Intent and Impact...

You know when you have a chain of thoughts that move constantly through your head, they’re about everyday things but actually complicated enough to make it difficult to find any real conclusions in them.  That sense of mulling things over and trying to make sense of things has occupied a great deal of my thoughts throughout a very busy week. I’ve been thinking about the intent and impact of our words and actions on others. More specifically how we manage our own words and actions and therefore the impact we make on those around us and also how we react to the words and actions of others.  It’s a minefield of thoughts but very much at the centre of what goes on at Yew Tree every day, week, month term, year....

This weeks focus on the issue was first triggered at “Yearbook,” rehearsals, a Yew Tree Arts theatre in education tour that goes out after half term for three weeks.  The play is about positive decision-making and written for year 7’s.  The actors and I talked about the characters intentions in the moment and the impact they have had on other characters in the play and the direction their lives have taken them.  As the play is about growing up in Wakefield there are so many parallels to members of the Youth Theatre’s past and present and obviously to the students of the high schools where the play will tour. I am delighted to get the opportunity to send out a play that gives 11 year olds a chance to think about the impact of their actions and decisions on themselves and others.  My hope is that it allows students to manage them in as positive way as possible reducing the hurt and damage people seem to do to each other on a day to day basis.

The importance of that aspiration becomes clear with the work I do with adults in Wakefield where I see time and time again people who have lost sight of how to get along with others in their workplace.  They have forgotten the power of clear communication and indeed how it is possible to do interact with respect and clarity.  They have lost sight of how to be positive and motivated, how to acknowledge the value of others and as a consequence the quality of their working life is severely reduced.  It’s such a sad state of affairs.  However there is a comfort in the hope that I see restored as together in workshops and training we explore how to put the balance right and remind participants that they too have choices about what they do and say, choices that can literally make the world of difference.

The problem is it’s not as simple as this…there are always so many more things going on in someone’s head and heart than those we are aware of.  Half the time we’re not a hundred percent sure about what’s going on in our own hearts and heads so other people are an almost impossible conundrum.  As a consequence we are frequently asking why someone has acted or said, reacted or responded, attacked or defended in this or that way.  Those outraged or bemused questions are only any good if we aren’t using them rhetorically if instead we genuinely want to understand why someone is doing what they are doing so that we can interact with them positively.  

There have been hundreds of examples in my experiences this week that have fuelled my chaotic thoughts about intent and impact but I’ll cite just one more and this one’s about positive intent and impact.  On Saturday afternoon a group of YTYT members performed a piece of physical theatre as part of an event at Ossett.  Our intent was to go and help out people trying to generate activity in the town.  When we got there early afternoon it felt a little like our efforts might be wasted as there weren’t many people around however we did what we came to do and did it well I might add.  For the rest of the day I enjoyed the impact of this seemingly unimportant thing.  One of these impacts was the amount of people telling me how good the quality of the work and performance was and how it had affected them emotionally.  The other was the sense of pride and happiness in the performers who had been so brave and committed.  They had performed with pride, generosity and belief channeling their skill and talent into something worthwhile.  They new it and were rightly proud of it.  It was a lovely sight to see.