Unless you are able to channel Steve Jobs, creativity and innovation occur with collaboration. Collaboration relies on leadership behaviors of facilitating, driving out fear, encouraging new ideas, and delegating.
When should you collaborate with your staff? You should collaborate when improving existing work processes and products, when initiating development of new products or services and when decisions you are making impact the group. If you are considering new technology and they must use it, they should be part of the discussion and decision. If you are considering standard dress codes or hiring an additional staff member your staff will be affected and you will need their support. Be certain to include them in your considerations before acting on your decision.
When developing a new automobile engine, Ford empowered engineers and crew members to create a new engine and drive train. The design group included production members in order to ensure the engine could be produced using a new manufacturing process. The engine was developed in record time and went into production without the normal start up production problems. In order for associates to create and innovate, several behaviors are required of their leaders. Those behaviors include driving out fear, encouraging new ideas, facilitating groups, and delegating responsibilities.
Ferret Out Fear
When working for a software company as Director of Human Resources, managers would come to the office to talk. A clear description of our work environment was found in the parting salutation, “Keep your head down.” These managers felt it only a matter of time before they would be blamed and terminated for a problem they had no control over.
The personnel in this software company were managed through intimidation. The president hired retired military Colonels and higher rank to run key developmental and support operations. The president’s leadership team developed confidential policies to terminate anyone whose spouse worked for another software development company. A project manager was terminated when she told the truth about development progress. Our department was directed to not hire gay or lesbian personnel, and each month the president reviewed health claims of the five persons having the highest insurance claims. The corporate lawyer yelled at people if he did not get his way. The result was high turnover, low productivity, incomplete projects, or projects having errors that could have been avoided. Fear was driven out of this organization by replacing the CEO with a leader from IBM. Then, the new leader visited departments to learn needs and invited programmers rather than senior management to review project progress with clients. He initiated an employee satisfaction survey and within a year several vice president and director level managers left the company. The culture began to change and software projects were completed and released on time.
In addition to using a culture assessment and implementing needed changes, there are other techniques used to break the tension and anxiety within an organization. An IT manager wanted to create a new environment in his department. In one of his weekly staff meetings, he put a blank piece of legal paper at each person’s place. When they were seated he asked them to write down everything they thought wrong in the department, offer ideas for improvement, and put their notes under the door of his office. He then left the meeting. The next week this manager presented his staff’s comments on a flip chart. Their ideas were organized into three categories: “Things I Control,” “Things Our VP Controls,” and “Things Neither I nor our VP Control.” Together they created a plan of action for resolving the issues under their control. Anxiety and conflicts were resolved.
I was asked to help eliminate fear and anxiety in a mental health program. There were several psychologists and a number of MSW professionals creating conflicts and high anxiety within the program. My task was to provide an intervention to assist the group begin working together. I chose a process using posted notes. Posted notes are usually quite useful when dealing with tension in a group because everyone can answer honestly without divulging their identity. Many times just having staff write down the issues reduces group tension. Using a problem-solving model for the exercise, everyone was asked to list key issues in the program on post-it notes and hand them to me. The notes were placed randomly on the flip chart so no one would be identified with their notes.
After the group organized the notes into problem categories, they were asked to discuss the meaning of the messages on the board. Everyone began to relax.
The group was asked to list solutions on post-it notes for each category of issues and to place their notes under the appropriate problem category. When asked, they easily discussed their solutions and began developing an action plan for implementing those solutions. The leader chose to participate as a member of the group and acknowledged his role in creating the fear and anxiety by refusing to address issues. He committed to his group the changes he would make and promised their action plan would be reviewed in upcoming staff meetings until all solutions were implemented. This leader took a big step toward leading a more creative and supportive workplace. He showed his humanness and gained the trust of his staff in the process.
One of the greatest causes of fear in the workplace is blame. Looking for someone to blame for something gone wrong or your making a mistake. Blaming is the result of anger and provides the release of pressure inside you. Something happens such as running out of supplies. We look for the first person we can blame for the problem knowing we should have followed up ourselves. Someone is singled out for blame. Afterward no one feels better and the problem continues to exist. Our blaming others has not helped! We have discouraged any initiative that existed among those with whom we work.
An airline I served had one of the best safety records in the industry. I believe the reason for their success was attributable to their emphasis on eliminating fear within their workforce. If their mechanics were afraid to alert others of an error or potential error lives could be in danger. As a result, supervisors and foremen were thoughtful in their responses to feedback and congratulated any mechanic who identified missing paperwork, missing information on paperwork or other errors. There was no blame in this workplace.
You may have heard the story of an IBM executive who met with his superior to submit his resignation. When asked for a reason, he explained he had just calculated the results of the project he had been assigned and the numbers indicated a $2 million loss. His boss replied, “Now why would I want you to leave after having just invested $2 million in you?” This leader emphasized learning rather than blaming. He realized he could either create an atmosphere of avoidance for new project assignments or create a culture in which engineers welcome the challenge to create and innovate.
There are several solutions to help any manager drive out fear.
1. First, take responsibility for mistakes in your workplace.
Coaches praise their teams when they win and take responsibility when they lose. How many times have you heard the term “my bad” when someone is taking responsibility for their actions or point to themselves when throwing a ball out of bounds? A manager once told me that when she began taking responsibility for things going wrong in her workplace, loyalty among staff increased and performance improved because associates were no longer afraid to risk offering ideas and making decisions.
2. Approach problems as an opportunity to be creative.
By taking responsibility for our actions and the actions of our work group we are able to apply the second solution. It allows us to approach problems as opportunities. For example, if your department has run out of medical supplies, the alternative to finding someone to blame is to take responsibility and problem solve. First conduct a cause analysis by asking “why” five times (The Five Why’s). Then ask for solutions to resolve the key causes. Problem solving drives out fear and builds commitment. You will receive honest feedback and communication that leads to collaboration with staff.
3. Give yourself permission to be human.
I have often assured managers, especially new ones, that it is permissible to be human and make mistakes. No one expects managers to be perfect, only to continue learning from their experiences. Even managers make mistakes. Admitting to an error of judgment, a bad decision or forgetfulness earns respect and builds working relationships. When I realized this truth, life as a manager and husband became easier and relationships with staff and family strengthened. The same can be true for you!
From Dictator to Facilitator
A climate of creativity is established when leaders refrain from being dictators and become facilitators to begin leading their associates to generate new ideas. Corporate executives visited a plant I had served for several months. They met with various departments and afterward commented on how professional the management team provided agendas for meetings and used flip charts to facilitate comments and encourage free flowing exchange of ideas and information.
A supervisor for an airline met with his maintenance crew. Using a flip chart, he asked the union brothers to determine a better process for performing critical aircraft preventative maintenance checks. He led them in brainstorming new ideas, offering none of his own. The result was a new maintenance procedure that reduced the inspection and correction process from over 135 days to 75 days or less and performed with higher quality! That is innovation at its best.
I have listened to leaders moan and groan that their people do not work together and do not take initiative on projects. It is not employees who need to learn new behaviors, instead, it is their leaders who need to learn how to facilitate and delegate in a multigenerational and multi-cultural workplace.
Facilitation requires utilization of the listening skills described earlier, only now in a group setting. Those skills include open questions to gather information, expressing empathy to provide encouragement, rephrasing ideas and agreements to ensure understanding and using silence to encourage further participation. There are three ways to facilitate group brainstorming and each requires the leader to refrain from engaging in the discussion.
To become a facilitator, the leader focuses on generating ideas from the group rather than offering ideas and helping the group make decisions rather than making decisions for them. If the leader believes she is not able to be impartial and objective, she can ask another member of the team to act as facilitator. I once worked with an organization whose managers had all been quite controlling. They met with staff to inform them of upcoming events and pass along information. Rarely did an employee speak during the meetings. One week I witnessed a major culture change. One of the more controlling managers was sitting with her associates. An hourly employee was standing at the flip chart taking notes and serving as the facilitator for the session. They were brainstorming ideas to improve the way work was performed in their department. Major changes were implemented within the same month.
In order to optimize group discussion, persons should be sitting around a table rather than sitting classroom style in order for members to effectively communicate with other participants. Additionally, everyone should be able to see their comments recorded on the board. This verifies they have been heard and stimulates additional ideas and creativity.
The leader asks the group for ideas and using a flip chart or smart board records the ideas without comment other than to repeat for understanding and to ask “What else” in order to stimulate additional ideas.
1. Free Wheeling
The purpose of Free Wheeling is to stimulate a burst of energy and ideas.
Free Wheeling is what it sounds like. The group is asked for ideas by the facilitator who then becomes silent. Persons randomly offer ideas and those ideas are recorded using the same words offered by the participants. Either the person facilitating the meeting or a record keeper can record ideas. When ideas cease, the facilitator asks the question differently. For example, first question might be, “How can we expand the use of our gizmo to other markets?” The follow-up question might be, “What would our largest 4 clients suggest for expanded application of this gizmo?” By asking the group to move away from their ideas and to look through the lens of others, new ideas emerge.
2. Round Robin
The purpose of Round Robin is to ensure everyone has an opportunity to speak. The leader asks an open question and begins calling on people starting on either side. As an introduction, the facilitator should let the group know that everyone will be asked for ideas and can either pass or share ideas. As a facilitator, I have found that using Free Wheeling first, then shifting to Round Robin is a good way to generate creative ideas and insure everyone is provided the opportunity to speak. Often the quiet person who shares nothing in Free Wheeling provides the jewel of an idea when asked in Round Robin. This method is also good to use with groups who are more deliberative and like having time to organize their thoughts. (Engineers come to mind!) By calling on each person around the table the other group members have the advantage of hearing ideas and planning their idea before being called upon.
3. Slip
The purpose of the Slip Method is for silent brainstorming. It is good for generating ideas when fear or anxiety exists within the group.
Group collaborative software can be useful for silent work; however, group members will be reluctant to participate if there is even a hint the ideas will be tracked back to them. For that reason, the use of post-it notes for Slip Method with flip charts achieves a certain level of trust. A pack of post-it notes is given to each participant with sharpie pens. Each person writes as many ideas as possible, each idea on a separate note. After their data dump, they take their notes to the flip chart and post them. After everyone has posted their notes, the facilitator reviews each one asking for clarification when needed.
Brainstorming Guidelines
Unless the group has much experience, guidelines should be reviewed before beginning a brainstorming session.
1. All ideas are good ideas.
The group will need encouragement to risk not being judged for their comments.
2. No criticizing ideas.
Criticizing ideas discourages participation not only of the person feeling criticized but other group members as well.
3. No discussing ideas while listing them.
If the group asks questions for clarification of an idea or begins talking about how it would work the brainstorming ends and the group gets bogged down. Be sure to keep the group on track listing as many ideas as possible to keep focused and avoid veering off task.
4. Go for quantity.
Quality ideas are generated using brainstorming and the more ideas the more quality ideas. Just continue encouraging group members to share ideas.
5. Build on other ideas.
One of the reasons for recording ideas on a flip chart is to confirm what the person is saying. The other reason is to stimulate greater creativity. As group members see their ideas, more ideas come to mind. That creates excitement and leads to creativity and innovation.
6. Clarify understanding of items on flip chart after brainstorming.
The time for discussing ideas occurs after the group has run out of ideas. At that point, the facilitator asks the group for questions and comments regarding anything on the flip chart. Only after there are no more comments does the facilitator begin sorting out the key ideas.
7. Use the 80/20 rule for sorting ideas.
The idea that a group must work on everything on the list is part of every group’s assumptions. However, that becomes a total waste of time because selecting key ideas will cover many if not all the ideas needing to be addressed. The concept is that choosing 20 percent of the items will take care of 80 percent of the issues. Ask yourself how many people occupy most of your time? Answer is usually around 20 percent. How many customers take 80 percent or more of your time? After your count you may find that approximately 20 percent of your customer base is taking 80 percent or more of your time. So when brainstorming, select 20 percent of the items that will have the most impact on the issue being addressed.
8. Avoid comments such as “That won’t work here” or “We tried that before and it didn’t work.”
Every organization has people who have been discouraged when showing initiative in the past. They will need encouragement and assurance when participating in the group.
“We tried that before and it didn’t work.” How many times have you heard that or “That is not the way we do it here.” However, frequently, when the same idea is offered by a superior it will be taken seriously. Why not reverse the process so associates are listened to and encouraged to offer ideas. Of course they must be listened to and their ideas used or trust will evaporate. Why use their ideas? Establishing a culture of collaboration and creativity requires your staff feeling comfortable when sharing ideas based on their work experiences. Additionally, while research indicates a variety of generational differences, a common characteristic of every generation is the need to be heard and to have ideas used when developing solutions. Typically, those solutions are of much higher value.
The key to encouraging and supporting innovation within an organization involves the nature of a leader’s ego. When encouraging new ideas, the good leader provides encouragement and recognition. Reassuring comments such as, “all ideas are good ideas,” encourage new ideas and signal a welcoming sign that suggestions are welcome. The leader shines the spotlight on subordinates and recognizes extra effort. Doing so stimulates increased individual initiative and enhances leadership effectiveness. Encouraging new ideas also entails discouraging staff members from ridiculing or bullying colleagues who offer ideas. As a model, the leader refrains from ridicule and sarcasm.
When your group develops improvements that require participation by staff members in another department, your role as leader is to encourage your staff to communicate directly with staff of that department. Removing barriers by soliciting support from the department manager is important as well.
The general manager of an airline was walking through his operation one day and realized the storage of scrap metal was missing. When he asked the area supervisor he was told the mechanics knew of a vendor in another state who could use the scrap and suggested he be contacted. When they contacted him, the vendor agreed and paid $50,000 for the scrap. The general manager congratulated the supervisor for supporting new ideas and then congratulated the mechanics for taking initiative.
This same manager had plans to build a new test lab. He developed a plan for layout of the lab. However, upon reflection, he asked the lab technicians to design their own work space. Smiling, he observed later they had generated ideas he had not considered and the laboratory offices were much better organized. He celebrated their success by having a celebration in which all station personnel were invited to attend a new lab opening with a ribbon cutting.
The CEO of a leading software and IT networking company encourages new ideas by taking weekly walks through his operation with a food cart. As he passes through each department he asks associates to share ideas for improvement. When an associate offers an idea, he gives them something from the cart along with the authority to implement their idea. His executives have been constantly recruited by other companies but choose to remain because of their leader’s willingness to listen to them and use their ideas. His company continues to innovate and remain competitive in its’ market.
Reaching Consensus
A friend of mine discussed his frustration with his engineering group. They would discuss ideas for a project but it always seemed the person with the loudest voice and/or spoke with authority carried the decisions. Many of the engineers on his team were becoming frustrated and final designs were not working as desired. Their leader was not a facilitator he explained. Consensus occurs when all participants have been heard and everyone can “fully support” or at least “live with” the final plan. When all hands go up in agreement with and in support of the solution or plan you have consensus.
Creating the Environment
There is a difference between consensus and compromise yet the two are seen as the same in many organizations. Consensus means that every person involved in the decision supports the decision. Everyone wins. Compromise, on the other hand, creates winners and losers since majority vote carries the decision. In order to create an environment of consensus decisions, two factors must be considered.
A. It is important that everyone has an opportunity to speak and have confidence they can speak openly and truthfully without being criticized or punished.
Group Think is involved when there seems to be agreement among several members of the group so the other members go along in order to avoid conflict. The group loses out on ideas that could further enhance the conversation and decision and is cheated by those who fail to speak up. Utilizing the guidelines for brainstorming discussed earlier is a means for letting all group members know they will not be punished for speaking up and are encouraged to express their differing views on issues.
B. Everyone Owns the Decision when they leave the room. Consensus does not mean that everyone fully supports the final decision. It means that all ideas have been heard and people have been treated respectfully. It means that before the final vote everyone has agreed that they can fully support the solution or can live with it. If this cannot be accomplished a majority vote is the alternative.
A manager used to tell us he was fully engaged in building consensus. He would present a problem to his staff, give them his solution for solving the problem, and would then ask his staff to raise their hands in agreement! He would have truly been engaging his staff had he presented the problem, let them share ideas to solve it, facilitated them in selecting the best solution and checking to be certain everyone is in agreement. The steps for building consensus are listed below:
Steps for Reaching Consensus
1. Establish criteria for the solution.
What are budgetary limits, does the group have the authority to implement their ideas, are there limited resources for the project and time constraints are examples of criteria to consider.
2. Clean up the list of solutions.
There will be ideas that are very similar to others and can be combined. The facilitator should ask the group, “are these the same or are they different” when discussing eliminating duplicate ideas or combining similar ideas. If there is disagreement on whether two ideas are the same it is best to leave each separate and move on. This is also a good time for the facilitator to insure the group members have discussed and understand each of the ideas or solutions on the board.
3. Make a new list.
This is helpful if the list has become confusing as a result of the cleanup. If the list is understandable use the existing list. IF not make a new list for ease when voting.
4. Vote on best solutions.
Use the 80/20 rule for selecting best solutions. For example, if you have 30 solutions to consider, each group member would be allowed six selections (20 percent) on the list. The six solutions receiving the most tally marks, check marks or dots would be considered for the final decision.
5. Discuss pros and cons of each solution.
The facilitator’s role is to review each of the six solutions asking the group members to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each. This is also a good time to check out how each solution addresses the criteria established earlier.
6. Discuss feelings about the solutions.
Ask the group how they feel about the solutions they have selected. A reality test is to ask the group to raise their hands if they believe the solutions will solve the problem or address a market need. If everyone agrees you are working toward consensus. If a group member does not agree ask them why. Then ask the group how this person’s concern can be included in the set of solutions being considered. This continues to build consensus and leads to better solutions.
7. Final agreement on solutions.
After discussing all alternatives for workable solutions the facilitator asks, “How many of you fully support or can live with this solution?” If all members raise their hands in agreement consensus has been reached. If not, consider further discussion of the solutions or using a majority vote instead.
8. Action plan for implementing solutions.
The solutions will be implemented to the extent the group takes action to do so. An action plan describing WHAT is to be done (solutions), WHO will implement each solution and WHEN each solution will be implemented increases the likelihood the solutions will be successfully implemented.