Once upon a time, I was a manager of people. Yes, a middling middle manager with a team of people who “reported” to me. One of the things I ran around preaching during that five-year stint was that I managed people so that they could “play to their strengths.”
I actually do believe this is a healthy way to try manage people in the workplace. People will stay interested, less disgruntled, and maybe as close to happy as possible in a job.
But, then, why didn’t I want that out of workshops? Why should creative endeavors have to enforce finding weaknesses in your work? I took this workshop style for granted until I recently read about storyteller Jay O’Callahan. He’s featured on Behance, an interesting new site about creative productivity (which also has some pretty cool notebooks, pads, and index cards to manage to-do lists).
The jist is, O’Callahan teaches workshops that stress finding “appreciations” in a story. Away with the usual feedback like, “I didn’t like this,” or, “I don’t get that…” And a lot more, “I really appreciated the way you described the sunlight glistening off the peanut butter.”
Does it work? I couldn’t say since I haven’t tried it, but when and if I ever get back into a writing group and/or partnership situation, I might suggest we give it a try.
Comments 3
Gordon-
I generally agree with where you are coming from- with the caveat that my ideal is finding a balance between praise and criticism.
My ideal workshop setting would involve each respondent briefly mentioning three things they liked and three things they didn’t like (or needs improvement) about each story. Then, after folks have some consensus on what the vibe is, we’d follow up with more detailed criticism.
I do agree with the idea of playing to your strengths too. for example: Hey, this particular voice is the one that works for you, stick to it.
Again, I also want to mention that, in my opinion, while workshops appear to be all about criticizing someone else’s work, the primary beneficiaries are actually the folks doing the criticizing. If it’s done right, I will learn more about my own work when I criticize yours. Isn’t that why people who are readers for journals are often strong writers?
thanks for the thoughtful post-
Armand
Posted 15 Mar 2007 at 3:48 pm ¶I tried a workshop that stressed “appreciations,” and liked getting the positive feedback; it boosted my confidence at a time when I needed the boost. At the same time, not knowing what didn’t work made it seem less complete. One thing I’ve looked for in my limited experience with workshops is line by line editing, with constructive criticism as to why something works and doesn’t.
Posted 15 Mar 2007 at 7:41 pm ¶One of the things I appreciate about my current workshop is that praise and criticism are both concentrated on. Also, we stress discussion of the story, the way you would a published work in an english course, to try to understand the narrator and structure of the story.
Posted 16 Mar 2007 at 8:39 am ¶Post a Comment