Thomas Edison 

Did you know that one of the reasons the population of fireflies appears to be diminishing is because of ambient light or “light pollution”? There are too many distractions.  All these other bright lights keep fireflies from performing at their best. How similar and true for the people on our own teams, if we don’t have a common vision of success to focus our time, attention, and resources.

Scarcity of resources—both human and financial—demands that we focus our efforts.  If you’re scheduling an annual planning meeting in the coming weeks, you’re probably aware that the value of strategic planning is not only deciding what you will do, but also deciding what you will not do.  When done well, strategic focusing can be one of the most exciting and effective team development tools available to a leader. 

There is a well-known saying: “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.”  I have found that the most effective teams are exceptionally clear on two things—where they are going and how they must work together to get there.  In taking hundreds of teams through the strategic focusing process, I have found this metaphor to resonate with people:

The road we are on is our mission.  If this organization ceased to exist, what would the world lose?   

• The mountain in the distance is our vision for success.  Three years into the future, how will we know if we have been successful in living up to our mission?

Mile markers are the key milestones.  How will we measure our progress against the vision and course-correct if needed?

• The guard rails are our guiding principles.  How will we commit to work with each other to reach that mountain?

Next post…the top 5 ways my approach to strategic planning has changed over the last 10 years.

Myth #3:  The Lone Creative Genius. 

For example let’s take this fellow here – all alone it would appear in his lab.  Want want to take a guess as to who this inventor is?  (If you give up, look at the big lightbulb over his head for inspiration!)

 That’s right…Thomas Edison!

Many people think of him as a lone creative genius, but even he said “Genius is 1 % inspiration and 99%….(you fill in the blank)….perspiration.” 

Let’s just stop and think about that a moment.  Although in cartoons we might see something like a light bulb showing up over someone’s head or a bolt of lightning out of the blue – and boom a brilliant idea is born.  But that’s not how it works in real life.  You have to nurture a brand new idea.

He also said another great quote – that I absolutely love and think can be instructive for all of us… “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.”

You might have thought that Edison worked alone —- developing all those patents, but that’s not the case. 

In fact he worked with a broad creative team.   Here they are in 1876 on the site of their industrial research laboratory in Menlo Park, Pennsylvania.   He called it “the invention factory” – because they were always working on several different inventions at any one time.  Together they were more creative than Edison could have possibly been on his own. Together they found success – and over 400 patents.

Just like on your team – each one of you have a critical role to play to bring out the best in your team. 

Because all of us are smarter than any of us.

Myth #2:   We think of creativity in absolutes – you either have it or you don’t – versus a continuum.

While it’s true you might not be able to compose like Mozart or paint like Monet, don’t you think you have a little bit of creativity within you?

What about that time you moved into a new role and had to develop a process to address a particular business challenge?  And what if you customize a process you created at another company – but apply it differently at your new company? Doesn’t that fit our more expansive definition of creativity?

When I work with teams to discover their untapped creative potential, I often ask them to remember back to a time in their youth.  For me, I showed early signs of my love of facilitation when I was 8.  I loved directing plays in our garage with all the neighborhood kids (at least those that were younger and shorter than I was).  It was fun bringing together a diverse group of kids, convincing then to play together nicely, and having a successful outcome (a play that we could perform for our parents).   I didn’t need to be the star of the play – it was more fun for me to be behind the scenes, making things happen.

And so now I will ask you…when you were younger, what came easily to you?  Maybe you even got a nickname for it.  What is your own unique brand of creativity?  How could you apply that natural talent to some personal or professional challenge facing you today?

 Why is that?  I think there are 3 myths that many of us hold about creativity that keep us from tapping into the true creative potential inside us.  Here we go…

Myth #1:  Our definition of creativity

We have a tendency to think that the word “creativity” only applies to artists and musicians.  While it’s true they may be artistic, they don’t corner the market on creativity.

When I was writing my book, The Firefly Effect, I told my husband that I thought everyone had creativity within them.  Well, he’s a pretty analytical guy – so he just looked at me and said  “Do you have any data to back that up?”

I didn’t – so off to the library I went to find some.  After a very frustrating day spent reviewing very arcane research from psychology and science journals, I was worn out and not sure if I would find the evidence I was looking for.  I wasn’t even sure what creativity was any more.

That afternoon, I’m driving my teenage daughter – Maddi -  to tennis practice.  I turned to her and asked:  “Maddi, how would you define creativity?” Being a typical teenager her first response was, of course,  “That’s random!”

I said – “No, really – how would you define creativity?”

This time her response took my breath away…. “To be original.  To do something no one else would think of.”   Wow!

Thus, by our very DNA and unique life experiences, we are creative.

That makes sense, doesn’t it?  No one else is exactly like you – with your life experiences, your perspectives and your ideas.  So, don’t hold back – claim your creativity.  You deserve it!

Next post…Myth #2

Tim Brown is an industrial designer by training, and has won numerous design awards.  His team even appeared on a news show, demonstrating how to create a new and improved shopping cart in just 4 days.  His passion is finding ways design can be used to promote the well being of people living in emerging economies. [In fact, many innovative ideas are being created by focusing on these emerging economies].

 He says one of the keys to great ideation is great preparation.  And great preparation begins with a design brief.  Here he captures the power in his own words:

“The difference between a design brief with just the right level of constraint and one that is overly vague or overly restrictive can be the difference between a team on fire with breakthrough ideas and one that delivers a tired reworking of existing ones.”

And I have found this to be true in my work facilitating innovation sessions, though it may seem counter-intuitive.  Often, the clients I work with say they want the brainstorming session to be very broad because they want to “empower” the participants.  In fact the opposite tends to happen.   When the “creativity canvas” is too wide, it actually either leads to too many ideas that are off the mark and not actionable or too many ideas that do not address the most critical challenges. 

As Brown says above, with just the right ending to the sentence – “How might we…” – you too can catch your team on fire with creativty aimed in the right direction!