Eliciting Creativity: The Art of Gentle Facilitation

A facilitated conversation exploring the intersection of creativity, facilitation, and gentleness.

We are always being exhorted to be more creative, to innovate or die! And yet so many people have been schooled into thinking that they are not creative. Or that imaginative thinking is somehow silly. Or that creativity belongs to the extroverted and the uninhibited.

How do we, as facilitators or group leaders, coax people into trusting their more imaginative side?

This session is for those who deal with the shy, the uncertain, or the creatively unconfident. It is also for facilitators who, themselves, may be introverted and / or tending towards a quieter style of facilitation.

Join creative facilitator, thinking partner, and introvert Meredith Lewis to discuss how we, as facilitators, can gentle people into tapping into their creativity during group discussions.

We will discuss:

• The importance of psychological safety for creative thinking
• How to tap into participants’ creative instincts
• How to frame imagination-friendly instructions and questions  
• How to structure workshops and activities to elicit creative responses
• How to use tactile or visual activities for online sessions
• The power of storytelling.

About your facilitator:

Meredith Lewis has over 30 years’ experience of working in the university, arts, and community sectors in Australia; her roles have included arts manager, project manager, workplace trainer, community centre manager, choreographer, events manager, and performer.

As a creative facilitator, mentor, and writer, she specialises in leading discussions, interventions, and workshops that help people to understand their creative identity, develop a creative process, and navigate their way through complex projects.

Meredith is focused on helping people to work in ways that are humane and generative of inspiration, learning, and resilience. She is particularly interested in helping people to reclaim confidence in their creativity, harness collective imagination, and develop capabilities in futures literacy, interdisciplinary and / or transdisciplinary work.

Butterfly and Wild Rose (1885) by Shibata Zeshin