After leading group process for years, I came across an essential book I wish I had found earlier in my career. Creating With Others: The Practice of Imagination in Life, Art & the Workplace by Shaun McNiff. The book explores “the genesis of human creations in a reciprocal world of inspirations and collaborations…Communities and relationships committed to the mutual creation of new forms will change the world as we know it.”
Sitting in the Fire
Arnold Mindell has written more than 20 books on leadership, healing, shamanism and group process. His Sitting in the Fire: Large Group Transformation Using Conflict and Diversity is an important one from his selection. His philosophy aligns closely with my own as we both value the tensions and conflicts within a group to be key to liberation and transformation. I have found this to be true again and again so am no longer daunted by deep divisions but see them as nothing more than love wanting an outlet.
An Everyone Culture
Richard Kegan and Lisa Lahey have been leading the way on how organizations can make their primary focus about learning and adaptation for success. Their 2016 book An Everyone Culture: Becoming a Deliberately Developmental Organization includes a bounty of specific tools and approaches to integrating learning into every aspect of an organization’s processes, structures and overall growth. In particular, they emphasize the importance of every person from top to bottom being explicitly accountable to successive learning goals, and pushing past their own fears and resistance, to normalize learning and the vulnerability required to excel.
Reinventing Organizations
Management consultant Frederic Laloux has been studying the arc of organizational design across history and looking at what’s coming next in terms of organizational structures that better serve human creativity and ingenuity. Frederic Laloux’s 2014 book, Reinventing Organizations: A Guide to Creating Organizations Inspired by the Next Stage of Human Consciousness, includes numerous examples of organizations in the private and non-profit sector that have been willing to break significantly with traditional hierarchy and create highly empowered employees and facilitative leadership. You can geta comprehensive overview of what is covered in his book from this fascinating 90 minute talk.
Immunity to Change
Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey at Harvard’s Graduate School for Education have developed potent learning tools to help leaders shift from old behaviors and step into new ones. Most of my work with leaders incorporates at least a few of these tools, in particular their Immunity to Change Map. This map is designed to articulate a primary ‘learning edge’ for an individual as well as the undermining patterns, fears and beliefs—their immunity to change--that hold them back from growth and evolution.
Kegan and Lahey share their extensive organizational development research in several publications including An Everyone Culture: Becoming A Deliberately Developmental Organization and Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization.
For a good summary of their approach and its impacts, see this overview about their work from Harvard’s website.
The Gene Keys
Another primary tool I use in my work with individuals is the Gene Keys Hologenic Profile. The Gene Keys ‘framework’ — a transmission brought into the world through Richard Rudd of the UK representing an evolution of the ancient I Ching — is designed to illuminate the core aspects of consciousness you are here to embody and serves a map for self-knowing and self-discovery. I bring 15 years of learning and fluency with the Gene Keys, allowing clients access to the system’s extensive lexicon as well as the higher intuitive wisdom that lies within your unique profile. For a deep dive into the Gene Keys, visit the website.
The Conscious Leadership Group
Another resource that has had a strong influence on my work includes books and tools coming from a cadre of researchers at the Conscious Leadership Group. Their self-published book, The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership: A new paradigm for sustainable success, is essential to any library on leadership development. These 15 Commitments are one of the most concise sets of principles related to ‘right conduct’ generally and for people in positional authority specifically. Written in a very accessible style, this list never fails to include at least one commitment that perfectly describes a healthier behavioral pattern a client is working to step into.
The Story of Creative Ground
After leaving my last government position as a policy aide for then-Seattle Mayor Paul Schell in 1998, I sought a more fulfilling outlet for my innate creative disposition and belief in creativity’s power to enliven and empower all aspects of our lives. I developed a business plan for Arts Corps, an organization that convened a faculty of teaching artists to work with young people in and out of school to facilitate their self-expression and confidence through creative practice. We raised $150k in the first year to get the program off the ground and it continues today to serve young people who would not otherwise have access to arts learning.
Much of what I learned about excellent teaching and facilitating creativity and self-expression comes from watching Arts Corps’ teaching artists. When I left Arts Corps in 2008, I returned to the world of politics and leadership but this time with a new mission--to bring creative practice, facilitation and strategy to the organizations I would work with under my new umbrella, Creative Ground.
Since then, I have been diving deep to learn what keeps us from our own creative flow so we can express ourselves more authentically in all aspects of our lives. I have brought creative practice into over 75 different organizations in the public, private and non-profit sectors. In the last 15 years, I have worked with a diverse array of teams and culture—from the plumbers in the Parks Department to the President of a local union, to the CEO of a Ski Company. The results of my work has spread mostly through word of mouth and trust clients have in me.
Perhaps my biggest take-away is that it’s fully time to play again and take ourselves less seriously. Work infused with play may just help us discover a culture of bliss long forgotten. Join me there.
"The things we fear most in organizations—fluctuations, disturbances, imbalances—are the primary sources of creativity."
— Margaret J. Wheatley
"A person might be able to play without being creative, but he sure can't be creative without playing."
— Kurt Hanks and Jay Parry
Seattle Parks Department
One of Creative Ground’s first clients was the Seattle Parks & Recreation Department. My primary focus at the time was leading staff retreats that focused on developing creative habits of mind for higher staff engagement and performance. I worked with the Playfields Director, the Recreation Division, and some of the Parks operations staff. Michele Finnegan, Director of Finance, whose perspective was instrumental in several of my organizational assessments with the Parks Department, became one of my strongest collaborators.
“Creative Ground’s work with clients exemplifies the creative habits they are trying to cultivate in us, particularly tolerance for ambiguity, challenging assumptions, risk-taking, self-reflection and persistence. Lisa’s approach to designing and implementing projects allows for a truly creative collaboration between her vision and that of her client’s to achieve the greatest possible impact.
-Michele Finnegan, Director of Finance, Seattle Parks & Recreation
Thought Partnership for Creativity
In the first decade of my career, I worked primarily for elected officials and built many connections within Seattle’s local and regional political worlds. I worked for Tom Weeks, former City Council Member and served on the New School Foundation Board with him several years later. Reuven Carlyle, a WA State legislator for many years, and I shared many ideas over the years about the challenges in government and how we could make government work better. All three of us sought to challenge the status quo in our own ways.
“Lisa offers far-reaching, creative visions and then builds smart, effective, and politically savvy ways to get there. She pushes a group's thinking way outside the box, then has a delightful ability to bring ideas back to the ground so real, sustainable action can take place. I am always sure that the projects she works on will challenge our assumptions and reveal new solutions and ways of seeing the world.”
–Tom Weeks, previous Seattle City Council Member
“Lisa brings deep insight, serious experience, and a unique perspective that is extremely valuable to organizations struggling with major personnel, policy and structural challenges. I have found her counsel to be nuanced and challenging, focused and compelling. She views change management as a cause and helps leaders to embrace systems holistically. A true professional and a kind, gracious person.”
--Reuven Carlyle, former Washington State Senator
Community Planning in Johnson City
Sarah Davis invited me to Johnson City, Tennessee 25 years ago seeking to learn from my experience creating Arts Corps, the non-profit arts organization I founded in 2000 and led as Executive Director for 8 years. She asked me to be the keynote for their annual arts conference and invited me back again a few years later. Since then, she has engaged me in a number of ways, all related to facilitating creativity with individuals and within groups.
Our most interesting collaboration was for the City of Johnson City. City leaders hired me to shape a day-long workshop to engage over 100 community leaders on their visions for the City’s future and how to get there. I designed a sequence of exercises to weave the personal together with the collective in such a way that their single vision was able to hold a cohesive dream that all participants could see themselves within.
“For 14 years, I’ve seen Lisa in numerous professional situations—motivational speaking, retreat facilitation, community visioning, and leading. She is a deep listener and sows seeds for change that resonate long after she has left the room. Witnessing participants reconnect with their own creative rocket fuel is something to behold! Her authentic spirit leads us to new places where we can tap into our full potentials and see the vision for a world healed and enlivened by collaboration and creativity. Lisa IS the rocket fuel that everyone needs.”
–Sarah Davis, Board Member, Going Elemental
Arts for All Not Just for Some
A Game Changer
Transparency as Power
In this essay I explore the value of bringing more of your inner landscape out into the open. Leaders so often present only the outermost layer to the world, leaving a great deal open to interpretation. Nothing could be more urgent in this moment but leaders doing the work to identify their power struggles going on inside and modeling what it looks like to when we integrate them consciously.
The Dangers of a Single Story
The TED Talk summary for Chimamanda Adichie’s talk says it best…Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.
This truth parallels what I say so often about creativity, which is the dangers of telling ourselves a single story about who we are and what’s possible for our lives.
The Power of Retreats
Whether it’s a Board of Directors needing to learn more about what makes each other tick or a team needing to get clear about their strategic objectives for the upcoming year, taking time away from the press of institutional demands is an essential investment for people seeking to collaborate.
After 15 years, I have facilitated too many retreats to count. Retreat facilitation is now one of my sweet spots. I always spend time in advance getting to know all the participants, even for just a bit of time. In this way I can combine what I know about their aspirations for the time together with the real-world challenges of the individuals sitting in the room. I have witnessed a single day-long retreat catalyze significant change in a group with sustained and positive repercussions for their future together.
Here are just a few of my favorite retreat locations near Seattle, Washington where I live:
Whidbey Institute
I have led several retreats at Whidbey Institute on Whidbey Island located on the territory of the Lower Skagit, Swinomish, Suquamish, and Snohomish tribes in Washington State. It’s surrounded by 100 acres of mature Pacific Northwest forest, has a diverse array of spaces for convening and sleeping, and puts a primary emphasis on healthy food, some of which is grown from their own garden. I have retreated there on my own for a solo retreat and found the serenity on this bit of land to be unique.
Seward Park Audubon Center
The Audubon Center at Seward Park in Seattle is a gem. Tucked away on the building’s second floor is a warm library complete with working fireplace, to convene a smaller group of up to 12 people. The staff are exceptionally welcoming and the park and lake surrounding the building provides a perfect escape for solo meandering between sessions.
Mt. Baker Rowing & Sailing Club
Another prime Seattle-based day-long retreat location is the second floor of the Mt Baker Rowing & Sailing Club. With a fabulous view of the lake, two balconies, a fireplace and plenty of space for a larger (up to 40 people) group, Mt Baker is a wonderful container for bringing groups together to learn and grow surrounded by the beauty of the PNW.
Collaborative Skills Worksheet
Over the last 15 years, I’ve compiled a list of 24 attributes and behaviors that, when practiced, grow the potential for collaboration, trust and psychological safety in relationships. As a starting point to any process, I will ask people to select the behaviors that make the biggest difference for them personally in terms of trust and collaboration with others. Then we’ll discuss the nuances of why these are so important to each person, where the need for it comes from, and what it looks like in practice. Interestingly, people have noticed that all of them could be boiled down into one simple practice which is just ‘listening with curiosity to understand.’ If folks did nothing else, this one intentional practice would amplify trust exponentially, even when people disagree with each other about a approach or a decision.
Break the Pattern Before it Breaks You
This year I launched a YouTube channel called ‘Rollin’ Different’ and has become a place for me to post my novice song-writing skills and short bits of wisdom related to creativity and a heart-led life. A recent post confronts the challenging truth that if we aren’t willing to shift old patterns, they will come calling and force the shift onto us in a more uncomfortable way. I’ve run into so many walls in my own life as I tried to avoid looking at, and then breaking, old patterns. My hope is this wisdom might be a good catalyst for others in this moment.
Regional & Rural Services
King County’s Director of Regional & Rural Services, Joan Lee, hired me to bring her leadership team back together in 2023, the first time they had come together in person following the pandemic. Since then, I have continued to support them to create more reflective time together to face some uncomfortable realities as many of them start to consider retirement and how to grow the next generation of leadership. Specifically, I have helped Joan challenge older assumptions she carried about herself and her own leadership, which has been food and inspiration for her team.
“Lisa Fitzhugh came with outstanding recommendations from a colleague at the County. Over the last few years, she has supported our leadership team into a more generative, integrated and productive collaboration. She has also coached challenged me to think differently about my approach. We collaborated on a learning map process to incisively pinpoint the most profitable area for me to grow around related to my own leadership development. The whole team stronger, and I have moved to a place of more authentic transparency. I am so grateful for Lisa’s clarity and conviction in the leadership she has drawn out of me and our leadership team members.”
-Joan Lee, Director of Regional & Rural Services, King County DNRP
Immunity to Change
Robert Kegan and Lisa Lahey at Harvard’s Graduate School for Education have developed potent learning tools to help leaders shift from old behaviors and step into new ones. Most of my work with leaders incorporates at least a few of these tools, in particular their Immunity to Change Map. This map is designed to articulate a primary ‘learning edge’ for an individual as well as the undermining patterns, fears and beliefs—their immunity to change--that hold them back from growth and evolution.
Kegan and Lahey share their extensive organizational development research in several publications including An Everyone Culture: Becoming A Deliberately Developmental Organization and Immunity to Change: How to Overcome It and Unlock the Potential in Yourself and Your Organization.
For a good summary of their approach and its impacts, see this overview about their work from Harvard’s website.