Allowance beats encouragement and other truths about creativity. This is taken from my presentation:
Throw Away The Box: The TAO of Innovation & Creativity “boxes are NOT for ideas”
Do something! Most people don’t.
That was something my dad used to say. I thought he was sort of being a jerk and a little bit arrogant. He probably was. But then again, he certainly did some things.
We’ll get back to that. First, I have a few questions you need to ask yourself. This is a conceptual exercise… but might tell you a lot.
Warning Lights on Killing Innovation & Creativity
Don’t raise your hand if this is you.. just take a quiet moment and think about it…
If your first response to new ideas in our organization is: What are the potential challenges? What is our liability? Have you done research on this? I need to ask legal. I need to ask accounting.
If the potential for reprimand for mistakes is greater and more clearly defined than the awesome rewards available in your organization.
If your team gets silent or suddenly starts to look abnormally busy when you approach.
If your first response to new ideas in your head is: I’m not an idea person. That probably wouldn’t work. Someone else has probably already done it.
If your first response to a friend with a new idea is: What makes you think you can do it? Do you have a background or education in that?
If you saw yourself or your organization represented in any of the above ideas, your filter is on too tight! You are killing creativity and innovation! STOP IT!
How I was raised
My parents weren’t big encouragers.. they really weren’t. They didn’t spend a lot of time saying, you can do it! Instead, THEY DID IT… whatever it was.. and they told us to DO IT too.
My father really did say, on many occasions, “Do something! Most people don’t!”
He wanted to try skiing, so he went – then bought our family a cabin and we went all the time. He wanted to try hang-gliding, so he bought a hang-glider and started hang-gliding. He played banjo and sang – recorded himself on a little 2 track cassette player. He went into real estate and while his peers sat around the coffee pot in the morning, “planning their day”, he beat the streets meeting people as they left for work and as they came home – becoming the top seller he 2nd month in the office.
I wanted to write so he signed us up for a writing course. Then, over the next several years, he joined Women in Theater, became their secretary and treasurer, wrote 4 plays – murder mysteries – got actors and they were put on at Paramount Movie Ranch.
He would be the first to tell you they weren’t the greatest plays in the world. But everyone else who said they “wanted to write a play” didn’t! He produced!
He was a pilot; founded several RC Glider clubs; made his club a championship club on several occasions, and for a time the largest glider contest was called, Myles Moran’s Masters of Soaring. People would come from all over the world to compete in it.
Allowance is Encouragement
In our family, you were pretty allowed to do anything. Build a fort in the backyard. Throw up a zipline over the pool. Surf in the pool. Jump off the trees into the pool. Dig a tunnel.
Sure. The yard looked problematic in areas at times… but we didn’t watch a lot of TV and we weren’t allowed to say we were bored.
Parents and Business owners… allowance is encouragement. Okay.. sure.. say the clichéd.. “you can do it!” If that feels good to you.. that’s fine.
But more importantly… allow it and then recognize it!
Saying, “Awesome Job. You did it!” is far better than saying, “you can do it!”
We made mistakes in our endeavors. Rarely were we reprimanded for mistakes in efforts. But we were responsible for fixing it too.
True story: I had just got my license. We had an old red Datsun truck. My friend Tim and I took the truck and the dogs into the hills. We ended up getting the truck stuck on a dirt road. We walked home – several miles – and I went to my oldest brother and told him. I asked him NOT to tell dad.
He went right to my dad and they both started laughing. Then, they grabbed some shovels, drove Tim and I back to where the truck was, and dropped us off. My dad said, “See you guys back at the house tonight.”
No reprimand! It was never brought up. I took the truck back in the hills many times – had a great time doing that.. I never got it stuck again.
Applied Allowance
I used to tell my staff, “Short of selling the company while I am gone, you can’t make a big enough mistake to make me upset… except to do nothing!”
Whether personally or organizationally, some things you need to consider:
- Encourage taking action without having to ask permission;
- When ideas are presented, ask them to develop it further and do a quick write up (less than a page) on how it would work;
- Believe in the 80/20 rule. If they get it right 80% of the time, allow for 20% mistakes or areas of improvement.
- When true mistakes are made, ask the team member (or yourself) how you will correct it and then have them (or yourself) correct it.
If you want to foster creativity and innovation, you need to allow it!
