Rediscovering Connection with Shelley Doyle
Welcome to Rediscovering Connection, a Podcast where you'll hear from innovative leaders, researchers, community builders, and facilitators, on the frontier of connection.
Through soulful conversations, we explore new ways to connect, on-and-offline, to support our social and digital wellbeing.
I hope this podcast inspires you to rediscover connection in your own life!
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Rediscovering Connection with Shelley Doyle
16. Rediscovering Connection through Art: cultivating connection through collaborative art with colleagues, teenagers and families with Karen Grosz and Shelley Ceridwen Doyle
In this episode we learn how collaborative art connects workplace teams, school children, and families, with facilitator, author and TEDx speaker Karen Grosz.
After working with 80,000 people in this way, Karen reveals what's next - taking collaborative art into VR.
Listen as Karen and I discuss the optimal number of participants for collaborative canvas painting and 'quiet leadership'.
Join us in this for this exploration into the transformative power of art and the deep connections it nurtures in educational environments, the workplace and the home.
Find Karen on LinkedIn
Or at canvascreekteams.com
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I hope our conversation inspires you to rediscover connection in your own life! Subscribe now and let the magic unfold.
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I hope our conversation inspires you to rediscover connection in your personal or professional life.
Subscribe now and let the magic unfold.
Love & sparkles,
✨Shelley
About Your Host
Hi, I'm Shelley Doyle, a Social Wealth Strategist and Connection Coach. I empower remote and nomadic founders and leaders who crave deeper connections to activate their social wealth, so they can feel trusted, supported, and truly connected—both online and offline—no matter where they are.
Discover More.
I combine cutting-edge research on social wealth, social wellbeing and social capital with two decades in corporate communications to deliver mind-shifting talks, workshops, and programs around the world.
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before. People fit pretty well in front of a canvas, but not so well they don't bump each other, because that's part of forming connection is actually touching one another.
Speaker 2:Wow, because a previous podcast episode I filmed with Richard Bartlett and he does a lot of work with different sized teams and he had come to the number five being that five people can hold the same thoughts. They can have something called hive mind.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly right. And what we find is with three people there's not enough group think or hive thing going on. There's they're just two insular, and there are decisions we call it the segmented canvas, where three people just they stay in a little space. But with four or five sometimes we paint with five you bump one another, you have to move around one another. So for the first seven minutes you really are bumping your neighbors, you're trying to find space and what we find is after seven to nine minutes the teams figure out how to work together without really bumping each other and they form a whole new kind of connection of just being able to perform this dance and create art. What's incredible to watch.
Speaker 2:Hello, this is Shelley Keriduan and this is Rediscovering Connection and I'm here today with Karen Gross and I'm super excited to hear from Karen all about this vibe, this movement, this book and how she's really helping teams to rediscover connection with each other. Welcome, karen. Thank you so much for being with me today.
Speaker 1:Great, I'm so excited to talk to you, Shelley. I'm excited about your project.
Speaker 2:Yes, well, it sounds like you're doing some great work, not only in organizations, but in schools. I'd love to just hear a little bit about this movement that you've got going on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thank you. It really is born of the idea that I didn't want to work with teens. That's what I first thought. I thought, oh my gosh, teens are scary. And then, when I started working with teens, I realized that if we're going to change the world and improve the world, that's where we have to start Is with these amazing, amazing humans that form these amazing connections with. And so right now, my team is operating under the idea that connection is prevention, and our schools need to prevent a lot of things like suicides and drug use and all of that. And so when we connect people by using collaborative art into this new way of communicating with one another, amazing things can happen for these teens.
Speaker 2:And then how about the workplace? Is the same true? Can we use the same methods?
Speaker 1:Yeah, the exact same is true, shelley. We put four people in front of a canvas I kind of call it a couch-length canvas, so it's 48 inches long and four people stand there together with brushes and a couple of colors of paint and they create art with no plan. But what's really cool is, after 13 minutes of standing side by side, they're so connected that there's this creativity that just flows through the group and they create art that they're really proud of, and it works both in schools, but works in families, schools and businesses.
Speaker 2:I'm intrigued about the numbers that you just mentioned. There you said did you say four?
Speaker 1:So four people stand in front of a canvas and create art together, all at the same time.
Speaker 2:Intriguing. And how did you come to that number of four?
Speaker 1:So a little bit of trial and error, but also a little bit of just good darn luck. And four people fit pretty well in front of a canvas, but not so well they don't bump each other, because that's part of forming connection is actually touching one another.
Speaker 2:Wow, because a previous podcast episode I filmed with Richard Bartlett and he does a lot of work with different sized teams and he had come to the number five being that five people can hold the same thought, they can have something called hive mind, and no doubt four would be the same of that. Once you start getting into numbers of six or more, there's gonna be some kind of disengagement in it. So, coming together, they're all like really zoned in on this artwork project and they feel like they've all impacted it, they've all put their mark on it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly right. And what we find is with three people there's not enough group think or hive thing going on. There's they're just two insular, and there are decisions we call it the segmented canvas where three people just they stay in a little space. So with four or five sometimes we paint with five you bump one another, you have to move around one another After. So for the first seven minutes you really are bumping your neighbors, you're trying to find space and what we find is, after seven to nine minutes the teams figure out how to work together without really bumping each other and they form a whole new kind of connection of just being able to perform this dance and create art. It's incredible to watch.
Speaker 2:Beautiful it's. For some reason it's reminding me of these streets where they remove lines and they allow cars to figure it out, and it's kind of going backwards, like we got so regimented with the way that cars are meant to work on the road and it's actually taking away some of the rules, enables people to figure it out.
Speaker 1:Right, and we stay safer without all of the lines and all of the rules, are in charge of our own safety right, and so what we see happen is when we remove I don't know if you know this yet, but we don't allow people to talk when they're working on this so we remove that barrier of communication so that they can communicate in a whole new way.
Speaker 2:See, and it's called quiet leadership. So I guess this is where the quiet piece comes in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so the process is called. My company is Campus Creek. But then the latest book is quiet leadership, and it really is written from the lessons that I learned watching people stand on a canvas and learn how to quietly communicate with one another. And then all of the lessons that we learned from our grandfathers and our neighbors that were very quiet. We didn't even know we were hearing them until we leaned in and paid attention.
Speaker 2:Ooh, I love this. So I've been hearing quite a lot about silent meditation, retreats and people going for 12 or more days of silence. Have you yourself experienced anything anything longer than these kind of small snippets of quietness?
Speaker 1:Right. So the first thing I experimented was I went to a retreat center where nobody else was in silence, Nobody knew what I was doing, but I did 24 hours of silence and I've gone up to 72 hours of silence without having it facilitated, without other people being around, just trying to figure out how to navigate the world. And you truly do next in a new way when you are silent.
Speaker 2:Wow, beautiful. And how do teams find this process Like? What kind of testimonials do you get after they've gone through this process, which is very new, very different? The silence, the art, things that they don't typically do in their working lives?
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, it is so different. I'll tell you. Most of the time when people walk into the room, especially bankers or lawyers they're like, oh, we are not doing this, we are not interested. So we've realized that there are three stages. There's begin. That original hesitance come when they start to feel that connection and they become a team. And then afterwards they believe no matter what their art looks like, they believe that they can do incredible things together. And so teams really do feel like this is a watershed activity that there was before they did the collaborative art in silence and there was after they did collaborative art and science.
Speaker 1:They're more connected, they're more creative, they're more honest with one another. It's phenomenal how it changes them. Which can you imagine that for teenagers to be able to be truly honest with the people in the room that you're standing beside? So powerful for them.
Speaker 2:And I'm wondering what happens with all of this art. Do they go on to display it? Especially bankers.
Speaker 1:They do. So that's part of that belief. Stage, the after stage If you hang the art on the wall, you will find the team going back to it. They'll tilt their head and they'll elbow one another. They'll bring strangers into it and say, oh look, I painted that little smiley face right there. They're so connected to it and so proud of it that it really becomes a symbol of who they are. So the teams do hang it in their hallways, families hang it above their mantle, even when it's ugly art. People are really proud of it and I like the ugly art best because that means the team had a really great time.
Speaker 2:So it sounds like you've been very busy with a book and a movement, lots of corporate work. Is there any kind of new direction that you were learning through all of this? Is there anything that you're feeling it needs to become, or what's really next for you?
Speaker 1:That's such a great question. I just got off the phone with a web app developer and we're discussing turning it into an augmented reality app, and so if you can imagine trying to take the power of being connected and standing side by side, sharing paint into the virtual world so now that's what I'm playing with Is that possible, and how do we really create connection with people who are in different countries? I think it has limitless possibilities if we do it really well.
Speaker 2:Right, so they could have on their VR headset and be collaborating on virtual art? Ooh, this is intriguing.
Speaker 1:Okay, I want to keep you updated with this Gosh, I so will, because what's really important to us is that you know it would be simple to just put up MS Paint and U Paint Red and I Paint Blue, but we want to make sure that we have this process that we perfected after working with 80,000 people, that we know each minute what you should be doing and how we can influence the team. So taking that into that space is going to be exciting. To create connection with distance.
Speaker 2:And that's it so many like. Even if people are back in the office, they are rarely in the office on the same days, so actually to bring everybody together in a physical environment might. Are you finding challenges getting people on the same days these days?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it really. We actually have even lost team building events lately because people don't like travel now and they're afraid of COVID again because it's kind of spiking just a little bit, and so we do have to find a way for people to feel safe together and get connected. But it definitely has affected how I work with teams.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'm wondering also with families, like I can imagine families doing this activity together. Like I've got two kids and a partner, I love the idea of us coming together and doing a silent collaborative art project.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's so. My intention, Shelley, was never to work with families, just like it wasn't going to work with teens. But I'm not going to work with families, I'm going to work with businesses. And then a gentleman said can I do this with my family? And I'm like that's a stupid idea, but I like you, so I'll let you. And so they painted together.
Speaker 1:Mom was a doctor, dad owned an ad agency, and then their seven year old daughter said, or I said to them, what should we do with this art? And they said what are you thinking? And the seven year old said I think when we're yelling and screaming at one another, like all families, have those moments. So when we're yelling and screaming at one another, we should go look at our art and be quiet, or no, we love each other. And I was like my heart just burst open, like, oh my gosh, we have to do this for families. And so now we do it for families who are celebrating, families, for healing, families, who are saying goodbye and hospice, and I was like you cry. It was just incredibly powerful to save hand prints and words.
Speaker 2:Beautiful and you did a TEDx. I did, yes. How was that experience for you?
Speaker 1:It was so fun. I didn't even know at the time that people were paying attention to what I did and they contacted me and said you should have a TEDx. And having that TEDx has given me some authenticity and you know, just, it's like people have said oh, you have something really cool. I think everybody should take what they're doing and turn it into a TEDx, because it really does make you hone into the essence of what you're trying to do for the world and make it beautiful.
Speaker 2:Mmm. Thank you, Karen. I'm just wondering if there's anything here in relation to rediscovering connection that you feel could really add value to whoever's listening today. How can we utilize the power of arts and togetherness to rediscover connection in our lives?
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's such a beautiful question. I don't even know that you have to create art together, although it's incredible when you do. But there is something about standing beside someone that you want to be connected with and looking at art and talking about how you interpret it and what it means to you that if you give it time and you're grounded, it's going to give you a deeper relationship, a deeper connection to both look at the same thing and see it in different ways. I just think we should all practice that.
Speaker 2:I had a tip recently that next time I go to an arts gallery to book an appointment with an art historian, they said you get to see the art in a completely different way.
Speaker 1:Right, that's so amazing. We all go into looking at art or looking into the world with our biases, right? And if you take somebody else's opinion, somebody else's perspective, it can change who you are and it can build a better connection.
Speaker 2:Yeah and I love the idea of inquiring with a friend or a partner about their interpretation, because you're getting an insight into the way that their mind works and their worldview that you might not otherwise really understand.
Speaker 1:Yes, exactly yeah.
Speaker 2:Karen, it's been beautiful to connect with you and I'm super excited to follow your journey and to see where this goes in a virtual environment. So let's keep in touch.
Speaker 1:Yes, I'm the same with you. I'm so excited to watch what you do for the world, and I wish you just every success. Thank, you. Karen.
