Orchestrating Collaboration at Work: Using Music, Improv, Storytelling and Other Arts to Improve Teamwork [Ring-bound]

Arthur B. VanGundy (Author), Linda Naiman (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0787962589 | ISBN-13: 978-0787962586 | Publication Date: April 3, 2003 | Edition: 1

Orchestrating Collaboration at Work is chock full of creative exercises and activities inspired by the arts that will help you and your team — your entire organization — achieve and maintain optimum team performance. This unique resource presents artistic forms of expression— dance, drawing, graphic design, improvisational theater, music, painting, photography, poetry, sculpture, singing, and storytelling — as a basis for improving collaboration at work. You don't have to be a professional artist or world-class musician to facilitate the activities outlined in this book. Everything you need to know is here. You'll be confident as you apply these concepts from the arts that you are creating business-training experiences that will help to develop new perspectives and insights into what makes a team effective

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Orchestrating Collaboration at Work is chock full of creative exercises and activities inspired by the arts that will help you and your team? your entire organization--achieve and maintain optimum team performance. This unique resource presents artistic forms of expression? dance, drawing, graphic design, improvisational theater, music, painting, photography, poetry, sculpture, singing, and storytelling? as a basis for improving collaboration at work.
You don't have to be a professional artist or world-class musician to facilitate the activities outlined in this book. Everything you need to know is here. You'll be confident as you apply these concepts from the arts that you are creating business-training experiences that will help to develop new perspectives and insights into what makes a team effective. Orchestrating Collaboration at Work will help you

• Inspire trainees to express themselves openly and creatively
• Create new perspectives for resolving business problems
• Understand how to use the arts to enhance training results
• Incorporate the content, form, and structure of the arts to resolve business problems
• Learn to unlock the hidden potential of employees
• Provide stimulating and effective training exercises
• Offer new insights to employees regarding how their behavior affects others
• Teach specific skills for individual, group, and organizational effectiveness

The book also includes interviews with such arts-in-business luminaries such as business author Margaret Wheatley, poet David Whyte, actor Richard Olivier, and former chief scientist at Xerox PARC, John Seely Brown.

Praise for Orchestrating Collaboration at Work

"VanGundy and Naiman bring a unique blend of creativity and art to provide practical techniques for increasing and improving teamwork. With this book, I am no longer afraid to explore the exciting world of the arts in buisness. My only regret is that they didn't write it ten years ago."
? Sivasailam "Thiagi" Thiagarajan, director of research, QB International

"High-performance collaborative work teams are the new performance imperative in both private and public enterprises. VanGundy and Naiman show how using the arts to unleash the creative potential of individuals and teams will allow this new performance mandate to be met. This book helps to push the edge of the arts in business envelope."
? Robert F. Lusch, dean and distinguished professor, The Neeley School of Business, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas

"Our experiences today, obviously demonstrate the need for a holistic, integrated approach to value creation. Only by means of interdisciplinary dialogue and action we will be able to access the existing multitude of creative development opportunities in social, ecological and economic contexts. Orchestrating Collaboration at Work provides hands on examples on how to start and facilitate such a process."
? Andreas J. Harbig, partner, head of strategic HR management, Pricewaterhousecoopers, Germany

About the Author

Arthur VanGundy is professor of communication at the University of Oklahoma and president of VanGundy Associates, a creativity and innovation consulting firm. He is the author of eleven books including 101 Great Games & Activities (Pfeiffer, 1998) and has been interviewed for numerous publications including Business Week, Fortune Small Business, New York Times, Science Digest, Inc., Success, and US News and World Report, and has facilitated training sessions for such organizations as Hershey Foods, S.C. Johnson, Xerox, McNeil Consumer Products, Motorola, Wyeth-Ayerst Pharmaceuticals, and the Singapore government.

Linda Naiman is founder of Linda Naiman & Associates Inc. a Vancouver BC, consulting and training group designed to awaken genius-level thinking through the arts, applying creativity, innovation, and visionary thinking to business strategy. She speaks about creativity and innovation at conferences in North America and Europe and her writings have appeared in her e-newsletter, Creativity at Work, and numerous business journals, including Perspectives on Global Change and the Hong Kong Institute of Human Resource Management HR Magazine.

Product Details

• Ring-bound: 328 pages
• Publisher: Pfeiffer; 1 edition (April 3, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0787962589
• ISBN-13: 978-0787962586
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 10.5 x 2.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,931,906 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wealth of enablers in the form of training excercises, December 16, 2004

By 

Carlos Mota Margain (Mexico City, Mexico) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Orchestrating Collaboration at Work: Using Music, Improv, Storytelling and Other Arts to Improve Teamwork (Ring-bound)

I have discovered the power and the simplicity in finding/applying a wide variety of experiencial excercises that spark creativity and imagination in groups. The beauty of this valuable workbook is that it unleashes our hidden potentialities. I have successfully used these activities in private business and in non profit organizations and in every ocassion the results have been the creation of high energy and relevant discoveries among participants.
Thank you Arthur and Linda for your valuable contribution.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Will VanGundy Ever Run Out of Creativity?, November 20, 2004

By 

Peter Lloyd - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Orchestrating Collaboration at Work: Using Music, Improv, Storytelling and Other Arts to Improve Teamwork (Ring-bound)

Arthur VanGundy has already given us just about every conceivable aid to creative work--from "Brain Boosters" to "101 Games" and "101 Activities." Now with Linda Naiman he delivers the most comprehensive and accessible creativity and innovation resource for groups I've ever seen.

And it's about time someone got business people to start thinking like artists. Anyone in business creativity, ideation, and new-product development will find the VanGundy-Naiman approach not only inspiring and fun but incredibly effective.

This binderful of brilliance would be a bargain at $900.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific Resource, September 8, 2004

By 

David Gouthro - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Orchestrating Collaboration at Work: Using Music, Improv, Storytelling and Other Arts to Improve Teamwork (Ring-bound)

I've purchased MANY books filled with MANY activities over the years. This is one of the best I've seen. It has lots of immediately applicable activities that are practically guaranteed to succeed. As well, it triggers lots of additional ideas for additional activities, too. A tremendous resource that every trainer, facilitator and consultant should add to their library.