Companies pay for our minds. And we do must of our work sitting on desks. Yet all the inspiration that we’re paid for comes when we go for a break or leave for lunch. For some of us who sleep during work hours, our brilliance comes to live right after that nap.

Our company will pay heavily for a big desk and a washed wall paint, yet little attention is paid for hallway interaction. The old-school water cooler corner that hosts so many conversations with hidden opportunities of intra-departments idea collaboration. It has been assumed it’s a gossip hole and a place where the boss should never see you standing in.

So much lost potential.

The drama intensifies these days with our remote work and online connections. No longer a chance to meet a colleague from another department or notice a client visit on a different floor. Every moment is cemented in useless meetings and we leave nothing to chance. No time to create.

Research in creativity shows the need for us to spend time in a place where no structured agenda is offered yet plenty of props and tools to help play with ideas. A space where we can play, sketch, build, read or write things that don’t seem to go in a single direction at first but eventually builds a concept with the help of other people with unique perspectives. It requires a big faith in our inner, buried, creative process.

Creativity rooms such as this may seem like a luxury in certain organizations but the need for it is ever more present in our high-stress environment. We keep huffing inside the circle like a poorly-fed wheel-running hamster without taking the time to realize that we’re still inside the cage. If only we can see things from a different angle.

Take the time today to create this space. Design a time and place for chance to happen. Create a remote  coffee break room, invite colleagues to an online game before work, have a daily check-in routine with random employees just to say hi. Basic rules of improv applies in any such interaction: No agenda, no job titles involved, have random conversations and listen, and ofcourse, keep practicing the  “yes, and” and other improv rules.

Stay playful,

Randah

 p.s. For those curious about their own thinking preferences and wanting to learn how to facilitate creative online conversations, we are offering a pilot 3-hour Mavericks Masterclass on October 18.

What if the method you document ideas with, is not be the best way for you.

Just because you learned in school and throughout your life how to take good notes does not mean that notetaking is the best option for you.

How do you know if you haven’t tried any other option?

Maybe transcribing our thoughts in “words” limits us rather than helps us explore.

Maybe sketching a concept is a better way of capturing the essence of the idea. We blame not knowing how to sketch but that’s just an excuse we come up with. Sometimes ideas come in the shape of a found object (an anchor), a handmade object (of clay), a unique smell, a colorful diagram, or maybe a metaphor that finds its way in a poem or even a haiku.

Our minds don’t work linear like many of our words do. They are multi-faceted and very sensory driven.

Experiment the many available formats, then find your way of capturing that magic your mind is presenting you every day.

Out of nowhere, we’re hit by the best solution for a problem we’ve been wondering about for so long.

We get super excited and promise ourselves to write it down as soon as we get home,

or as soon as we finish lunch,

or as soon as we wash our faces.

Next thing you know, the idea evaporated.

We cannot recall even the slightest connection to it. There’s nothing left to remember. We just know that it solved our problem and it was perfect.

The timing is never right.

They say ideas come in the 3Bs: Bus, Bed, and Bath.

Those are the places where best ideas hit.

The bus because you’re in a diffused state of mind, the bed because dreams are powerfully wise, and the bath, well, because that’s where singing is interrupted by great ideas.

Keep a pen and pencil near you at all times. Or have your record button ready on the first page of your mobile phone.

Whatever you do, find a way to document those unexpected ideas.

They will not be accessible anytime later.

The muse doesn’t usually come on command.

In my design leadership class few years ago, I handed a bunch of chess and checkers game boards to students and asked them to get into groups and play.

The topic was the difference between leaders and managers. The game boards were used to clarify the concept. Students soon realized that like the manager, the Checkers’ player’s job was to build a winning strategy. Any chip can do the job since they all move in the same direction (forward and diagonal only).

While in Chess, the winning player needed to be familiar with each piece, move it according to its strengths, to achieve the ever-changing strategy thought of at the beginning. In a way, similar to the successful organizational leader who designs the strategy, influences others and helps them use their own skills in reaching a vision, all the while changing course to fit the new circumstances until they arrive to … checkmate! 

What game board inspired you with ideas to conquer?

Which situation do you feel more excited to be in:  

When you generate alternatives, gather ideas, imagine solutions and experiment with concepts? 

Or when you chose from options, structure processes, reflect and make decisions?

Your split second of a preference can tell you a lot about why you prefer certain situations from others.

It’s not about the whole project you’re involved in, it’s about the phases of that project that you excel in. 

Generative way of thinking

Some people find thrill in generating options; off the wall ideas, random suggestions, or connecting unrelated things. They are good at finding varied solutions, researching, gathering intel, asking questions and seeing the big picture. The generative side of them lives on the dopamine level in their brain. They are sometimes oblivious of their distracting effect on others. They don’t see they can get too abstract, too impatient, too overloading with information or even too flexible to stick to one idea. Being called creative with lots of ideas has its disadvantages that go unnoticed sometimes. 

Selective way of thinking

On the other side of the spectrum, there are people who excel at converging ideas. Highly skilled at being selective, they can plan an entire process for the project with all exuberant details before breakfast. In fact, they might be living off their testosterone when picking the solution to their challenge, most likely one that they know too well how to get it done. They don’t need many options to evaluate the solution they are executing knowing that at the end of the day, they deliver.

Often they don’t see how their approach makes no room for imaginative ideas to breathe. They don’t see themselves pushing others to follow their way only, even when an alternative is a promising option. Being picky and highly selective has its disadvantages that go unnoticed sometimes. 

Most of us fall into one of those two. On different days, at different times.

There’s no right or wrong. 

It’s just is.

If you know where you fit, what’s your strong points and where do you show weakness (especially weakness that is not visible to you), you’ll be able to express your super powers joined by others who compliment you perfectly. As long as you listen to them and trust their advice, there’s no stopping you. You’re on your road to greatness.  

Cheers,

Randah

P.S. Did you clear your calendar for our free webinar on facilitating innovation in the workplace? Happening this week.