How do you create fresh thinking?

By Nick Wright, Kannan Ramaswamy, and Scott Simmerman, and Ross Woods. Ed. Ross Woods. (Linkein, May, 2015)

How do you create fresh thinking? It is so easy to simply persist in doing what one is doing, but that doesn't make sense if you’re looking to do things differently and see new ways of getting things done.

Some staff have very limited appetite for being asked their ideas; staff in middle management often walk away saying that they are not really paid to be the agents of change. It seems to arise from the prevailing social and organizational culture, which can be a major obstacle to fresh thinking. For example, the organization might recruit, develop, recognize and reward qualities and behaviours that are not conducive to creative thinking.

In many cases, leaders send the message that they don't want fresh thinking and have inadvertantly trained people not to be creative. Senior managers might promote the image that they always know best, staff should comply with their ideas, and that it's not the role of staff to put ideas forward. Some ask for ideas but then react negatively; they might ignore ideas, or speak positively but then act as if they never heard.

Staff might feel that nobody is listening, then, feeling isolated from decision-making, they eventually give up and only go through the motions of doing their jobs.

How would you counter those kinds of negative attitudes? What would motivate staff to be more proactive in taking initiative, posing questions, and leading change in such an environment? Here is our list of approaches:

1. Ask the right questions

Asking the right questions in the right sequence is probably a good place to start. You might probably find that many people have good ideas but haven't told anyone. All they need is to know that someone is honestly listening and will propose their ideas in a decision-making forum where they will get a fair hearing.

The sequence is important. People will start with simple, safe answers. They won't want to risk feeling punished for speaking up. Some of their starting ideas might not be very good, and if they feel rejected, they will close down. But keep trying. You will eventually build a more creative team culture with better ideas.

2. Small improvements

Work on small improvements. Very few of us need to invent new ways of doing things. Simply looking for incremental improvements and ways to do things differently is a key to improving oneself and the organization. Get them started on cultural change. Small changes are good preparation for 'big picture" changes.

3. Reframe management as leadership

Reframe management as leadership and, where managers show resistance, invite managers to reflect on their own contribution to what they experience as enabling or frustrating in the organization.

4. Re-define the problem

Formulate better definitions of the problem; sometimes it's all you need to find a solution.

5. Step back

Step back and get some mental distance from the hands-on, day-to-day reality. Some years ago, Kahlil Gibran wrote about climbing a mountain. You need to step back from the mountain in order to see the best routes up. If standing face to face with a boulder, all you can see is the boulder.

The purpose of 'retreats' is to quite literally step out of the day to day activities in order to gain fresh insight and perspective. It's one reason why retreats are often most successful when they take place in a different geographical location from where we live and work, where there is physical space and an uncrowded agenda. It creates psychological distance and disassociation that provides opportunity to think and feel in new ways.

7. The last resort

If creativity is essential to your business, you simply have to to remove people who have given up altogether and cannot change. They are obstructing change and the flow of ideas. It's a last resort.