Idea Celebration Is Better Than Squashing
Idea celebration is one way to elevate the good stuff to the priority list. What are you or your team doing with new ideas?
At the start of the brainstorming meeting, someone suggests that no idea is a bad idea. When the chips are down and the next path is hard to locate, you search. If the competition rises up and puts a stake in some new ground you wonder why you didn’t think of it first.
What happens in your team with new ideas?
Idea Celebration
It seems like finding the reasons why it won’t work is the mission objective for some. Every idea is quickly met with the discussion of catastrophes from the past and a clever pitch about the connections to this new suggestion.
Problems are often managed in a similar fashion. For some, it feels more exciting to drown over the impacts of failure rather than spend energy on the possibility of a viable solution.
Solutions are not always perfect. New ideas are not without risk.
What if at the start of the brainstorming meeting there is a focus on celebrating every new idea?
The idea doesn’t always be put to the test at the first whimper of its mention. Perhaps let it simmer for a while, allow it to occupy some space, and consider why it will work instead of why it won’t.
New ideas often gain traction, or they don’t, based on belief.
The group dynamics of belief are powerful. They often grow over time. Some will grow in the spirit of support. Some will grow in the spirit of being against.
Fence-sitters often wait to jump in. They often weigh the risk as being greater for likability than the merit of the idea itself.
Maybe it is time to stop looking for why not and start supporting something different.
It may be an idea worth celebrating.
-DEG
Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and corporate trainer. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.
