Great companies stay creatively alive!

Posted: November 18, 2021 | Categories: Leadership, Management, Team Building

I’ll start with two words:  Apple and Disney. These names don’t just stand for some products or services. When we hear these names it can trigger the “kid” in us.  For decades these companies have never seemed to lose their enthusiasm and continuous profitability. Instead of becoming too set in their ways, they believe in the old maxim, “Yesterday’s methods produce yesterday’s results”. Apple and Disney are driven by innovation and constant reinvention. What does it take to have these qualities?  Perhaps we need to go back to our childhood to find out.

Many years ago, NASA did a study of 1600 individuals from infancy to adulthood. The goal was to measure the percentage of creativity in all the actions they observed:

Ages 1-5:          98%

Ages 6-10:        35%

Ages 11-15:       12%

Ages 16-20         5%

We know these observations are true. Just watch an infant during their waking hours. A couple of weeks ago I was babysitting for my 8-month old grandson. He was in the playpen and for all his time he was playing with toys, practicing his crawling, or keenly noticing his surroundings. Before we know it, he will be attending school, and will begin the process of learning the rules of life. He will also begin to sacrifice some of his creativity for compliance.

What can we do as teachers, coaches, bosses, and parents to make sure we tap into the creativity of our team member? First, we need to build a working environment that encourages idea fluency. To do this, we start with brainstorming. This step focuses on the quantity of ideas – not the quality. We get all our thoughts on the table. To successfully perform this step, we need to outlaw any “judgment” or “red-light” language. Here are some examples:

• “We tried that once”
• “We’re different”
• You can’t…”
• “It won’t…”
• “We have never…”
• “We don’t do things that way”
• “It’s not practical”
• “It’s against tradition”
• “That is not our responsibility”
• “It’s too…”
• “We don’t have time”
• “We’re not ready for that”
• “Let’s give it more thought”
• “They would never go for it”
• “Not THAT again!”
• “Where did you dig that one up?”
• “We’re doing alright”
• “That’s not us”

These “red-light” phrases should be avoided when you are in the brainstorming stage to get all the ideas written down. No judgment is allowed!  (That comes in a later step when we are working towards solutions) Remember to activate creativity by starting with all the ideas…without judgment. It is fun, and you’ll feel like a kid again.