Monique. More than that, it is a tool of reflection of past and present and makes it visible.

Another example of how storytelling brought a project to success was shown during Hackaton, when we decided to go outside and ask people about their life in Breda, what they appreciate and what exactly has room for improvement. Going outside and talking to people made me realize how passioante they are about their city and how much they love living there. Some of them were talking about the greatest party they had and how many people they met there, others talk about how much time they spend here with their students, and others about bringing their kids to the best football club there is. It was so touching and inspiring for me. Listening to all of these stories we realized that one thing in common was the feeling "at home", and ultimate wish for this city to flourish for many many years. That helped us a lot coming up with an idea for our project, and that was again connection to others.

I think storytelling is so amazing for us, because in the end we are all human. We get inspired by each other, we learn from each other and in the end even your boss, the guy, who brings you mail, and a barista you see every morning they all have a favorite ice-cream. So, why don`t you go and ask them? Maybe it will inspire you for an amazing idea...