Release Your Inner Dragon…

Jan, 10 2019

Are there different ways to manage a team? Different ways to work collaboratively? Can a business really have outcomes focused on win-win (win) for everyone? 

This all sounds a bit like a 1970s hippy-community to me, so I thought I would go along and find out more! Welcome to ‘Dragon Dreaming – Turning Ideas into action!’

The ‘Dragon dreaming method’ teaches entrepreneurship, group facilitation and inclusion. Managers learn to improve projects, in a creative, collaborative and sustainable manner. All members of a team become a force for positive change. Empowering staff to improve their organisations through a joint strategic vision. This all sounds wonderful, doesn’t it?

How did all this start?

John Croft created this after working with indigenous people across four different continents. He observed the ancient sustainable wisdom of indigenous cultures and noted their techniques for community building, educational empowerment and their deep regard for ecological balance. This is a far cry away from our modern world of long working hours, competition, goal/profit focus and the notion of chasing money.  Perhaps this has contributed to increased burnout and an increase in both physical and mental health problems; neither of these issues are prevalent in indigenous societies so why not embrace their methods for liberating collective intelligence, creativity, cooperation and the unconscious power of sleep?     

Managers should aim for a win-win-win culture. They should focus on personal growth and the empowerment of all participants.

How does it work?

If you take away all the ‘hippy’ terminology from this method, it is an innovative way to create teams and allow for a collaborative focus.

There are four parts to any project. The Dreaming phase, the Planning Phase, the Implementation and the Celebration Phase. All teams are a good balance of dreamers, planners, doers and celebrators. All parts are of equal importance.

In a nutshell… choose a balanced team, based on the criteria above, and then enter the…

Dreaming Phase

All team members have equal billing to speak their mind, without judgement, on how they want the project to look and feel. Everybody should be able to speak. There are no interruptions, and this continues until the vision has been created. The team is then fully inspired and motivated to move on. If things get a little bit ‘heated’ then everyone should take a break to relax and re-focus.

Planning Phase

This is where the thinkers, researchers and planners in the team will thrive. It is all about strategic planning, trialling, testing and tweaking.    

Doing Phase

The doers and administrators in the team, that have been ‘chomping at the bit’, can start to install the plan. Whilst monitoring and tweaking as they go along.

Celebration Phase

This is where everybody reflects and asks, ‘What was done well and what could be better next time?’

It is important to stop… and celebrate achievements. Nothing is a failure and all things are ‘learning opportunities.’

Have a party, drink some champagne, have a staff day out and a nice cup of tea! Pause, tweak the team and then move onto the next ‘Dreaming Phase’ as the circle continues onto the next project. 

Visit the Dragon Dreaming Website for more information  http://www.dragondreaming.org/ . Or email Nigel at nfarnworth4@uclan.ac.uk