The Soldier and the Creativity Training
I knew I was in trouble the moment he smiled.
All I could see were four metal teeth -- the front ones -- the ones people use to bite things. Like an apple. Or the head of an outside consultant facilitating a creativity training for 24 managers at AT&T.
His nametag said "John Andrews," but when it was his turn to introduce himself, it was "Master Staff Sergeant John Andrews, Fourth Battalion."
Apparently, the man was still fighting the Vietnam war -- and, by the look in his eye, it was clear he couldn't quite tell what side I was on.
Unlike the other participants, John was wearing a suit and a tie -- a tie tied so tight it seemed as if the veins in his neck would explode.
With great respect, I invited John to remove his tie, explaining that relaxation was one of the pre-conditions for creativity.
John declined.
The man was not the first tough cookie I'd encountered in my tour of corporate America. It came with the territory. Over the years, I'd learned to embrace this kind of moment. John was not the enemy. He was not a problem. He was simply someone I would need to be aware of as the session unfolded.
John was probably the same with me as he was with his wife, children, dog, and dry cleaner. He was, quite simply, a master at making people uncomfortable.
Mother Teresa could have entered the room and John would have found a way to get her walking on eggshells.
At no time during the two days of the creativity training did Master Sergeant John Andrews, Fourth Battalion, ever give me the slightest indication he was receiving any value. Not a smile. Nod a nod. Not a nothing.
When the session ended, the rest of the participants were out the door in a heartbeat. John stayed.
He was still wearing his tie.
"Do you... need any help cleaning up?" he asked.
"Yes, John, I do. Thanks."
We both got busy picking stuff up off the floor.
Two minutes later, John, now on his hands and knees, looked up at me.
"I... wonder if I can have a few minutes of your time?" he asked. "I need some help."
Seeing this proud man on his hands and knees, looking up at me with a mix of fear and sadness, was not a picture I'd imagined when he first bared his teeth just two days before.
According to John, his direct reports had just completed their 360 degree evaluations of him and the results were "not good." His job was on the line and he was frozen with fear.
I have absolutely no memory of what I said to John that day. All I know is whatever came out of my mouth rang true for him.
It had nothing to do with creativity. It had nothing to do with innovation. It had a lot to do with life. John's life. My life. All of our lives. Not the WHAT of life, but the HOW.
The difference between a life of business and the business of life.
Time stopped for the two of us. We just hung out in that space, saying nothing, doing nothing.
Then, with the barest of smiles, John stood and asked me if it would be alright if he took a second set of juggling balls home to his 14-year old son.
I found myself singing on the way home that day.
Excerpted from my forthcoming book, Wisdom at Work.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 04:43 AM | Comments (0)
June 26, 2011You Want Results? Immerse!
Recently, I polled 140 people to find out what they need "more of" in order to succeed with their various creative projects. The sixth highest rated item was IMMERSION.
And then, this morning, noted in Drive, the Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, I discovered a great example of how true this is:
Once a quarter, software developers at the Australian company, Atlassian -- for 24 hours -- are allowed to work on whatever they want, in any way they want, with whomever they want. All the company asks is that people show what they've created to the rest of the company at the end of those 24 hours. They call these experiences "FedEx Days," because people have to deliver something overnight.
It turns out that those one-day bursts of intense, undiluted autonomy have produced more innovation and creativity than just about anything else the company has done.
What can YOU do to create more immersion time for yourself and your team?
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 07:32 AM | Comments (0)
June 25, 2011Want a Brainstorming Breakthrough? Get the Right Question!
There's a simple reason why so many brainstorm sessions are a waste of time. The problem statement being pitched to participants is the wrong one.
This is not surprising -- especially when you consider how little time most facilitators put into preparing for a session.
Here's what happens: The person who calls the session is usually scrambling -- overwhelmed, over-caffeinated, and running from one meeting to the next. Out of breath, they pitch the topic to the group, but the topic is either vague or secondary to a more essential challenge that remains unspoken.
G.K. Chesterton, one of the most influential English writers of the 20th century, distilled the phenomenon down to 13 words. "It's not that they can't see the solution," he said. "They can't see the problem."
Then, of course, there's also the phenomenon of perception bias.
Pitch a challenge to an IT person, and it will be seen as a technology problem. Pitch it to a CFO, and it will be seen as a financial problem. Pitch it to a marketing person and it will be seen as a branding problem.
Or as a wise man once said, "When a pickpocket meets a saint all he sees are pockets."
If you plan on running an ideation session any time soon, don't just stumble into the room and pitch a vague topic to the group. Do your homework. Make the effort to identify the REAL issue before asking for ideas. If it's the WRONG QUESTION you present, no amount of idea generation is going to make a difference.
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Virtual Brainstorm Facilitation Training
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June 22, 2011Now's The Time
This just in: Now's the time.
It doesn't matter whether you work for a big corporation, small non-profit, or your self. This is it.
The past is over. Everything begins right now.
Everything.
No more excuses. You know what to do.
Or, as one great pundit put it, "If not you, who? If not now, when?"
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:23 PM | Comments (0)
June 15, 201120 Awesome Quotes on Humor, Play, and Creativity
1. "To stimulate creativity one must develop childlike inclination for play and the childlike desire for recognition." - Albert Einstein
2. "If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play." - John Cleese
3. "If you lose the power to laugh, you lose the power to think." - Clarence Darrow
4. "The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect, but by the play instinct arising from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the object it loves." - Carl Jung
5. "The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not 'Eureka!' but 'That's funny!'" - Isaac Asimov
6. "Serious play is not an oxymoron; it is the essence of innovation." - Michael Schrage
7. "Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing." - William James
8. "Humor has bailed me out of more tight situations than I can think of. If you go with your instincts and keep your humor, creativity follows. With luck, success comes, too." - Jimmy Buffett
9. "Keep your sense of humor, my friend; if you don't have a sense of humor it just isn't funny anymore." - Wavy Gravy
10. "Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritations and resentments slip away and a sunny spirit takes their place." - Mark Twain
11. "Play so that you may be serious." - Anarchasis
12. "When truly creative people come up with a new idea they don't reject it immediately because of its flaws. They play with it, looking for strengths and sliding over weaknesses." - David Campbell
13. "I'll play it first and tell you what it is later." - Miles Davis
14. "All work and no play doesn't just make Jill and Jack dull, it kills the potential of discovery, mastery, and openness to change and flexibility and it hinders innovation and invention." - Joline Godfrey
15. "If I had no sense of humor, I would have long ago committed suicide." - Mahatma Ghandi
16. "Humor is by far the most significant activity of the human brain." - Edward de Bono
17. "Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious." - Peter Ustinov
18. "The number one premise of business is that it need not be boring or dull. It ought to be fun. If it's not fun, you're wasting your life." - Tom Peters
19. "It's no accident that AHA and HAHA are spelled almost the same way." - Mitch Ditkoff
20. "What if everything is an illusion and nothing exists? In that case, I definitely overpaid for my carpet." - Woody Allen
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:57 AM | Comments (0)
June 11, 2011Live Elevator Music
Take a few minutes now to think of a new way to deliver your services -- a platform most people have assumed was not worth the effort. I'm convinced that if a band actually started playing live elevator music, they'd be featured on CNN in no time (or at least have a few laughs.)
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 05:39 AM | Comments (1)
June 08, 2011The Hero Culture
The hero culture is alive and well in many organizations.
Riding in on a white horse to rescue the company from a downward spiral, occasioned by a history of poor decisions, will win you lots of recognition and rewards.
On the other hand, insisting on the importance of truly understanding customer needs prior to deciding on a product's features... or really thinking through the technical challenges associated with achieving a desired outcome... or taking the time to engage people before instituting a difficult reorganization, will likely gain you the reputation of being an obstacle, poor team player, or just plain indecisive.
Unfortunately, being the person who seems to know all the answers and can turn things around by telling everyone what to do is often what we are looking for these days.
Creating an organization that is agile and can run on its own -- where decisions are made close to the customer and higher level managers only need to provide strategic direction and uphold key values -- is not the fastest way to "the top" these days.
What is?
Making sure your thumbprint is on every critical decision and that you're the person who always has the last word with the CEO.
So by all means -- if you want to get to the top -- do not make your organization self-sufficient, do not develop your successor, and do not make yourself anything but "indispensable".
-- Barry Gruenberg
Idea Champions
The Anti-Heroes
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Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 10:34 AM | Comments (1)
June 06, 2011First Diverge, Then Converge
If you are gearing up for a brainstorm session, allow me to offer you one piece of advice: first diverge, then converge.
Beyond the muffins, coffee, and people arriving fashionably late, brainstorm sessions are composed of the two aforementioned "erges."
Divergence is the act of "getting out there" or what Webster refers to as "an infinite sequence that does not have a limit."
Go, Noah, go!
Divergence, quite simply, is a deviation from the norm -- kind of like your brother-in-law.
Without divergence, brainstorm sessions are flat, boring, one-dimensional, and a roaring waste of time.
But if the only thing you do is "get out there," never coming back to home base, all you will have done is tease participants by temporarily stimulating their imagination.
That's why you need divergence's accountant-like cousin convergence -- the act of "coming together toward one point."
Divergence and convergence -- like day and night, hot and cold, peanut butter and jelly, are both necessary if you want your brainstorm sessions to really hum.
How to spark divergence?
Well, for starters, invite inspired people, define a compelling challenge, establish a sense of urgency, express humor, and give participants permission to take risks.
Convergence can be achieved in many ways, as well, including verbally summarizing session results, restating the most popular ideas, voting, identifying champions, action planning, and clarifying what will happen to new ideas, post-session.
For more on why most brainstorming sessions don't work (and what you can do about it), click here... or here if you don't want to click any of the aforementioned hyperlinked words, click here.
Excerpted from Conducting Genius.
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Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:36 PM | Comments (2)
June 01, 2011There's Type "A" and also Plan "B"
"The most successful people are those who are good at Plan B."
- James York
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 06:40 PM | Comments (1)
