Collective Wisdom - The Story Behind the Picture

The Creation of the Collective Wisdom 'Wheel'

At the Hargraves Institute Conference 2009, The Mind Gallery (www.themindgallery.com.au) ran sessions in each of the Day 2 streams - Leadership, Innovation and Sustainability.

Participants in the Mind Gallery sessions on Day 2 of the conference were taken through a short facilitation and creative thinking process to achieve an anchor to the word "Engagement" and what it means for them in their organisation.  "Engagement " was chosen by The Mind Gallery because it was apparent that one of the biggest challenges faced by participants was the need and ability to engage leaders, colleagues and the business as a whole in innovation.

The Mind Gallery demonstrated the need for creative processes in engagement - to "walk the talk" in the roll out and implementation of "Innovation" strategy - and incorporated creative techniques and team building in the process experienced by participants during the workshop.  The buzz in the room during the workshop and the number of participants who returned to see the artwork (after 5pm on Day 2!) testified to the fact that the event itself was serious but also highly engaging and fun!

Here you see the result of the individual artworks created by participants - they have been combined and enhanced to form one overall artwork to communicate "Collective Wisdom", and three more separate artworks representing the separate streams of Leadership, Innovation and Sustainability.

The wheel was chosen as an appropriate symbol as it refers to the following:

Leadership: Movement forward, direction, the journey; Buddhist symbol of knowlege.

Innovation: The wheel was one of the most important discoveries of man; innovation means not "re-inventing the wheel"; creativity often occurs on "turn of the wheel" at a time.

Sustainability: Wheel is connected to the ground; wheel has evolving movement and speed under the right conditions; sustainability needs to be given more momentum.

Collective Wisdom: The spokes of the wheel connect the different areas, to make the whole stronger and to give it power; the circle refers to continuity - no beginning, no end and it "encircles" or gathers the parts together.