Purpose

Surfacing reflections on collaboration and finding common ground, through an experiential activity using sticks and movement

Description

Finding common ground in interdisciplinary collaborations is key in the process of knowledge integration. But what does finding common ground entail? This activity departs from the notion that finding common ground is not about meeting in the middle, but rather about finding the creative tension between perspectives., It requires finding one’s own ground, making an effort to truly engage with and listen to another (and be listened to) and from there find what sparks.

In this activity, participants are invited to explore creative tension in relation through a physical activity, using sticks. Connecting to others by holding thin, wooden sticks between their open hand palms, they explore different tones and tensions in the relations. 

By experiencing in the body what it takes to move through space as a constellation of relations, reflections can surface about what it takes to collaborate in interdisciplinary collaborations.

Instructions

First, demonstrate the exercise together with one volunteer. Then proceed as follows.

1. Invite participants to make duos and invite them to keep the two sticks between their hand palms. Make sure participants keep their hand palms open, feeling the pressure of the stick in the middle of their hand palms, not grasping or holding onto the sticks.
2. Invite participants to close their eyes, if they feel comfortable doing so. With closed eyes, they can feel the pressure of the sticks and through the sticks the other person. Invite small movements (back & forth, up & down,  etcetera).
3. With eyes open, invite the duos to move into the space, moving at different speeds. Invite duos to play with the amount of pressure they give.
4. Invite participants to pause and make new couples, do step 4 and 5 again. It’s likely that they’ll experience a difference!
5. Once everyone is comfortable, invite each duo to pair up with another duo and invite them to keep moving, playing with pressure.
6. Then invite the whole group to connect to one another, making one big constellation. Give small assignments, such as moving into one corner of the space, moving to another space
7. Invite people to drop the sticks and reflect on the exercise.

Phase

Co-creating

Competence

Finding common ground
Collaboration

Time

45 – 60 minutes

Group size

6 – 20 persons

Required space & materials

• An empty space big enough for the group to move around in pairs
• Wooden/bamboo sticks of 1 meter (1 stick per participant)
• Meditation bells to get everyone’s attention back in between steps

Tips & Experience

In the reflection, highlight the difference between slack (sticks drop), tensed/rigid (no communication, only very small movement of the bodies back and forth), and ‘toned’/ flexible tension (communication, maybe even flow, leading to more movement, more challenging movement). Every relation has a tone, a tension: can you begin to read the ‘tone’ of a relation, collaboration?

Introduce role play adding constraints, demands and/or needs

Optional: do the exercise with sticks of varying lengths