How to Help Your Team Contribute Better Ideas

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Based on ground-breaking new research on innovation and problem solving, learn techniques to help your team bring you better ideas.

Today’s post is by Karin Hurt and David Dye, author of Courageous Cultures (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

When we share our recent research findings on what prevents employees from speaking up and sharing their best ideas, sometimes we get this reaction: “Oh, that’s not our issue. Our problem is these damn millennials can’t stop speaking up. They complain about everything.”

“And do you listen?” we ask.

“Some of the time, but after a while, you can only take so much.”

Which begs the question: and then what happens? After you’re tired and they’re ignored?

We imagine it’s only a matter of time until they stop trying, or leave. Like Laura, a fellow keynote speaker we met recently at a conference. She shared:

I’m so intrigued by this research you’re doing on FOSU (fear of speaking up) and the downstream consequences for employees and organizations. The truth is I’m one of those people. I had such a bad experience when I was 23, that I would never offer my opinion at work again.

I was just out of college and so eager to make an impact in my new role. I had tons of ideas and was always looking for ways to make things better. So I offered my opinion on EVERYTHING. Which as it turns out, was exhausting to everyone around me. I got fired and was completely devastated. After all, my heart was in the right place. I was gung ho. But, the truth is, I was committed, but clumsy.

Once I got back on my feet in a new job, I kept my head down, my mouth shut, and just did my job. I had this FOSU thing you talk about in a big way. And I was miserable.

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When Innovation Talk Turns Toxic

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Innovation thrives on meaning, but superficial innovation talk can lead to stress and fatigue, and thus less creativity, in a company culture.

Today’s post is by Alf Rehn, author of Innovation for the Fatigued (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

It is common knowledge that talking the talk is easier than walking the walk. What we still tend to miss is that sometimes, the talk can actually hinder the walk, and in my research I’ve found that this holds particularly true in the field of corporate innovation. Here, excessive and repetitive innovation talk can trigger two issues that are harmful to organizations but have received scant attention: Innovation stress and innovation fatigue. Both can act as powerful barriers to take action on and engage with innovation, yet managers often respond to these by even more innovation talk. This can in turn create a vicious circle, one which can turn an organization’s creative culture toxic.

What, then, is innovation fatigue? In brief, it stands for a situation where invocations of innovation and exhortations for involvement with the same no longer creates engagement but rather tedium and tension. As an example, in one major corporation I worked with, a mid-level manager could easily recall at least 12 separate ongoing innovation initiatives in the organization, and when I asked him how many past such he could recall, he gave up after about 20, but insisted that there had been countless more. This was only the initiatives. He could also recall numerous innovation consultants, speeches from top executives about the importance of innovation, and various creativity workshops with “all kinds of silly games”. He grimaced throughout the listing of these.

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How Leaders Can Develop Innovative Cultures

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20190930 Brainstorming Design

Social design aims to create conditions in which the things you want to happen, happen more easily.

Today’s post is by Cheryl Heller, author of The Intergalactic Design Guide (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

Social Design is the design of relationships; the creation of new social conditions intended to increase agency, health, creativity, equity, social justice, resilience, and connection to nature.

In cities, corporations, or any type of community, if the culture is a creative one, innovative ideas are generated there. In a culture aligned by social values, those values drive action over time. In a culture where people have a sense of agency and possibility, possibilities are repeatedly found. These attributes become the norm. It is the inverse of a culture where only certain people or departments are viewed as innovative or dictate social values, dependent on isolated events or interventions to create lasting change. Social design aims to create conditions in which the things you want to happen, happen more easily.

When applied to specific issues and places, desired outcomes are defined with precision, as concretely and fully as possible.

The skills required for social design are a toolkit of sorts, the kind a very good carpenter might carry, filled with some favorite old implements with worn handles and patina, and some new ones that are shiny and sharp. A number of these skills have been part of the designer’s art forever: like synthesizing complex information and making it accessible; visualizing data and invisible systems so that insights and revelations and connections are available to everyone; reframing problems and questions to uncover root causes instead of symptoms; abductive reasoning and sideways creative thinking; giving ideas physical form or representation, and then making them desirable – engaging and delighting people with the beauty or functionality of whatever has been created.

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How To Be a Great Innovator in Your Field

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Innovation Poster

Innovation in today’s society can be a difficult idea to grasp and an even more difficult idea to implement.  In order to truly lead forward as an innovator there are a few key concepts to hold onto.

Today’s post is by Dr. Joseph Walker, author of No Opportunity Wasted (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

Lately, the term “innovator” conjures up the image of a young entrepreneur disrupting an industry with concepts like ridesharing, e-currency or meal-kit delivery. But it doesn’t have to. Whether you are 35 or 65, leading a start-up or a multi-generational business, you can be an innovator. In fact, you have to be if you’re going to keep succeeding. Being an innovator doesn’t just mean introducing a new idea; it also means tirelessly improving processes, finding solutions and refining techniques.

And to truly lead with an innovative mindset, you must change the way you think – about success, about yourself and about your team. It won’t be easy. But it can be done. Here are the basics:

Embrace Discomfort

One of the biggest roadblocks to innovative thinking is discomfort. People – particularly people who already are successful – tend to shy away from it. After all, you achieved so much, and things have been working fine for you, so why change? But tradition is frozen success, not a roadmap for future opportunity. You can’t maintain success unless you adapt. Things change quickly today – tastes, priorities, people and peoples’ needs. So let go of any illusions that what worked in the past will work just as effectively today. It won’t.

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Great Associate Experiences Start with Choice and Flexibility

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Office Space

The biggest change in the office environment is choice and flexibility. People are finding different ways and spaces in which to work that make them happy.

Today’s post is by Ira Sharfin, CEO, Continental Office.

It’s not a question of if the workplace will change. It’s a matter of when. The days of mundane 8 to 5’s while stuck in a grey, uninspired cubical are rapidly becoming obsolete. Today’s workforce is finding different ways and spaces in which to work that make them happy and more productive.

People are always surprised when I tell them the biggest change I’ve seen emerge isn’t, in fact, the open office. The most notable change over the past decade has been the arrival of choice and flexibility in the workplace. Truth be told, the open office plan does happen to be a popular design given the amount of buzz in recent years. But what’s most important is giving people control over “where” and “how” they work. By creating dynamic settings, we can have the most positive impact on today’s workforce.

I’ve seen what the addition of choice and flexibility can do for both our clients and our own team. I remember when I first came to Continental Office. I wanted to change a traditional conference room by removing the large board room table and 12 chairs surrounding it. I enlisted the help of Nick, our EVP of Design. We brought in several new pieces, including couches and a white Eames lounge chair. We installed embedded LED panels in the wall and created a whole new environment. Some people thought it was a bit crazy. Others asked for the old furniture to be brought back in. Most believed no one would ever use the updated room.

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What has your experience been when working on a cross-functional team?

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EKG Pulse Graph with Glowing Blue Line

Our reader poll today asks: What has your experience been when working on a cross-functional team?

  • It’s been great every time: 17.3%
  • It’s been OK most times: 40.7%
  • It’s been hit-or-miss: 32.0%
  • It’s been horrible: 3.3%
  • I’ve never worked on a cross-functional team:6.7%

Cross-functional teams function — most of the time. Most of you have had good experiences on cross-functional teams. For those who have had it be hit-or-miss, consider the following culprits for the misses: team members aren’t fully committed to provide time and effort, they don’t have their supervisor’s support, goals aren’t aligned or there’s no clear charter for the team. These are some of the most common dysfunctions of a cross-functional team. All of these can be solved during the initial stages of forming the team. Do all you can to drive commitment, alignment and direction as soon as the project starts. Skipping that step can spell disaster.

Do you agree with these poll results? Let us know in the comments below!

– Mike Figliuolo at thoughtLEADERS, LLC

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