Riffing is a word that I've recently been using a lot more, it sparks community vibes and should belong in our dictionary. There's also something about it that brings me joy. It makes me smile, feel positive and also get my brain juices flowing. We need more of this in community.
A quick look at the actual definition:
The shift to community creativity
I've been on a journey. Perhaps now I could say it's been transformational. Working through so many hard things has made me question absolutely everything, personally and professionally. Along the way I kept going back to the idea of creativity and how that can be so healing and uplifting.
I've used creativity to help me through my anxieties. We can all be creative, how it shows up varies. Some of my more recent attempts have been through art and crafting, it's been an opportunity to help shift my mind into a calm state.
Even as part of this creativity, we set up a craft table at our conference last year and it was a huge hit. People were having so much fun creating, laughing and building upon each other's ideas. I'd highly recommend it.
Creativity, of course, can show up in many ways. There are no boundaries. Cooking is a common example of where creativity shows up. It can also show up in our work by approaching things with a different perspective, being playful and simply taking the time to explore.
We may feel like we need permission for these things, but I'm more of the mindset of adopting creativity as a way of being. Sneak it in. No permission needed.
And sometimes it can be a case of simply changing the words we use.
Playing with words
These days I'm always playing with words and thinking of ways to reframe things. As part of this, in the MoTaverse, we started riffing. First internally, then casually using it for our community.
It's early days and it's not super embedded yet into our lingo, but I can see it becoming a thing purely from how I've been feeling from using it.
Often we simply say it would be cool to riff on this idea more. Or we may explore the idea of how we can riff with our people on a challenge we are facing.
Riffing feels like it has exploration and creativity built in. That it can really go places. That people pay more attention to one another when it is used.
It feels better to propose to riff in community, over, say 'let's talk', or 'book a virtual chat', or 'let's have a meeting about that.'
Riffing feels like it actually implies listening will happen. That we'll explore and build upon what is actually being communicated.
Riffing feels like creativity is part of it. It sparks positivity. It helps us forget about the world around us, even if just for a moment. As part of this, we can learn to look at our challenges and our world in different ways.
The act of riffing is not just in the results, it's also how it makes you and your people feel.
Riffing can happen anytime and anywhere. No permission needed. Try sneaking it into your everyday vocabularly. Take note of how it makes you feel and see where it leads you.
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