We’ve all had the nightmares in one form or another. You find yourself at a podium and you forgot what your speech was about. Or you are at the office and realize that you aren’t wearing any pants. These nightmares are powerful reminders of our deep seated fear of exposing ourselves to the judgment of our peers, and the associated loss of dignity when we feel we are not prepared to face that exposure.
Now think about the way many companies solicit new ideas from their employees. In their quest to remove constraints to encourage the flow of ideas, they can inadvertently set up a similar situation in which employees are expected expose their ideas to the judgment of their peers without any way to prepare themselves for the exposure.
People who facilitate workshops, brainstorms and ideation sessions understand this, and take great pains to establish a “safe” environment in which people can feel free to contribute thoughts and not be judged personally. Yet, what is missing are any tools to enable people to prepare themselves for the exposure.
Rather than removing constraints to solicit new ideas, a better strategy would be to provide clear direction for what successful ideas would achieve. Humans are natural problem-solvers. When they clearly understand a challenge, their brains will be continually working in the background to solve it. They will be able to build a rationale for their own ideas, and provide better support for others’ ideas. Enabling people to prepare themselves to expose new ideas will go much farther than putting them in an environment that is superficially safe. It will preserve their dignity.
“The imagination imitates. It is the critical spirit that creates.” Oscar Wilde
In setting a clear direction that will encourage new ideas it is easy to either make it too broad, like a company mission statement, or too narrow, such as a specific definition of what needs to be done. It needs to stretch far enough to solicit ideas that are not basic variations on existing solutions, yet not so far that people can’t critically evaluate the merit of a solution. While the right direction will differ for each company and industry, here are a few guidelines to keep in mind to make sure it will work for you.
Present the direction as a problem that, if solved, will add value to the company
Posing problem statements is a good way to set the tone to solicit new ideas. As mentioned before, people are natural problem-solvers. This helps to establish a balanced environment of creative problem-solving and critical thinking; a good recipe for generating new ideas that may actually work!
Posing problems also helps people to self-critique, so that the ideas presented to broader groups have already passed at least one filter as to whether they are worth pursuing. It encourages critique that is based on objective rationale, rather than personal preference.
Pose a problem that is market focused
Most companies have a steady stream of ideas for how to do what they are already doing, but better. However, market-focused problems are the ones that will lead to solutions for new offerings. The onus is on company leadership to guide the direction of these problems, as this direction is a direct expression of how the company has strategically chosen to compete in the market. For example, a good market-focused challenge would be “How do we provide a banking experience that is both secure and convenient?”, as opposed to an operationally-focused challenge such as “How do we use fewer buttons on the front of the ATM?”
Use brainstorming and other techniques to iterate solutions and the problem
Using idea generation sessions as a forum to present, critique, and build ideas often results fewer, more solid ideas than open-ended sessions. It also sets the tone for continual improvement and building upon ideas, resulting in more collaborative participation. In addition, more iterative sessions will allow facilitators to examine the scope of the solutions presented, and decide whether the challenge should be broadened or narrowed for future sessions.
Preservation of dignity is a fundamental human motivation. Admitting it could be the cause of stifled creative pursuits is itself an exposure most would rather avoid. By setting clear direction for idea generation leaders can pave the way for creative contributions that avoid the nightmare of exposure and add great value in return.
Photo Credit: @boetter
