Drawing Game

Intention

The intention with this game is to get to know each other better in an informal way and create a warm atmosphere where people feel more present in the room. The exercise is about meeting each other in a creative, playful and curious way and draw each other only by looking at each other in the eyes and without looking at the paper while you draw.

Also from a self-leadership perspective, this exercise is also a learning opportunity. The exercise comes from the art world and proves that everyone can draw even though most people believe they cant. Most people compare their own expressions towards the masters of the art world. But this exercise forces people to let go of control, to prototype something they are not good at and sharing that. In many ways, we can draw similarities to leadership pointing out that instead of comparing yourself to the "perfect" ideal of a leader. Instead, start where you are, embrace, accept and celebrate your own leadership expression and practice it.

Here is a metaphor used by Picasso:

One of Picasso’s favorite assignments for a young artist was to have him or her try to draw a perfect circle. It can’t be done; everyone draws a circle with some particular distortion, and that distorted circle is “your” circle, an insight into “your” style. “Try to make the circle as best you can. And since nobody before you has made a perfect circle, you can be sure that your circle will be completely your own. Only then will you have a chance to be original.” The deviations from the idea give an insight into the style, and thus, Picasso says, “from errors one gets to know the personality.”

This, then, is the sense in which an artist both works with accidents yet creates work in which “there are no accidents.” “Accidents, try to change them—it’s impossible. The accident reveals the man.” With Picasso as with Jung and Freud, accidents point to the concealed portion of the man or woman to whom they happened.

Ancient or modern, then, one continuous line of thought holds that accidents break the surface of our lives to reveal hidden purpose or design. The carefully interwoven structures of thought and social practice provide stability and structure, but they bring a kind of blindness and stupidity, too. Gifts of Hermes tear little holes in those fabrics to offer us brief intelligence in other realms.

Time: 10 min

Material:

10 A4 Paper per person

1 Pen/marker per person

How:

1. The Facilitator presents the exercise and sets the context for this: Why are we gathered? What is the purpose of this exercise?

2. The whole group is gathered in a circle on the floor.

3. The Facilitator delivers a block of paper and a pen to each participant.

4. The Facilitator illustrates orally and physically what to do by using one of the participants as a partner.

5. Participants must find two and two together.

6. They should start by presenting themselves: "Hi, my name ..." and then write each other's name at the top of the paper.

7. The participants must now draw each other without looking at the paper and only by looking in each other's eyes. They have approx. 30 seconds.

Optional: 8. When they have drawn each other, they should alternately ask each other a question that is relevant to the current process (see earlier issues Proposal). They have just over one minute to hear each other's answers.

Optional: 9. The participants write down the answers during their drawing of the other, exchange the drawings and find a new partner.

10. This continues until they reach all the participants, or the Facilitator stops the exercise.

11. Then everyone is gathered in a circle and each presents the drawing of themselves that have made the most impression on them or as they believe metaphorically represents them best during the current process. In addition, the participants may possibly. present the essence of what they heard the other participants say - in relation to the specific topic.

12. Participants hang their selected pictures on the wall so that it is visible throughout the process.

13. Anything. collection and reflection in the group.