WAKING DREAM

Waking Dream is a group creative technique that can help to develop interesting and really innovative insights. Hubert Jaoui (1991) defines this technique as an example of dream approach and gives the following definition:

“It is about developing unconscious mechanisms and voluntarily using them in the creative process. For a long time artists, poets, philosophers and scientists understood the major role played by unconscious mechanisms in the creative process. Unlike the previous three approaches which are now becoming more precise and logical, the dream approach belongs to the infra-logic or ultra-logic area. To better examine this area, boundaries between conscious and unconscious need to become thinner. To this purpose, a set of group techniques was created. Only skilled leaders can use them, as they could entail psychological implications and emotional reactions.” (Jaoui, 1991)

Referring to Waking Dream, Jaoui states:

“…it is a theurapeutic technique devised by the Swiss Robert Desoille. A Waking Dream session takes place in a semi-dark place and with six or seven participants at the most .
The participants find a comfortable position, they preferably lay down. The session time can range from half an hour to two hours. The leader plays the major role. He does not dream and puts forward different images to the participants. Images are quite neutral at the beginning and aim to gather participants in a common creative context. The leader cleverly suggests images related to a given problem and the group builds them into their dreams. An external observer takes notes without being noticed. At the end of the session, the leader brings the group back to reality. Given some time, this technique is useful to devise important solutions.
For instance, a collective waking dream helped to outline the architecture and the furnishing of a new bank agency. The creative group members were in dynamic relaxation; they were able to view and describe their dream agency.
The most impressive themes were later transcribed and sent to the bank project office.” (Jaoui, 1991)

So this technique is essentially based upon an imaginary collective “journey” that helps to explore the man unconscious and generate innovative insights. Needless to say that the group participants need to be very imaginative to achieve good results.

[Source: www.mycoted.com]

CLASS	B
PHASE	Idea Generation
DESCRIPTION	Waking Dream is a group creative technique that can help to develop interesting and really innovative insights. Hubert Jaoui (1991) defines this technique as an example of dream approach and gives the following definition: “It is about developing unconscious mechanisms and voluntarily using them in the creative process. For a long time artists, poets, philosophers and scientists understood the major role played by unconscious mechanisms in the creative process. Unlike the previous three approaches which are now becoming more precise and logical, the dream approach belongs to the infra-logic or ultra-logic area. To better examine this area, boundaries between conscious and unconscious need to become thinner. To this purpose, a set of group techniques was created. Only skilled leaders can use them, as they could entail psychological implications and emotional reactions.” (Jaoui, 1991) Referring to Waking Dream, Jaoui states: “…it is a theurapeutic technique devised by the Swiss Robert Desoille. A Waking Dream session takes place in a semi-dark place and with six or seven participants at the most . The participants find a comfortable position, they preferably lay down. The session time can range from half an hour to two hours. The leader plays the major role. He does not dream and puts forward different images to the participants. Images are quite neutral at the beginning and aim to gather participants in a common creative context. The leader cleverly suggests images related to a given problem and the group builds them into their dreams. An external observer takes notes without being noticed. At the end of the session, the leader brings the group back to reality. Given some time, this technique is useful to devise important solutions. For instance, a collective waking dream helped to outline the architecture and the furnishing of a new bank agency. The creative group members were in dynamic relaxation; they were able to view and describe their dream agency. The most impressive themes were later transcribed and sent to the bank project office.” (Jaoui, 1991) So this technique is essentially based upon an imaginary collective “journey” that helps to explore the man unconscious and generate innovative insights. Needless to say that the group participants need to be very imaginative to achieve good results. [Source: www.mycoted.com]
CORRELATE TECHNIQUES	KEEPING A DREAM DIARY
REFERENCES	Jaoui H., La creativité mode d'emploi, Paris, ESF éditeur-Enterprise Moderne d'Edition et Libraires Techniques, 1990. Cocco G.C., Creatività ricerca e innovazione. Individui e imprese di fronte alle sfide della società post-industriale, Milano, Franco Angeli, 1987. urteen D., Knowledge, Creativity and Inovation, Journal of Knowledge Management, Vol. 2, n. 1, 1998, pp. 5-13. McFadzean E., Developing and Supporting Creative Problem-Solving Teams: Part 1 - a Conceptual Model, Management Decision, Vol. 40, n. 5, 2002, pp. 463-475.