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Paul’s Style
“What if we held our advisory board meeting in the warehouse?” I suggest.
“No,” Paul says.
“Well, hear me out. It is a large enough space to fit everyone comfortably. It would fit within our budget for the meeting, it would give board members a chance tour the plant, and we could set up the warehouse floor with comfortable table and chairs, flipcharts and a projector.”
“Look, there’s too much liability, not everyone on the advisory board is interested in touring the plant, it’s going to be too hard to organize, and we’ve never done that before,” he interrupts and shoots down my idea.
Our advisory board is meeting for a business strategy review, our office has no conference room, and we are working within a tight budget. We would normally host the meeting at the CEO’s summer cottage in the stately dining room, but that option isn’t available this year.
“We can always hold it at the Holiday Inn near the airport,” Alex suggests.
“That’s a decent plan B,” Paul says.
The weeks go by and we eventually settle on Paul’s Plan B because we have no Plan A. Meetings were always like that. Someone would put forth an idea, and Paul would judge it within seconds, and it left all of us either discouraged or defensive. After enough meetings, this process (generate idea, judge it, generate another idea, judge it….) was internalized. I’d come up with an idea and judge it in my mind, without ever sharing it with someone else. Things were different with Alyssa.
Alyssa’s Style
“Hey, what if we held our meeting in the warehouse?” I suggest.
“Hm…I bet people would find the change of scenery stimulating,” Alyssa replies.
“Yeah, and we could finally get everyone out to the plant for a guided walkthrough. Maybe the plant manager could give the tour,” Alex suggests.
“There’s no A/V setup in the warehouse. And no whiteboards. It’s not going to work,” Paul says.
“Well, we can overcome that. We could just use a portable flipchart and bring a projector in just like at the summer cottage.” Alyssa says.
Alyssa’s way of nurturing ideas brought our creativity to life. Even Paul’s criticism was used to improve and strengthen the idea. Alyssa had a patience and positivity that allowed ideas to flourish.
We’ve All Been There
We are excited by an idea we’ve come up with. Then we share it with a colleague or supervisor and they shoot it down without a second thought. They run off five or six reasons why it’s too ambitious, or too difficult, or too weird. We react either by becoming defensive (in which case we reject feedback entirely) or by letting the criticism discourage us and we drop the idea all together.
The Most Common Mistake
The most common mistake in problem solving is trying to generate ideas and evaluate them at the same time. Ideas are not born fully formed. Fledgling ideas must be nurtured into powerful solutions. When we strike down ideas immediately, we aren’t giving these ideas a chance to change or grow; we are, in fact, killing baby ideas.
What happens when we kill baby ideas?
We settle for an idea that’s good enough and go with it. We miss out on all the novelty necessary for real creative solutions and settle for the same old stale outcomes.
To Generate Novel Solutions divide your thinking into two separate stages. First, dedicate time to divergence - think creatively and generate many ideas. When you have enough options pause and begin thinking critically. Evaluate multiple ideas and converge on a single solution. It is best to follow the following guidelines for divergent and convergent thinking.
Guidelines for Divergent Thinking
Guidelines for Convergent Thinking
| See full post and discussion | Posted: 1 year ago |
