FireFly Facilitation

Last post I shared with you the importance of innovation to improve your bottom line and retain your top talent.  In this post, I will share with you the first 3 of 9 concrete steps  you can take to ignite innovation on your team.

Understand the (nonflashy) new role of leadership. First, establish a safe, respectful environment where individual creativity can emerge.  Next, focus that energy in the right direction based on the team’s core purpose and targeted goals.  To be successful today you must lead through inspiration and collaboration. Look at your current behaviors and decide which are helping you create a culture of engagement and which aren’t.  Start small—and stick with it.

Search for untapped talent on your team. Did you know that what look like plain old fireflies are actually comprised of more than 2,000 known species?  Well, likewise your employees are far more complex and unique than you might think.  Use proven tools like the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument to shine the light on these hidden talents.  Employees who are recognized as unique with significant contributions to make, become more engaged and passionate about their work.  It’s almost like hiring a team of new creative superstars.

Encourage productive conflict – aka “creative abrasion”. Are you uncomfortable with conflict in the workplace? Don’t be. Conflict is natural, expected, and can be a positive sign of diverse thinking on your team.  Keep the conflict focused on the issues and don’t let team members direct their ire at one another personally. Deal with ferocious fireflies, those toxic, manipulative employees who work hard to destroy trust and collaboration on the team.  You know who they are; the rest of the team does too.

The recession is in full swing and companies everywhere are feeling the pain. Yours is likely no exception. Shrinking budgets, sweeping layoffs, and a smothering malaise that’s settled over your workforce make it hard to see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel. Sometimes, even the most optimistic leader finds him or herself wondering, Is there an end to this particular tunnel? Sure there is, but you’re going to have to excavate it yourself—and you’re going to have to light your own way.

Innovation is the only ticket out of this recession.  I’m not just talking about product development.  I’m talking about new services, business processes, means of communication, and methods of collaboration. Innovation is everyone’s job. It’s no longer the purview of R&D or marketing.  And it’s not one big initiative. It’s a lot of small changes and improvements that, together, make a big difference.

Ultimately, companies that can churn out innovative ideas—good, workable, innovative ideas—will be able to adapt to the new realities we face. Those that can’t, won’t.

The heart of innovation, of course, is people working together eagerly, intelligently, and productively. When this synergy happens, ideas pour forth like water from a newly tapped underground spring—or, as I like to say – fireflies showing up en masse at dusk.

I like to use the firefly metaphor—the image of children working together to catch these glowing creatures—to illustrate how successful teams use their individual talents collectively to focus on critical business challenges. (It fact, it’s the topic of my new book The Firefly Effect.)

So how can you deliberately create a more innovative culture—call it “Operation FireFly”— within your team or company?   Stay tuned – in the coming blogs, I will be sharing 9 targeted tips for lighting your way out of the recession.

Imagine being invited to a friend’s house for dinner. You arrive with an appetite, excited to see what’s on the menu. Your host begins the meal by serving light salad of fresh vegetables, and the two of you chat about the day at work.

Having dispatched of the salad, you look forward to the main course. Five minutes pass, and then ten more. Although you’re enjoying conversation, your host still hasn’t served another dish. As your stomach begins to rumble, you wonder when your friend will realize that he/she has forgotten to bring out the next round of food.

Finally, your host clears away the salad bowls, and you prepare for the arrival of a long-overdue entrée. However, something curious happens. Instead of being served a plate of pasta or chicken, you’re treated to a small cupcake—and that’s it!

An Agenda with Substance

Many meeting-goers can relate to our confused, underfed dinner guest. They show up to a conference room expecting to take part in something substantial, but nothing of consequence is ever discussed. When the meeting adjourns, they feel as if their time has been wasted, and they wonder why they were asked to come in the first place.

The world moves faster than ever, and people’s time is precious. Respect your coworkers and clients by making sure your meetings are meaningful. Before asking for a slot on everyone’s schedule, I would suggest creating a pre-meeting checklist.

• Is it absolutely necessary to meet in person, or could information be passed along in an email?
• Do I have clear objectives to accomplish at the meeting?
• Does the meeting’s objective really require a group decision?

Until you can answer, “yes” to all three questions, don’t schedule the meeting. Otherwise, you’ll frustrate your employees by frittering away their time.

How many species of fireflies would you guess there are in the world? 10? 50? 100?
Would you believe that in the United States alone there are 170 species of fireflies? More than 2,000 species inhabit the globe! Who knew a seemingly simple insect could display so much variety? And yet, how much more complex and unique are each one of us? How much greater is our capacity to shine brilliantly as one-of-a-kind human beings?

I do not imagine biologists could have discovered 2,000 species of fireflies without careful observation and close study of their differences. Likewise, one glance won’t clue you into the unique gifts inside of those around you. It will take time to learn what makes them tick and where they fit best on the team. However, if you’re observant, I guarantee you will be amazed by, and tremendously thankful for, the richness of diversity you’ll find.

Each November, do retailers decorate for Christmas earlier than they did the previous year? I almost feel like the malls and storefronts have forgotten all about Thanksgiving! Sadly, our treatment of the holidays seems to symbolize our approach to life—we rush toward the future without pausing to be grateful for today.

This Thanksgiving, slow down and show appreciation for the diverse talent on your team. Celebrate the unique contribution each person makes to the group. The more you discover, affirm, and combine individual strengths then the stronger your team will grow. After all, can you imagine how hopelessly unproductive your organization would be if every person had identical skill sets?

As you cast shared vision and build a common culture, be careful not to force everyone into the same mold. Your goal is to bring people together, not to make them the same. However, to fully encourage the uniqueness of your teammates, you must be able to see each person’s individual giftedness.