Marvel — Find the Magic in Everything
for organizations
This Domain-Level Guide is designed to be used based on the Core Model. Please refer to the Marvel — Find the Magic in Everything Core Practice before exploring this guide.
overview
When it comes to the work we are committed to doing, our mental model often helps us move faster. Our brain is designed to use our mental model to work on automatic mode when performing tasks we already know and interacting with people we are already working with for quite some time. In goal-oriented organizations, this mode of operating seems just like what is needed. However, from a Creativity perspective, the more you run on autopilot, the fewer opportunities you have to generate creative insights.
When you manage to break free from the adaptive mental model which absorbs these actions and interactions and tags them as “ordinary,” you start to Marvel at them again. When you rediscover the magic in even the most common actions and little achievements, you turn them into creative potential. When you acknowledge the unique strengths of each person you work with, you can utilize their super-powers and form a powerful collective.
guide
Celebrate the Unique Strengths of Each Person
Organizations and teams are made of people, and no two people are the same. The collective power lies not in its size but rather in the combination of different strengths and capabilities.
When you acknowledge and celebrate the unique strengths of each person you work with, you boost the engagement of the team and encourage them to utilize their super-powers. You significantly increase the impact each of them has on any creative challenge and opportunity.
- Acknowledge the strengths of the people you work with and interact with.
- Marvel these strengths and their contribution to the collective journey.
- Celebrate the super-group you are building together based on the strengths of all members.
Marvel at What You Have Achieved
In a goal-oriented environment, it is easy to focus on the next target and miss the opportunity to acknowledge what you have already achieved. The things you have done, what you have created, and the challenges you have overcome, should not be taken for granted, even if they seem to be just part of the job. Your accomplishments, even if they are merely interim steps towards your target, can create momentum as well as guide you in identifying what works best for you and your team.
- Continually look back at the things you have already achieved, no matter how small.
- Don’t take these achievements for granted, even if they seem just part of the plan. Marvel at them.
Find the Magic in the Road Ahead
The journey toward your goal is paved with “ordinary” tasks and activities as much as it is with creative challenges and ideas. Within these allegedly plain tasks hides a world of opportunities. To enter it, you must first see the potential magic in them.
Explore your next steps and see them as magical parts of your journey, no matter how common or repetitive they are. Find the extraordinary in these activities and try to increase their value even further.
- Look ahead at your next steps and realize how important they are to your journey.
- No matter how small and ordinary they seem, consider what makes them unique and essential.
- Turn your ordinary actions into extraordinary ones.
examples
Example 1
Take some time to explore the things you have achieved during the week with your team. Your goal should not be to validate what was done or update progress but to genuinely celebrate what you have achieved collectively, no matter how trivial the concrete actions you have done seem to be.
While doing so, try to recognize each team member’s unique contribution and how their strengths came into play during the week.
Example 2
Explore what you are about to do before the week starts or before starting to work toward your next milestone. Consider how the unique strengths of each team member will help the team achieve the upcoming goal, no matter how trivial it may seem at first.
Try also to spice up your upcoming actions and make them extraordinary, not necessarily in terms of their results, but rather in how the team will perform them.