Co-Creature
A fun and creative activity to explore the playfulness and frustration of co-creation. Using imagination and constraints, while embracing uncertainty and team dynamics, this activity can showcase the power of thinking and making things together.
This is an activity done in small groups of 4-6 people to stimulate collaboration and co-creation.
Invite your group to a blank canvas where they can draw. Instruct everyone that the drawing will be done in complete silence and no talking is allowed. It is allowed to draw one line at a time by one participant. Each should contribute. The objective for each group/team is to draw together an animal. As a facilitator, you can illustrate with an example how could the drawing flow. The team can self-organize on who draws at what time or you could keep it more directed by calling out names to invite the group members to draw. Observe the reactions from participants in the group as the co-creature emerges. The participants have 5 minutes to complete the drawing.
Once everyone is done / time is complete. Invite the group/s to showcase the final outcome.
Debrief on the process using the following questions:
- How satisfied are you with your outcome?
- What happened?
- Was there frustration in the process? If the frustration could speak what would it say? How did you deal with it?
- What was the expectation? What is the reality? Why is it different?
- How do you link this with your work?
- How do you embrace uncertainty and emergence in your work?
- What are you taking out of this experience?
You could add a point at the end that there was no specification to which kind of animal was expected. The animal could be mystical, or imagined.
Finally – remind everyone that a true co-creation process is always an emergent process, that requires letting to of control, expectations and certainty. ,
This an excellent teambuilding activity that could be done both in digital facilitation and face-2-face.