Taking the “no” out of Innovation

Individual credibility or position can have a real influence on the tenor of an idea generation session. When I’m facilitating, I am acutely aware of managing the energy in the group — particularly when it comes to managing group members reactions to ideas. I employ a few process rules that help:

1. No back story – no stories on how an idea evolved, just the idea
2. Every idea has merit — treat every idea with respect
3. Look for what’s good in every idea and build on that to come up with a new idea

These process rules help in separating an idea from the person delivering the idea. However, it’s not unusual for certain people in the group to carry more credibility than others. Their ideas often get more consideration than the ideas of participants who lack credibility due to seniority, negative attitude, or past performance.  These participants are often shut down by the group or have their ideas dismissed without consideration.

Here are 3 useful tips to avoid having our ideas discarded because of how they are delivered. As facilitators, we can share these tips with our groups as another way to create a positive setting for idea generation, discussion and debate.  (I’m going to ignore #2 in order to acknowledge my source!  These ideas come from Mike Brown of Brainzooming):

1. Don’t Telegraph Your Comments – People often begin a challenge by clearly signaling through their body language (confrontational), tone (frustrated or agitated), or words (but, don’t, can’t, instead, etc.) they’re about to challenge something. Here’s an alternative – stop doing those things! Think hopefully about the conversation, looking for points of agreement; this will help modify your body language and tone. Then simply start building on the other person’s idea, even modifying it, without allowing your words and attitude to suggest you disagree.
2. Conceal Your Sources – People are also often very sincere in saying where an idea comes from, even when it really doesn’t matter. This happens frequently with new hires who trot out ideas prefaced by, “Here’s what we did at my old company.” The typical reaction? “If your old company is so great, why aren’t you still there?” In contrast, introduce a potentially challenging idea without any attribution, foregoing even claiming your own ideas. By allowing an idea to be introduced on its own, you can start getting consideration for it without any negative baggage its original source may create.
3. Give Your Ideas Away – What might be viewed as a challenging point of view from you may be seen as completely innocuous when coming from someone else in the group. The key here is to be comfortable with sharing an idea with a receptive party, letting them build and modify the idea, and then confidently allowing them to introduce the idea if it means a higher likelihood of successful adoption.

Try these three, and you’ll be a lot less likely to get shut down, have your ideas shut out or be labeled as “negative.”

 

Cindy Diamond, President and Chief Strategist

IGNiTE . .. fueling creativity and innovation

What can corporate America learn from the Special Olympics?

This weekend I had the good fortune to be in the audience cheering on the figure skaters at a Special Olympics ice skating competition. My 15-year old daughter, Melissa, is a volunteer assistant coach for the team and I went to watch the competition to support her work. It was a very emotional experience for me to watch these skaters — young and old — with autism or down syndrome or other special needs — bravely take the ice to compete.  What I witnessed at this event is so relevant to all of our lives — if only we could take  a few of these lessons with us into our jobs and our everyday lives.

Lesson #1: Let me win but if I can not win let me be brave in the attempt (this is the Special Olympics motto).

These skaters struggle with coordination and other issues out there on the ice. They are not always steady or sure of themselves, yet they bravely get out and do the best job they can. Win or lose, they are proud of the work they do and are proud of the all the competition winners amongst them. How can we not see the corallary here to our jobs? Our co-workers are our teammates and often our competitors. We can cheer them on and watch them win and still bravely do the best job we can do — with a smile and good will.

Lesson #2: Look for and appreciate the talents in others and seek places where their strengths can benefit the whole.

Too often we look for and highlight the faults in people. We watch a presentation only to seek out the flaws and faults. We hear a new idea and quickly find a reason why it won’t work.  We gossip about what’s wrong with others. Think how different the world would be if we all responded first to what’s good about a person, their work and their ideas.

Lesson #3: Act with compassion

I think if every one of us was raising a special needs child, the world would be a better place! The parents of these skaters have all become a close knit family sewn together in their quest for support in providing a good life for their children.  They are the most compassionate, grateful and optimistic group of people. They have been taught to be truly compassionate by their own children. Compassion requires seeing the whole person and seeking to understand their position and their needs and finding a way to fulfill them.  Compassion is something that, as a facilitator, I always try to bring into my meetings because by seeking to understand others and fulfill their needs we find win/win solutions.

I know this isn’t my usual blog post but I felt compelled to share this amazing experience with my readers and hope that you, too, can benefit from it!

Cindy Diamond

IGNiTE . . . fueling creativity and innovation!

My daugther, Melissa with her Special Skater, David

Core Values: An essential part of core ideology or not?

The most misunderstood, misguided and misrepresented part of an organization’s core ideology is often the core values. These values, which often give lip service to such things as: “We respect each other as equals,” “We seek diversity and diverse points of view,” etc. rarely manifest themselves within the organization they are written for. Why? For one, exactly because they are “written for” an organization and not with the input of the employees but, equally important, it’s because the management team is not equipped with the tools, the coaching and the know-how to help all members of the organization live these values day in and day out.

Why do core values matter anyway? If they permeate an organization, core values can help with recruiting employees, retaining employees, attracting and retaining new customers and creating customer loyalty. It’s impossible to ignore the importance of these values. It must be said that every company HAS core values — they just may not be the ones the senior leadership team created!

There is no better example of a company living it’s core values than Starbucks.  For anyone, facilitator or leader, attempting to create a set of core values and infuse them into the organization, I recommend reading the little book called  How Starbucks Saved My Life, by Michael Gates Gill.  This book provides a rare glimpse into a company that is actually living it’s values. I was amazed (and I think you will be to!) at how successfully Starbucks has created a culture of respect for each other, listening, and attention to the customer by bringing their core values to life in each and every store.

So, how does a facilitator or company/organization leader help leadership teams live their core values?  Here’s a short list of tips I have learned along the way:

1) Gather input from the organization. Use an anonymous survey tool to find out where things are really at and how far away you are from the values you would like your organization to embody.

2) For each of the values, determine how committed the leadership team is to actually “living” that value day in and day out. Articulate what it means to “live” the value.  Set aside those values that not everyone is willing to commit to.

3) Articulate what the organization will look like when all the values are being actively “lived” by all in the organization. Create a vivid description using picture and words to communicate your vision to the organization

4) Create and implement a communications plan so that every single person within the organization knows how they should live each of the values and what that means for their everyday interactions with co-workers, leadership and customers.

5) Set up a consistent reward and staffing structure.  Reward ALL employees based on how effectively they convey the organization’s values. Hire only those people whose own values are congruent with the organizations.

This little book, How Starbucks Saved My Life, is a powerful depiction of the impact an organizations values can have on both the success of the overall entity and, even more importantly, the happiness of the employees who are out on the line serving customers.

Click on this link to see the core values of another successful company:  Zappos

http://money.cnn.com/2009/01/21/news/companies/obrien_zappos10.fortune/index.htm

Cindy Diamond

IGNiTE . . . fueling creativity and innovation

Facilitating Team Building in a Time of Uncertainty

Most of today’s organizations function in a team setting. These may be cross functional or functional internal teams, client service teams made from internal and external service providers, or other member compositions.  Stability is an essential component to the success of these teams. Why? Because teams go through many stages before they become high performing — namely:  forming, storming, norming and finally, performing.  Stabilty makes teams more efficient and effective at doing their jobs.

In today’s recessionary, lay-off laden environment, stability is simply not a reality. Does this mean organizations are going to suffer from less efficient and less effective teams? Most likely. Now, more than ever, organizational leadership must prioritize team building amongst it’s highest goals or risk suffering an even greater setback from the loss of team members and the environment of uncertainty we are in.

Why team building? Because trust has suffered a great blow in organizations and this hinders cooperation amongst teams that have been newly formed or have lost or changed members. Organized team building sessions, with the assistance and direction of an objective, outside facilitator,  helps team members build trust with each other. Specific trust building activities, such as sharing personal histories, viewingthe situation from each others perspectives and understanding motivations leads to an increase in cooperation, admiration, and, ultimately, trust. Once this trust has been established, teams can develop shared goals based on the passions of individual team members.  Cooperative, trusting team members will then be able to work together to meet the team goals and help each other embrace their passions and contribute their best to the team.

Teams that spend a lot of time “forming” and/or “storming” typically don’t move the needle on accomplishments as quickly as teams that are high performing. The essential difference between these stages is trust and, as a by product, cooperation and shared goals.  The relatively small investment of time and money it takes to bring in a facilitator and set aside a few days a quarter for team building will pay back multiple times in the efficiency realized by teams that work well together and have developed a team perspective on where they want to go and how to get there. And, after all, in the end it’s all about the people!

Cindy Diamond, Founder and CEO

IGNiTE, facilitating strategy and innovation

Brainstorming: Finding the Next Big Idea

Finding the Next Big Idea (link to presentation)

Last week I went to Palm Beach, FL to present at the CASRO conference for market research professionals. I presented on . . . you guessed it! . . . “Brainstorming: Finding the Next Big Idea.” My goal was to provide some structure and process tools to assist these professionals in facilitating innvoation sessions with their internal teams or client teams. I’ve attached the presentation so you can view it if you’re interested. Feel free to post questions or comments and I will respond. I received some great questions from the audience at CASRO and I’m looking forward to your questions too! I hope you find the presentation useful (the link is at the top of this post).

Cindy Diamond

Diamond Marketing Solutions / IGNiTE

Principal, Strategist & Facilitator

Fueling Creativity and Innovation

The Role of the Facilitator

The Role of the Facilitator

 

To create an effective meeting structure and process a facilitator must have an understanding of groups.

 

Group Problems Overview:

 

·        Most groups do not know how to solve tough problems on their own

·        They do not know how to build a shared framework of understanding

·        They dread conflict and discomfort and try hard to avoid it

·        By avoiding the struggle to integrate perspectives, the group diminishes their potential to be effective

 

They Need a Facilitator!

 

Group Problem #1: Self Censorship

·        In most groups, normal behaviors are oppressive. “Haven’t we already covered that point” or “Impossible. Won’t work. No way.”

·        Group members fear being criticized if they express ideas that are not fully formed

·        Without realizing it, most people constantly edit their thinking before they speak

·        To protect themselves, people self-censor

 

The role of the facilitator: Encourage Full Participation

 

·        Draw people out and help everyone feel heard

·        Make room for quiet members

·        Reduce the incidence of premature criticism

·        Support everyone to keep thinking instead of shutting down

 

Group Problem #2: Fixed Positions

 

·        Members get caught up in amplifying and defending their own perspectives

·        When people try to discuss their differences, they often misunderstand one another

·        People want their own ideas understood first

 

The role of the facilitator: Promote Mutual Understanding

 

·        Help members see that thinking from each other’s points of view is invaluable

·        Accept the inevitability of misunderstanding. Recognize that misunderstandings are stressful for everyone involved

·        Support people in distress; treat them respectfully

·        Stay impartial, honor all points of view, keep listening

 

Group Problem #3: Win/Lose Mentality

  

·        Most people are entrenched in a conventional mindset for solving problems and resolving conflicts — “It’s either my way or your way”

·        Participants are attached to their fixed positions and work to defend their own interests

·        As a result, problem solving discussions degenerate into critiques, rationalizations and sales jobs

 

The role of the facilitator: Foster Inclusive Decisions

 

·        Help a group search for innovative ideas that incorporate everyone’s points of view

 

Group Problem #4: Lack of Collaboration

 

·        Most meetings are poorly run

·        Neither leaders nor other members of most groups are skilled in collaborative methods

·        Very few people understand the mechanics of group decision-making well enough to organize a group into a productive team of thinkers

 

The role of the facilitator: Teach New Thinking Skills

 

·        Teach people to develop innovative ideas that take everyone’s needs into account

·        Provide well designed procedures for running meetings

·        Provide structured thinking activities and decision making approaches

·        Improve meeting dynamics by discussing process as well as content

 

The Role of the Facilitator: Summary

 

1. Encourage Full Participation
2. Promote Mutual Understanding
3. Foster Inclusive Solutions
4. Teach New Thinking Skills

 

In future blogs, I’ll write about useful facilitator tools and techniques that address each of these roles.

 

 

Cindy Diamond, Diamond Marketing Solutions & IGNiTE