the
innovative LEDGER
An e-Newsletter from The Innovative Edge™ Inc.
Vol.
9, No. 11- November 2009
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Managing (New Ideas) by Wandering Around, Pt. 2
By Jeff Govendo
Last
month I reported on a Wall Street Journal article by Robert Lee Hotz
which noted that some of the most creative activity the human brain
engages in occurs when the the mind is "at ease"; i.e. wandering
around without any particular focus. I cited several historical "Eureka!"
moments when scientists and inventors made their great discoveries
when they were not concentrating on the very problems they had been
working on. Also, I noted that the ability of the human mind to
make connections between seemingly irrelevant stimuli and such problems
is, in fact, the essence of creative problem-solving.
In
this article, I'd like to offer some ideas on how to foster such creativity
in the workplace.
I'll
start with two assumptions: One, despite the fact that most businesses
today -- large and small -- are substantially leaner versions of their
former selves, competitive innovation is still valued by most. Second,
most companies do not want to pay their employees for the time required
to mentally wander around, waiting for "Eureka!" to happen.
So,
how do we reconcile these seemingly incompatible facts of life? Or,
put another way, how can we get the best of employees' thinking while
they are busier than ever just doing their jobs?
Since
we can't simply add hours to the day (much as we'd sometimes like
to), any workplace strategy for nudging the naturally-occurring process
described by Hotz must take into account those factors known to be
conducive to creative thinking.
With
that in mind, the 4 suggestions to follow focus on mission, safety,
recognition and development of new ideas:
1.
Establish a sense of mission for teams working on a project. In
a study written up several years ago in the Harvard Business Review,
employees in an engineering environment reported that even under extreme
time pressures their ability to think and act creatively remained
intact as long as they felt a strong sense of purpose in their projects.
While all of us must do things on the job we're not particularly crazy
about, matching people to their passions, wherever possible, goes
far in maintaining creative energy in the workplace.
2.
Establish a safe haven for creative thinking. New ideas, because
they are unfamiliar and untested, are almost always "wrong"
at first. An immediate negative evaluation of the idea (or even worse,
the person) will surely kill it, along with any desire to offer more.
This is why some cultures are so much less innovative than others.
Keeping the ideation process risk-free helps keep creativity in
the workplace.
3.
Recognize and actively support the creative process. Ours is a
highly result-oriented society; even more so now in the push for more
outcomes-driven practices in healthcare and education. Even so,
it is important to recognize the efforts of those who engage in the
process of generating and developing ideas, even when no immediately
applicable solutions are produced. With encouragement, these individuals
are more likely to engage in the creative process again, and perhaps
come up with the next breakthrough idea for the company!
4.
Employ a methodology for fleshing out and refining new ideas.
This is every bit as important for innovation as creative thinking
itself. Such a method is the Open-minded Evaluation and Development
process. The five steps described are designed to encourage receptivity
to a new idea, while systematically re-working those parts that require
change in order to make the concept feasible. Without a vehicle
such as this, there is little point in encouraging "out of the
box" thinking. Thinking creatively can be fun, but it gets
old quickly if the ideas never go anywhere.
It
is troubling that in times of economic distress such as these, creativity
in the workplace is often viewed as an inevitable casualty; a luxury
we can no longer afford. But as University of Massachusetts professor
Alan Robinson says in the very title of his book, Ideas are Free.
And while employees in our businesses are fewer in number and working
harder than ever, it's critical that these "experts"
are given the opportunity to think creatively every so often about
what they do.
Because
while ideas may be free, our businesses can't afford to be without
them.
