What makes someone a change agent? Could anyone become a change agent? Does a change agent have to be elected, appointed or somehow need to meet some criteria such as qualifications, social status, well connected, know the right people? Major positive change is not only possible but inevitable when the thing that needs changing meets the power of an informed change agent. Right now here in Ireland we need lots of powerful and informed change agents to step forward, and do so sooner rather than later. I think this is a quality (informed) and attribute that will help identify potentially powerful change agents. But what does it mean to ‘be informed’? There are many levels of ‘informed’. What lacks power are levels that are mistaken for ‘well informed. An example would be a Psychologist who’s PhD, education and experience marks their level of potential professionalism, but many psychologists may have limited personal experience of the issues that they deal with on a daily basis with clients. Their clients make up the spectrum of firsthand experience, the client who may be the second or third generation of their family to live in poor economic circumstances; this is the ‘informed’ that makes for a powerful change agent. The highly competent psychologist deals with what is, the change agent is one fully informed and driven by their experience to bring about a better reality, a society that isn’t blindly creating poverty, pain and disadvantage. Having the skill and ability to deliver a message are of course vital. For another example we could look at politics. One would expect this to be an environment rich with change agents, not quite. Social issues, equality, economic development, whatever the area is, it is an ever compromising tool of political position and self interest, what is in the best interest of the collective is neutered by party interests and professional preservation concerns. In recent weeks I have heard many mothers speak on radio of difficulties and issues concerning the care of their children with Autism. Supports being taken away, claims for benefits getting lost in the system, decisions being made on disability claims by medical assessors that no-one knows if they understand anything about autism are qualified in this area of have ever spent time in the company of a person with autism. A senior role in civil service, regardless of qualifications does not compare to the real life direct experience that those mothers and fathers have of caring for their Autistic child. To have someone sat at a desk deciding how disabled or not your child is and then yah or nah a disability allowance claim, is offensive. I could be wrong, but how would I know, I know nothing about the expert that decided my child doesn't have needs greater than a child of similar age without autism. How could a change agent help? I believe that only a change agent can make a difference, we mistakenly assume that the political arena should act to improve things. The change you will get will reflect dept of understanding, social awareness and values of the government. The change agent by contrast will have years of hands on experience, daily lived experience of caring for their child with Autism, a broad awareness of the current reality of services and support and most importantly; the change agent will have a vision for what could be. Technology and the internet provide a great platform for spreading informative news and challenging obstacles to positive change. It is also an environment of valuable resources for the budding change agent. Everywhere that change and development is needed, change agents are needed. There could be many career opportunities waiting to be realised. There are lots of skilled, experienced and informed people around that just need to get involved and speak out. To get you started have a listen to Nancy Duarte. ( on presentations) for education you might like Sir Ken Robinson. TRANSFORMATIVE PRESENTATIONSCREATIVITY IN EDUCATION Sometimes a new idea creates a feel good sense of optimism, the imagination gets involved and possibilities seem so real. Many potentially great ideas loose steam once the cold light of day dampens the imagination, why?
There may be a need to challenge beliefs regarding the value of an idea; sometimes misjudged because of its origins, e.g. the one with the idea is in a junior position in the company, too young, too old, no money etc. Other factors include the opinion of friends, family or let’s say a state enterprise agency assessing the idea. The budding entrepreneur may share an idea that might sound implausible, like a web-based social network where all the members gossip, like, poke and share, or something really daft like flying cars, yes they are here. We are living at a time when vast amounts of information is freely available allowing many ideas to be thoroughly analysed before any costs are incurred, just time and effort, a currency we now have plenty of. The worrying bits can wait, no need to prematurely squash an idea. So here we go!
An idea weighs nothing. Just how aware are we as a society of the role of creativity in other areas of life, other than the arts? Evidence suggests, not very. Creativity – the arts is generally top of the list for cutbacks in tough financial times, this is the absolute opposite of what would happen in a society that was even moderately aware of the value of creativity and the role of dynamic creative skill right across the board, in education, enterprise, politics, absolutely anywhere you observe excellence, high level competence/ productivity, fulfilment and sustainability, you are observing dynamic creative skill at work. Knowledge, intelligence, experience or academic status is only as effective, productive and successful as the dynamic creative ‘mental’ skill of the individual, team, political group or organisation. If you doubt this just look around, the chaos nationally and internationally is unfolding in the care of well educated, high status and powerful individuals. So how can Creative Awareness help? To start I would like to invite you to consider the following points. Mental Creative Process is simply information processing. Information = the sum total of all the learning your brain has been exposed to since you were born, formal, informal, relationships, the good the bad and the ugly. Information ‘life’ comes with feelings; we have an emotional relationship with everything in and around our lives including the relationship we have with the ‘self’. The emotional component of information stored in the brain is very significant to the creative brain as if affects what we think, how we think and the quality of our thinking. Think of thinking as the activation of mental information. The thoughts that roam around our mind at any given time are not fully controlled by conscious intent, the emotional aspect acts as a selector – selecting data that concurs with how you feel at that specific time. Here is an example of a hypothetical situation where mood influences thinking and potential affects. Let’s say you are about to re-decorate your living room, the prep-work is done, desired colour chosen and you are ready to go, looking forward to your nice new living room. The post arrives, garage bill for the car, extra three hundred euro’s for something unexpected. You are furious. Then nosey neighbour calls and it takes half an hour to exit them so you can start painting. By now your mood is well shifted and an hour into the job you’re sorry you ever started and by the time you are done you hate the colour, blame your partner etc. Etc. I exaggerate a little to make the point, when factors negatively interfere and diminish your state of mind, it will likely undermine your efforts and outcome. Doing the same job in good mood, no negative triggers and the job goes great, you’re inspired choice of colour is vindicated and you’re so satisfied you’re up for doing another room. In the first example the next room can wait till next year. (Or when hell freezes over) A shift in mood is a shift in the information being processed by the brain and by the way, the bad mood (feelings) is created by chemicals produced in the brain and once they get flowing they trigger more thoughts to match, like ‘changing’ your mind and hating the colour or blaming your partner. Anxiety, fear, anger or frustrations are states of mind experienced and sustained by conscious or unconscious information processing (thoughts). This is why anxiety may undermine a student sitting an exam. In the exam we want the brain to remember and produce answers. This is undermined when the brain is multi-tasking, processing the exam and processing anxiety at the same time, producing inner conflict and a drain on resources (memory). Most people will have experienced a task or project going well and recall the feeling being positive and its opposite, a bad mood and things going wrong. This is why I suggest viewing the mental creative process as information processing. Words like Nervous, Anxious, and Depressed or fearful are names to identify a symptom of information processing (the cause is another matter and area). Happy, excited, fulfilled and confident are also symptoms of Information processing, just different brain/memory producing different results. Creative awareness is vital for the following reasons!When we get down to the nitty-gritty nuts and bolts of how the brain processes information we may then begin to address Creative Development; the development of the practises and habits that facilitate excellence, fulfilment, success and allows the brain to do what it naturally does, process information. Excellence in skill, artistry, design, management academia etc. is only realised when excellence in creative processing is realised in the brain. Many people have achieved this 'excellence in creative processing' recognisable by their achievements, the likes of author J. K. Rowling, actor Al Pacino, comedian Robin Williams plus the likes of Steve Jobs or Richard Branson; just a tiny example. Some have it and may or may not be aware, a great many may not be aware that it (creative excellence) is relatively easy to achieve. Fame not required, just a brain and the curiosity to explore. “A man paints with his brain and not with his hands”...... (Michelangelo)
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John Jessop
A curious Mind always with a question itching for an answer! Archives
February 2014
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