cultureofinnovation Tag

What if it works?

The fear that most employees share is the risk to their pride, status, and what others think of them if they fail at a task.

 
This fear has stopped so many great ideas from being shared. “What if they thought it was a stupid idea?”, “ What if it doesn’t work?”, or “who am I to suggest such thing when experts in here didn’t think of this?”

 
If these thoughts cross your mind, remember that innovation lives at the intersection of fields, where non-experts tend to play the most.

Try asking instead: “What if it works?”,
“So what if others don’t agree?”, “How is that really affecting me?”, “What if I never get this chance again?”
 
Being afraid is not the problem. It’s a protection mechanism and one should pay attention to this sensation. It helps you stay alert.

Being stopped by this fear is the problem. It holds you back and questions your intuition. It will take a lot of courage for you to get out of your comfort zone and test a risky idea.

But it is worth it.

You are worth it.

Share one ridiculous idea in a conversation today. See what happens.  

Courageously yours,

Randah Taher

bringing ideas from multiple sources

How do you bring in ideas?

We are creatures of ideas.
We pride ourselves with knowing how to think differently and how to solve problems in different directions.
By our very nature, we are divergent.
We seek constant stimuli. We get our knowledge from things we see, hear, touch, feel, taste, or experience. We’re constantly bringing in information for our brain neurons to sort out, decide what to keep in our short-term memory and what to archive. For some, this is a thriving environment and a thrilling lifestyle. For others, it becomes overwhelming at best. This is the first part of embracing being “divergent”.

In your world, how many sources bring in the knowledge you seek and the experiences you enjoy every day? What do you pay attention to and what comes brushed under your brain rug?

ibnsinaandsports1

Imagination for Ibn Sina

(image source)

In the Merriam-Webster dictionary, imagination is defined as “the act or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality”.

The etymological origin of the word imagination “is having a picture in the mind’s eye”. Incidentally, unlike the dictionary’s date of reference for the creation of this word (14th century), the ‘mind’s eye’ term and that very definition of imagination was developed in the 10th century by the Persian philosopher Ibn Sina (also known by his Latinized name Avicenna).

As the most famous physician, philosopher, encyclopedist, mathematician and astronomer of his time, he described in his “Book Of Healing” the five mental senses we possess as: common sense, imagination, estimation, representation, and recollection. Explaining how the sense are related, Ibn Sina writes: “for all beauty which is suitable and goodness which one perceives, that one loves and desires, the principle of perceiving them relies on the senses, imagination (khayal), the estimative faculty, conjecture and the intellect”.

Ibn Sina wrote about creativity in general, but focused on the imagination and its affect on

self and other’s behavior. “The imagination of man can act not only on his own body, but even on others and very distant bodies. It can fascinate and modify them; make them ill, or restore them to health”.

Think about it for a few minutes. How’s your imagination affecting people’s health around you?

Creatively yours,

Randah Taher

Searching for problems

Problem finding can be as important as problem solving. This is not a call for the misinformed managers who actively search for problems with employees. Those people need a different type of help.

I’m talking about problem hunting with the intention of understanding situations from different perspectives, and not only the original lens we saw the problem with. Searching for problems can highlight unwritten processes and ways of work as well as illustrate tacit knowledge of how people fix immediate problems. When someone faces a challenge at work, they try to fix it as fast as possible so that work can continue smoothly. This sometimes creates additional issues elsewhere or down the road. Without proper reflection mode, this cycle continues.

If we’re properly hunting for problems in the first place, we’re able to see this a mile ahead and fix it with a big-picture lens, so that people don’t loose time and energy looking for information that are not readily available. E. Paul Torrance called it sensing gaps in information. Others call it problem sensitivity, problem discovery, or problem defining. According to Einstein, “The identification of the problem is more important than the solution, which may merely be a matter of mathematical or experimental skills.”

Happy problem hunting,

Randah Taher

Woman looking through a rolled up piece of paper

Creativity squelchers

Have you noticed the subtle creativity squelchers at work?

Here are some of the symptoms of an unhealthy culture:

  • There is a general attitude of secrecy: Of information, of events, of updates. Someone has the info and their guarding it with their lives.
  • There’s general fear of loosing jobs to new technology or way of work. Normally people resist change because of its discomfort. But here they might resist it because of fear that this technology or tool will make them redundant and they don’t want to find or use any of their other talents.
  • There is a level of unhealthy envy and conflict that focuses on people rather than ideas. People talk about and worry about other people and the focus is on who did what.
  • A strong desire to protect the status quo. Those who have it welcome “change” and “innovation” at the surface level only. Just the naming will do. But they will not allow it to enter their door.
  • There’s an attitude that creative types don’t work in this department or this organization. To them, this is a waste of time and energy and they need to stay productive and efficient. Creativity can go somewhere else.  

There are many others, but for now, look out for those deadly ones.

Happy new year everyone.

Cheers to an amazing start 2022!  

Close up of coloured post-it notes

Cooperation or competition

Would you describe your work environment as a place that focuses on collaboration or competition?

Either of those scenarios on its own can be a barrier to creativeness.

If high cooperation is the case, then a person might have to conform or please others in order to “fit in”. This means they might have to tone down their creative ideas. Ask yourself: are you driving away the talented employees?  

On the other hand, if competitiveness is overemphasized then people might consider “beating somebody else to it” rather than finding good creative solutions. Ask yourself: Does the lone inventor even exist in this universe? Can we ever find unique and un-thought-of idea?  

In the Arabic culture we emphasize the saying: “The best options are on the middle path” (loosely translated ofcourse). And here is no exception. Find your place on the continuum and continue to connect the others to share ideas and compete to benefit the group as a whole.

A sense of movement

The design of the space has much influence on our creativity level and thinking mode. Both exterior and interior design use shape, texture and material to reflect our interpretation of the purpose of the space.

Following last week’s diary post, consider the different activities that occur at work. The design of space can offer a chance for enhanced interactions or create closed areas that boost individuals’ concentration and development of ideas.

And then there’s the sense of movement and progress at work.

An example to share is the The Royal Bath in Alhambra palace.

Completed in 14th century Andalucía, the Hammam with its contrasting forms and horizontal panels inlaid in the lower area of the walls stimulate the relationship between the walls and the user’s physical body through the sense of sight. “The smallest movement, or the slightest lowering and opening of the eyes, activates this dynamic physical-optical relationship between the seer and the seen”.

Alhambra hammam and its moving experience.
Alhambra hammam and its moving experience.

The space, in essence, persuades the body to move on to the next experience, mirroring the activities that would take place inside its walls.

Now look again or feel your immediate surrounding. What can you do to inflict the sense of movement to help you progress throughout the day? Just remember “Our senses do not react when we are comfortable”.

Cheers, Randah

It is physical

We live in the physical world no matter how digital our work is.
They tried so hard but we still have to eat food physically, sit on a physical chair, and scratch our head with our hand when thinking.


Thinking remains physical.
It requires the space that immediately surrounds our head to help us focus, imagine, debate, wonder, and connect the dots.

What if you designed your workspace to help you do just that?

Depending on the type of work you do, amplify your senses in the space. Let the music work for you: slow and classic if u need to focus and draw details, loud and fast if you need to imagine and dream big. Lavender smell to help relax the team, lemon to boost alertness and increase energy.

Document the progress of work physically: with imagines that moves along the process, textures to take you from rough drafts to smooth finals, and prototypes that clarifies the progress you’re making. Let those artefacts create the conversation with others. Let them describe how the idea is developing and progressing, so that when people want to comment and modify, they do so to an object, and not to the owner of the idea.

If your progress is physically aligned with your thought process, this will make it easier to re-visit, schedule, and follow up on concepts and activities instantly. Let the room work for you, and not you for her.

Cheers,
Randah

How are you showing up?

You are the expert on your intentions.

People around you only see your impact.

How can you make sure that what you intended is what is showing up?

This question can be applied to an immediate situation or one that is more long term.

The immediate one is easy. We dress and walk and ask our friends, “Do I look confident to you?”

The long term one is a bit harder. How can you manifest caring during the ups and downs of a project? How can you walk with poise to every meeting you have planned for a this campaign?

Here’s a quick exercise to help you uncover some insights.

Send this request to 5 people who you work with.

Ask them: what are 3 words that you think about when you think about me? 

These are not strength or weaknesses. These are just 3 words to describe you. 

A lot of words will come back.

See if the words coming in are similar to the words you use to describe yourself. See if your brand is out there, and not just in your head. They observe you and your action.

This is your first step bring out more of how you want others to describe you.

Ideas for pranks at work

Who did this?

The office is sometimes a silly place – at least it should be. A group that jokes around occasionally and do unharmful pranks from time to time tends to be one that is positive, results-oriented and successful. You already work 50 to 60 hours a week, mostly in the office or in uncomfortable setting, and sometimes you need a little laughter to break up the day and recharge from all the time spent focusing on the serious stuff. Ideas of placing a mannequin in your seat, wrapping someone’s car with sticky notes, or covering their desk area with real green grass are just a sample of how a few minutes of planning for fun can fill your brain with the happiness hormone.


And if you needed a reason for doing this, consider a 2012 meta-review of studies on humor in the workplace found that it is linked with strong employee performance, effective stress-coping mechanisms and strong group cohesiveness. Those jokes and pranks can serve as signs of a healthy workplace, and provide ways to foster trust and good communication among staff.


Just pay attention that jokes are not signaling someone out or being considered as bullying, under the title “I was joking”. As any comedian will tell you, attempts at humor sometimes can fall flat or even backfire. Get to know your colleagues well before you start joking around, enlist other accomplices, and have fun.