stories & organizations

Writing this concluding blog reporting on the More than Money workshop on the road this warm Sunday afternoon in August, I am aware of how this reflection process which has not only allowed me to revisit the archives of research for the workshop and book Imaginative Muscle and have new conversations with people along the way, it has enabled a blog to be curated - longer than anticipated and one I hope you enjoy reading – that highlights how innovation and creative knowledge exchange in organisations and businesses can be explored through; objects, storytelling, human interaction and creative spaces and this is something to shout about.     

Blog one we are not alone |  illustrated the critical role of space and objects in knowledge exchange:

If there isn’t fluidity, comfortableness, adaptability the experience will not be an open and enjoyable one for the participants or the facilitators; we are not alone and we can listen and learn from our surroundings, colleagues, objects and buildings and takeaway an enjoyable experience, whilst learning along the way.

Blog two objects surface stories | stories provoke a responsedemonstrates:

Objects surface interesting stories, subjects, and avenues to explore; they overcome barriers in a group and are valuable icebreakers. We also found objects are catalysts for knowledge transfer and a powerful qualitative research tool.

The final blog back to life | using cultural assets to stimulate innovation tells the story of the workshop’s last exercise and how it opened up dialogues about businesses utilising heritage and cultural objects for business strategy and how objects play a key role as emotional indicators for innovative products to be developed. I use the term back to life, as the case studies used for the workshop, and Leeds Museums Galleries own stories, highlight tangible ways in which cultural objects and spaces and people can bring about relevant and innovation strategies in

*     effective two way relationships expanding on a sponsorship partnership between a museum and a business

*     a business; redesigning its headquarters, developing a cultural strategy:  internal communications and branding through external communications

The case studies introduced attempted to discuss how a business uses an archive and objects as part of cultural strategy and to ask Leeds Museums and Galleries staff:

*     can you think of good examples of business and archives working together in a two way relationship, how and why?

*     how could a museum present to businesses advising them on how to develop cultural strategies through objects or if this is happening how and why?

One group told the story of how they had chosen the case study: Pringle of Scotland because they could relate to the processes and possible outcomes of the two-way relationship. 

Case Study: The Pringle Archive 1815 - 2010

*     Partnering with Central St. Martin’s College of Art and Design

*     Promoting and supporting talent through education project

*     Completion of a comprehensive archive

*     Development of future re-issues of iconic vintage styles and original Scottish manufacturing techniques

*     BA History and Theory course researching and cataloguing the existing archive and hosting ‘Pringle Day of Record’ [see poster]

*     Members of community bring along generations Pringle of Scotland and memorabilia to be recorded

*     MA Fashion and Design Students design and create modern interpretations and exhibit at London Fashion Week
(source:  Pringle of Scotland press release)

unique memories of the factory

We found this case study [Pringle of Scotland] was unique to the company.  It was creating an archive from scratch.  We felt that this was creating a historic archive where there wasn’t one, it was very much high knowledge transfer.  It was all about gathering that knowledge.  We felt that some of it was unique as Pringle of Scotland are trying to create something that would otherwise be lost and disappear; unique memories and artefacts related to the actual factory.  Other companies who found themselves in similar situations [could use this] model.
The fact that it involved the training of students in research, oral history, collection management, interpretation, design skills and intergenerational interaction was important.
It potentially sounds like successful project, but it depends on the outcome and quality of the students’ work.

As part of this exercise the curator at Leeds City Art Gallery shared his story of how the paper collection was used in a two-way relationship project; a developed mentor project exploding the hierarchy in a law firm.

It started as an audience development project, asking people to come in and work with the collection. We invited a local firm of solicitors to select and curate an exhibition using artworks from the paper collection on the theme of landscapes. The firm did take a bit of persuading, as initially they couldn’t see what was in it for them.  We weren’t thinking about business case scenarios at all, we wanted the employees to come and work with our collection.  It ended up being a good case for the company as the participants were from all aspects of the company, not just senior management there were; senior management, partners and clerical staff.  The project was about exploding the hierarchy within the business.

These kind of Community Choice exhibitions had happened before but people were simply asked to come and look at what’s in the store and an exhibition would be created from ‘Oh I like that, I’ll put that up’.  We wanted to take it to another level, be a bit more of developed mentor in our approach.

We employed a facilitator to be a neutral voice, we didn’t want the ‘expert curator’ to dictate to the participants, and we didn’t want the curator’s knowledge and expertise to be relied upon.  Participants looked at catalogues, and chose paintings they liked from a visit to the store. The facilitator asked people to start thinking about why they had selected that work and they ended up reconsidering their choices thinking about how their choices could work together in terms of an exhibition.  This was revelatory, they saw that paintings weren’t just nice pictures on a wall, that they actually meant something and had a story behind them.

The project allowed people to mix with other people in the business they didn’t get to meet.  It was a good example of developing people skills and confidence.  The business used the exhibition as a communication tool to talk to their clients through a private preview event.

It is evident that the museum’s staff are working with objects in many knowledge exchange ways with business and other stakeholders.  They are of course natural storytellers and More than Money enabled people to share new stories and experiences around objects that they work with everyday. One feeling that weighed heavy in this workshop was that new conversations, projects should be two-way and that outcomes of a project with a business are an important factor to be considered and implemented, conversations and relationships should be sustainable and not just be a fleeting experience.

A couple of snapshots of the businesses case studies used in More than Money follow.  They identify the importance of objects; in archives, cultural artefacts, or human objects, for various business strategies:

corporate communications

In 2010, we started a series of history brochures - the first one was ‘Barings in the Middle East’ - designed to show clients that we have long tenure in the markets where we are operating. It has been pretty memorable putting these history brochures together because they actually involved me going to the archive and looking through the documents myself, with obviously Moira and Claire there helping me and obviously finding the right material and steering me in the right direction. There’s something special about looking through the old documents and seeing the letters that the partners themselves must have written at that time, it’s a real historical experience.

Alasdair Anderson [pictured below] Barings ’ Investment Communications Manager. To read more on Barings see the blog the function of a business archive          

cultural strategy | building design

‘Standard Chartered is known for its strong values driven culture.  Our values: courageous, responsive, international, trustworthy and creative, were here before this building.  When our buildings are designed and planned our values are always at the back of everyone’s mind.  The reception [picture below] reflects our business focus in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.  The different artefacts were picked to reflect out interesting history and culture.  Art and artefacts are moved around the building from time to time to create freshness and surprise.’

Andrew Hunter, Group Head of Corporate Real Estate Services, Standard Chartered Bank, to read more see blog source the ‘heritage’ object

internal communications

Recently, I met John Entwisle, Group Archivist, Thomson Reuters for a coffee and catch up at the Museum of Docklands; his insight into the important business use of an archive is poignant in these austere times:

‘you ‘flog’ your heritage, it has a higher priority as it makes the business unique and interesting’

The picture below is John at his desk writing his ‘exciting’ story blog that he sources from the archive and distributes in a newsletter every few weeks to 56,000 staff.  The blog has a huge response and the comments section is very active, often identifying related stories for John to investigate.  It is seen as an important knowledge tool that staff can read in their lunch hour.
For more information please see the blog: what is an archive

 I would now like to share with you some quotes from the book Onward; How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing it Soul by Howard Shultz CEO of Starbucks - a bit of light reading in-between PhD research books.  The quotes sum up

*     how a business in a time of trouble reflected on its practices and direction and went back to its finding aims to develop strategies that were relevant to changing times and sustainability

*     how human experience is a key area of development internally to enhance to the customers experience

*     how curation of its stores are crucial to the customers physical Starbucks experience amongst a stores objects are integral to its success

*     how success changes and has to re-assessed but always be tied to founding aims and ethics

We can look at these and ask how could More than Money enhance innovation through objects?

A New Way to See

Feeling somewhat skeptical, I entered the large event space of Seattle’s Palace Ballroom for a three-day brainstorming retreat. Historically, I was not a fan of business consultants. Rarely had I looked to outsiders to tell Starbucks what Starbucks needed…

Starbucks’ leaders debated, disagreed, and occasionally laughed as we envisioned a future that involved much more than opening new stores.

We had a delicate balance to strike.

A balance between heritage and innovation.

Between meaningful tradition and modern-day relevance…

I told them [participants] the meeting was about much more than making money or putting bandages on old wounds.  We needed to rediscover who we were and imagine who we could be….

Our ongoing challenge is to creatively nurture coffee’s essence, keeping it personal despite our size. I do not want Starbucks to be defined solely by its thousands of stores or millions of customers.  More than our scale, the brand can and should be defined by the quality of its coffee as well as its values.  Community. Connection. Respect. Dignity. Humor. Humanity. Accountability.

It is our mission to make sure the world sees us through these lenses.

Benevolence

Our partners’ attitude and actions have such great potential to make our customers feel something. Delighted, maybe.  Or tickled. Special. Grateful. Connected. Yet the only reason our partners can make our customers feel good is because of how our partners feel about the company.  Proud. Inspired. Appreciated. Cared for. Respected. Connected.

..we do have high expectations of ourselves as we try to manage the company through the lens of humanity.
Starbuck’ coffee is exceptional, yes, but emotional connection is our true value proposition.

..our founding mission [was] to achieve the fragile balance of profit with a social conscience.

Magic

I love to experience different stores…I am a sponge, always soaking up store design, layout, and salespeople’s behaviors…

..one of my favorite places to visit it Colette…The owners are curators, and shopping Colette is an adventure in discovery.

The merchant’s success depends on his or her ability to tell a story. What people see or hear or smell or do when they enter a space guides their feelings…I have always understood this. So when, in 2006 and 2007, I walked into more and more Starbucks stores and senses that we were no longer celebrating coffee, my heart sank.  Our customers deserved better.

Paul and I hope you’ve enjoyed this story of More than Money out on the road and the extra little noticings that have been found on this journey. If you would like to hear more on how businesses can utilise cultural assets for innovation Paul is a guest speaker at 12th Biannual European Creativity & Innovation Forum 2011 14-17 September, University of the Algarve, Faro, Portugal on the subject of Flexing the Imaginative Muscle:  how London’s businesses are using the capital’s cultural assets to stimulate innovation.

We’d like to thank the following in the development of this workshop:  Camilla Nichol, Head of Collections at Leeds Museums and Galleries; Mark Gould, Head of Knowledge Management at Addleshaw Goddard, Manchester, Leeds, London; Alasdair Anderson, Investment Communications Manager, Baring Asset Management; Andrew Hunter, Group Head of Corporate Real Estate Services Standard Chartered Bank; Moira Lovegrove, Archivist, The Baring Archive, Bernie Harrington, Head of PR and Marketing,Pringle of Scotland; Stefania Riccini, Visitors Service Manager„Hunterian Museum Rachel Collins, Wellcome Collection, Judy Faraday, Partnership Archivist John Lewis Partnership; John Entwisle, Archivist Thomson Reuters; Sarah Mahurter, Special Collections Manager at University of the Arts, London; Martin West, Commissioning Editor, Gower Publications and to the funders of the Knowledge Transfer research:  MLA London and London Development Agency.

Text from Onward: How Starbucks Fought for Its Life without Losing Its Soul, by Howard Schultz with Joanne Gordon, 2011, A John Wiley and Sons, Ltd Publication is reproduced with kind permission of the publishers.

Author: Julie Reynolds [julie.reynolds@sparknow.net]

Contributing Editor: Paul J Corney [paul.corney@sparknow.net]

We knew this as Sparknow often utilizes objects as ‘introduction’ tools.  Objects surface interesting stories, subjects, and avenues to explore; they overcome barriers in a group and are valuable icebreakers. We also found objects are catalysts for knowledge transfer and a powerful qualitative research tool.

Read on to learn from the second of our blog postings from the More than Money workshop, this time on our experience of using objects to stimulate discussion.

The participants were Leeds City Museums’ collection staff using their monthly peer meeting to explore new conversations with business through objects in their collections [seen above being recorded with our faithful workshop object the Zoom audiorecorder].  In advance everyone was asked to bring along a picture of an object from his or her collection that had an untold story.  The aim: to start new knowledge conversations around familiar objects.  This exercise uncovered lovely nuggets of hidden stories, and by asking a participant to listen to another’s object story and then tell this story to the group as a whole, knowledge exchange and varying interpretation of the objects began.  We found that even though a couple of people had chosen the same object, the stories around these objects and the object interpretation had differing knowledge takes.  One participant introduced an object saying:  ‘we all think more or less the same in this place’ but reading the stories below do they?

01 Colleague’s interpretation: ‘I don’t have a picture of this object, you have to imagine it and in fact the story is ‘Why don’t many more of these rocks fall in Britain?’ Keep hold of that as a strapline [laughs all around].  In fact, it is about that big [illustrates by cupping hands over each other to indicate the size and asks Camilla Nichol if it’s correct].  It’s a rock.  It’s a meteorite.   They fall in great numbers on this planet, but not many are found in this country because they are so innocuous, they disappear into the environment.  They are highly sought after and they are situated in the desert areas, because they look so different to their background and can be easily located.  They have helicopter trips to go and find them.  In some collections there are many, and NASA like these rocks because they subject them to analysis.  What’s fascinating is that if you analyze their composition they are exactly the average composition of the earth. In some meteorites, all the elements we find in the Earth’s core are present in these meteorites.
So we are not alone!  [laughs all round]

But the title of the story of Why don’t these fall in Britain?’ well they actually do but we don’t find them.

Facilitator: and you haven’t been hit by any?  [laughs all around]

Initial story holder: exactly, and he told it much better than I did [laughs]

Facilitator question to initial story holder:  and was the significance for you?

02 Initial story holder:  the significance for me is something I forgot to mention to you [looks at colleague].  You hold a meteorite in your hand and you’ll never hold anything older than that.  There is no object on earth that is older than a meteorite.  It’s a true piece of history and a piece of the universe.’

03 Colleagues interpretation: ‘Do you believe I’ve also been given the meteorite to talk about.  We all think more or less alike in this place [laughs all round].  [My colleague] says he goes into the City Museum and you see this lump of rock and it really doesn’t look like anything in particular.  It’s one of those things that could just be anything until you are given a bit of information and you know about it, you are then aware of its immense age.  Because neither of us are geologists, we’re wondering how you can tell how old the things are?  What exactly are they made of?  We’ve been told about that.

We all know about the enormous damage that a meteorite can do, because we’ve all read about the craters that they make.  For some reason nobody actually gets hit by one, either they don’t survive or they don’t live to tell the tale.  They always seem to be found in deserts.  It is in the life on earth gallery in the museum and it’s an object of wonder and that’s why it’s exciting to look at.

We assume that everyone has the same; knowledge; perception; experience of objects that are part and parcel of a person’s working day be it in a museum or a business. People bring their life experience, emotions, knowledge interpretation, interests and working practices.  We can see there are differing viewpoints and ways to access knowledge around objects. Understanding this and opening up knowledge thoroughfares through objects enables an organization to see what is actually going on the working life of their employees and strategies, employee engagement plans and new business projects can be developed through reflection; understanding, listening and learning to the stories these objects spawn.

A financial business communications company has recently asked me

How can knowledge work around objects in a museum be the same as or relate to business? 

My answer was easier than I thought

Working in the business sector knowledge is created, assembled and curated to be transferred and accessed through many objects: knowledge management systems; conversations; human to human interaction (external and internal); all creating knowledge for the business and real world to access and use.  The objects in a museum work the same way; there are many knowledge sources around an object displayed in a museum; a display panel, different human perspectives; archaeologist, curator, historian, administrator, learning, PR and marketing etc.  Both the museum and the business worlds are made up of objects of knowledge curated for people to access and use in different ways.  Acknowledging this similarity, museums and businesses can open up new conversations through objects and maybe work together in knowledge ways other than a traditional sponsorship partnership.

Whilst visiting Manchester for my University studies, I would meet Mark Gould (Head of Knowledge Management at the law firm Addleshaw Goddard) in the Cornerhouse for a coffee and discuss

how could a law firm use local heritage collections to open up conversations with new or existing clients?

With the advice of a fellow University of Manchester PhD student, Joanne Davies, Schools and Colleges Manager at Manchester Art Gallery who works with objects and their stories everyday, here is how we proposed to answer that question

Image and all quoted text courtesy of: Manchester Art Gallery:
http://www.manchestergalleries.org/whats-on/permanent-galleries/cis-manchester-gallery/

If we look at the snapshot stories around a meteorite and the worksheet above, we can see that there are differing; view points, knowledge, experiences around objects that can relate to many areas of organizational practice.  Objects enable a ‘true piece of history’ to be assembled in ‘real time’, through people’s real life experiences and emotions, a qualitative method which can sit alongside quantitative methodologies in business and organizational research to

• discover current market trends
• investigate client/audience needs
• hold new conversations with new or existing stakeholders and act upon what is heard
• learn not to be reactionary
• listen and reflect in order to put together long-term and effective strategies (employee engagement, marketing and financial strategy etc.)

The story of the object is a powerful one. There is even more hidden material around objects than we thought and we would extend or adapt this in the next More than Money workshop.

The blog to follow:  being brought back to life, will conclude this story with knowledge conservations Leeds Museums and Galleries are currently having with business.

Authored by Julie Reynolds

On a sunny day a few weeks back, Paul and I ventured north to Leeds Museum and Galleries to deliver/test Sparknow’s ‘More than Money’ workshop that draws on three years of commissioned [MLA London and London Development Agency] museums, libraries and archives research.

Aimed at organizations wishing to explore the new dimensions that cultural resources can bring to business development the workshop has four objectives:

*     to stimulate new conversations using objects in collections

*     to imagine what study tours might be conducted around buildings

*     to see how the collections might be viewed through others’ lenses

*     to provide ideas on developing a cultural strategy

‘Conversation Picture’, oil on canvas, attributed to Richard Brompton (c.1700-1782) illustrates how conversation is data tagged to an object in the Leeds Collection and this seemed like a nice backdrop to the workshop

We arrived at Leeds City Art Gallery, a place I had visited many times whilst a student at Leeds Metropolitan University and as a child many moons ago.  The Art Gallery was recently renovated in 2006, and where library storage was, has now opened up its beautiful architecture and tiles on display to the public in the form of an airy café, a place hub bubbing when we arrived.

In a series of blogs we are going to talk about the workshop, about how space, people and objects interact and these juxtaposed create avenues for creative knowledge exchange. 

We’d entered a magnificent prominent building in Leeds, situated in the heart of Leeds next to the Town Hall, Henry Moore Institute, St James’ Hospital and Leeds Metropolitan and Leeds University.

Leeds Museums and Galleries consists of nine sites with 1.3 million objects. Its strategic importance can be seen through the events, programmes and exhibitions it runs, the renovation and development of its spaces [Leeds Art Gallery development:  Discovery Centre 2007, and Leeds City Museum 2008]. The space and buildings around the Art Gallery, shouted out to us two visitors the importance of the place and of heritage and culture to Leeds. 

We entered the Art Gallery, eschewing the distraction of a coffee, and went straight into the meeting room, behind Henry Moore’s King and Queen’ 1952-53 and next to the Ziff Gallery.  We began to set up [see picture]

The meeting room is a large generic space, devoid of objects, nothing relating to the objects in the galleries and spaces that surrounded it.  It struck us as being fit for purpose but not reflective of the wonderful displays we’d passed through. The breakout room was a small ‘meeting room’ sterile and functional, a smaller version of the first.  We carried on setting up the materials and the computer, but how could we bring the outside in, so to speak?  How could we bring the atmosphere, the space and objects beyond into the room, after all one of the workshop’s aims was to open up new dialogues around objects? 

Paul went for a walk, and found the bright blue, Ziff Gallery exhibition space that features 1800-1900 art in decorative frames and has the most wonderful glass ceiling ‘Why don’t we have the first exercise in this space? He suggested so yes we did.  

The exercise was a task asking each group (there was 3) to each view the room through the eyes of one of the following:  a thief, a cleaner and an interior designer.  Each group was asked to note what they saw through these lenses and to report this back to the whole group in a way where the whole group had to guess what sort of lenses had viewed the room.

This was a fun exercise punctuated by laughter from groups of schoolchildren viewing the gallery at the same time that broke down the formality of the meeting space environment; it gave an interesting insight into how the objects and spaces at the Gallery can be viewed through different professions/eyes and it was an introduction to the concept of ‘thinking in different ways’.  It brought groups together in an organic way and prepared them for the next exercise.

Moving this first exercise to this gallery space was pivotal, it started the workshop with a ‘study tour’ for the participants and for us.  Taking the group away from the identity and lens each of them had arrived with in the meeting room; a place where coats would hang identifying each person to  their peers; a place where the chairs had been assembled school like and where interestingly incoming males sat (with one exception) on the right and the females on the left.  We whimsically suggested everyone was gearing up for the Royal Wedding sitting on the Bride and the Groom’s side.

By taking them to the Ziff Gallery we had tried to open up the lenses of the outside space and away from the eyes of the Henry Moore sculpture that seemed to guard the meeting room.  

The study tour through the building, the galleries, meeting room, sculptures and paintings and around people was a poignant part of the workshop exercise.  The setting up and preparation are of great value every movement from place to place, object to object, conversation to conversation are the important processes; changing to another room or the atmosphere by moving objects alter the dynamics of the experience and these have to be seen and responded to in an organic fashion.  If there isn’t fluidity, comfortableness, adaptability the experience will not be an open and enjoyable one for the participants or the facilitators; we are not alone and we can listen and learn from our surroundings, colleagues, objects and buildings and takeaway an enjoyable experience, whilst learning along the way.

See the next blog | it’s a true piece of history to hear of the stories of objects we found along the way.

Authored by Julie Reynolds