The coronavirus crisis has fundamentally changed our lives, our work, and how we communicate. Existing collaboration processes have been and continue to be put to the test in these technologically disruptive times with ChatGPT and other similar technologies. Proven forms of communication are constantly changing, and the challenge is to maintain quality and depth of content despite the distance. Work and communication processes need to be rethought.

The transformation of organizations under pandemic conditions requires the constant rediscovery, testing, and reflection of practical solution strategies for interacting with one another, which creates uncertainty. Existing business models and fields of action for organizations are under pressure from newly emerging needs.

The development of creative agility is a key competence for successfully navigating analog and digital working environments. Technical skills alone are not enough. Rather, skills are needed to break away from previous routines and structures, to approach new situations in a creative and agile manner, and to communicate effectively. These skills are particularly relevant for managers, employees at all levels, trainers, coaches, and volunteers working at socially relevant interfaces.

As part of the project, the ZHAW, together with adult education partners from Liechtenstein, Germany, and Austria, explored how art-based strategies transform digital and analog communication in organizations.

The aim of the project was to develop a curricular training concept on “creative agility” in the form of a modular, art-based, knowledge-oriented, and methodical-didactic toolkit.

In addition, pilot training courses (market tests) were conducted in Europe and Switzerland, and experiments with digital and analog learning formats were carried out.

The ZHAW was responsible, among other things, for evaluating a case study on the development of guidelines for implementing artistic interventions in organizational contexts. The case study took place in a municipal structure (Ottersberg near Bremen, Germany). Decision-makers from the council/politics and administration were involved, as well as artistic actors from the University of Arts in Social Contexts Ottersberg. The chosen artistic intervention was “narrative research,” a theater-based method that uses scenic sketches to create different communication situations.

The EU consortium consisting of kubus Kulturvermittlung (LI), the University of Arts in Social Practice HKS Ottersberg (DE), the SPES Future Academy in Schlierbach (A), and the ZHAW has created a forward-looking educational offering through this collaboration, which makes a valuable contribution to the transformation of digital and analog communication in organizations.