Purposeful Creativity Methods: A Guidebook for Building Insight and Connection in Organizations and Communities

By Kimberly Dailey

Purposeful Creativity Methods (PCMs) are more than icebreakers or fun activities to lighten things up – they create purposeful learning communities! Written in an easy-to-understand style, Kimberly Dailey draws on her years of experience to provide facilitators and trainers at all levels with principles, checklists, and 59 time-tested PCMs to facilitate meaningful encounters for those who might see themselves as unlikely partners. Whether you are a facilitator, community organizer, trainer, therapist, organizational development specialist, diversity professional, human resources professional, educator, or life-long learner, this book was written for you.

This book is the ultimate companion for professionals in every line of work – offering tried and true methods to improve connection, spark creativity, and enhance team morale. The PCMs in this book are purposeful because they are intended to strengthen human relationships, creative because they spark original and new ways of relating to self and others, and impactful because they are based on theoretical foundations and evidence-based strategies.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Apr 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9781667840291

Book preview

Introduction

My journey to appreciate the full power of Purposeful Creativity Methods began when I played Evillene, the bad witch, in my middle school production of The Wiz. Though shy and awkward in the classroom, I felt free to sing and dance around the stage in my purple bell bottoms.

I experienced the impact of creativity again in college. During a solo poetry performance before an audience of friends, family, and students, I decried the lack of media images of black girls like me and celebrated the power of female unity. The more I performed, the more my confidence grew.

Personal growth isn’t easy. It requires openness, vulnerability, and courage. Many people wait years to take the first step, and some never do. But for those who do, the resulting transformation is invaluable and worth the effort. For more than 30 years, I’ve dedicated myself to encouraging people of all ages to gamble their public persona on behalf of their untapped hunger to create.

I am a social worker, organizational specialist, trainer, psychodramatist, and someone who has dedicated her life to practicing diversity, equity, and inclusion in organizational and community settings. I’ve worked with groups in all 50 U.S. states and over 26 countries. I have been touched by the lives and stories of over 100,000 people through workshop and classroom settings over the span of my career. Whether you are a facilitator, community organizer, trainer, therapist, organizational development specialist, diversity professional, human resources professional, or educator for primary, secondary, or graduate school, my goal in writing this guide is to communicate how to use action methods to promote transformation in those you are committed to serve.

What you will find in this book

I coined the term Purposeful Creativity Methods (PCMs) to reflect the particular power action methods hold to create connection and insight between people that are different.

These PCMs are:

•Purposeful because they are intended to strengthen human relationships.

•Creative because they spark original and new ways of relating to self and others.

•Methods because they are based on theoretical foundations and evidence-based strategies.

Throughout each chapter I will share key challenges that I’ve encountered and how I used PCMs to meet those unique needs. I’ve developed checklists, frameworks, theories, and principles to help you understand why certain methods work and why they may not. My goal is to make everything accessible and easy to understand for trainers at every level of expertise.

The bulk of the book is dedicated to sharing 59 time-tested PCMs that are designed to create insight and connection in any organizational and community setting. once you apply any of the 59 exercises presented in this book, I guarantee participants in your classes, meetings, and workshops will shift their customary way of being with one another. People will sense that something real is about to happen, something that feels unplanned, vulnerable, and risky. They will…

Sit up straighter.

Speak more candidly.

Uncover hidden beliefs and attitudes.

These PCMs are more than icebreakers or fun activities to lighten things up, they create purposeful learning communities. Everyone will cease being spectators and step onto the stage. Watch as the least talkative person in your group shares a breakthrough idea and the most talkative silently listens to a compelling inner voice.

Perhaps you’ve already experienced how the creative arts can ignite transformation. You may be an artist yourself, or an educator looking for new ways to engage hard-to-reach students. Or perhaps you are, like me, a life-long learner who loves learning new and effective facilitation techniques. I wrote this book for all of us.

Regardless of age, race, gender, language, politics, positional power, religion, etc., PCMs work. Using these methods, you will increase emotional intelligence while facilitating the development of meaningful connections. Through these connections with unlikely partners, your attendees will transform.

Many people interested in doing what I do ask me how I got to where I am professionally. My path wasn’t straight by any means. To help put things in perspective, I will take a moment in this introductory chapter to share bits of my professional journey. I hope it encourages those of you out there that you too can forge your own journey into the creative unknown.

Inspiring understanding in the community

I studied theatre in college. I was so inspired by the intersection of theatre and social change that after college, I took a job as stage manager for a community theatre company called LatiNegro. The organization was dedicated to stopping gang violence in the schools. They worked with marginalized youth to bring life, art, poetry, politics, and war to life on the stage.

The renowned creator of the Theatre of the Oppressed, Augusto Boal, described theatre as the most perfect artistic form of coercion. In my new stage manager role, I found myself smack dab in the middle of a positive coercive movement. The group merged young African American and El Salvadorian boys and girls. Though the two groups had been taught not to trust each other, the stage brought them together. Week after week, they made art, collaborated on poems, played silly acting games, and made up simple dances to the sound of drums. Interactive theatre united their hearts under the banner of liberty and