Purchasing Coach: Advent Window 23: Charades/Mime

Happy 89th Birthday Dad 

With love xx


25 Unconventional coaching and facilitation tools to surprise and delight 
(perhaps a 6/7 on the unconventionalness scale out of 10)

The aim of many of the unconventional tools in this series has been to get beyond logic, and out of our left logical brain, to access the more creative side of us. A creative side that can already see a different perspective to the situation we're struggling with.

Today we leave words behind - both written and spoken and explore the ability of our body to express that inner knowing.

As it's Christmas, I suppose you could say it's a little like charades, except with charades we've been given the answer, and we're tying to convey the answer to others in our team. When we're using it as a facilitation or coaching tool we're assuming our body/subconscious knows the answer, and we need to translate the inner knowing into something that makes logical sense, and we do that via movement.

First however, we need to express the current stuck situation using some form of movement, no words, no sounds, just a movement. 

Then, as we did with the pictures we drew back on the 17th, we need to find a solution within the movement - to move away from the current situation and move to the desired outcome. That might mean a new movement, or it might mean altering the current movement. (A little like when we drew going around in circles last year).

For example,

• a curled up ball rocking slowly, may unfurl and even stand up and start to explore the room
• frantic quick movements may slow down with pauses and stillness added
• a head only movement may become an all over body movement  
• speedy shallow breathing may become longer deeper breaths
• and so on 

The aim is to express the situation (current and desired) via the movement, and only after that's complete to reflect on what you notice? Perhaps you just feel different, and what felt like an issue is no longer an issue. Perhaps it's just reminded you to slow down, or to relax, or to go to a different place, or something else entirely.

By way of an example, I've chosen some videos from YouTube and invite you to watch one/some or all of them without sound (or with sound for a different experience), and reflect on if they're the current or desired outcome, and what changes you might want to make to the movement and/or current situation.

 

Do go on a journey of Videos for yourself. It's interesting what thoughts come to mind as you search here and there, discount some, and say YES to others.

As ever with all these tools - they'll feel very weird until you try them yourself, and discover just how effective they are.

Do let me know how you got on.

Alison Smith

Unlocking procurement potential - using conventional and unconventional tools
Procurement and Business Speaker, Coach, Trainer, & Facilitator
alison@alisonsmith.eu +44 (0)7770 538159

Earlier in the year I applied some of the unconventional tools shared in this series of advent posts to common procurement challenges - more here.