Encourage New Ideas

So many new ideas are at first strange and horrible though ultimately valuable that a very heavy responsibility rests upon those who would prevent their dissemination.

J.B.S. Haldane

 

A good friend once shared this news story with me:

“A woman came home to find her husband in the kitchen, shaking frantically with what looked like a wire running from his waist towards the electric kettle.  Intending to jolt him away from the deadly current she whacked him with a handy plank of wood by the back door, breaking his arm in two places.  Until that moment he had been happily listening to his walkman.”

That man’s arm may heal, but despite her good intentions, I doubt that his relationship with his wife will ever be the same again.

Getting “whacked,” literally or figuratively, forever changes the relationship between the whacker and whackee. That man’s arm may heal, but despite her good intentions, I doubt that his relationship with his wife will ever be the same again. Likewise, in meetings of businesses and organizations over the years, I have seen many people get whacked with words instead of a board, but the result is just the same.

The “whack” in those meetings happens when someone offers a creative or innovative idea. To the other people attending the meeting, the idea may seem strange, silly, or ridiculous. Before the person even finishes sharing the thought, many at the meeting have all written the idea off and have begun shaking their heads in disagreement. Then the words that make up the “whack” come hard, fast and often from the leader of the meeting: “We can’t do that!” “That will never work here!” “That’s not what this organization is about!” Sometimes no other words are spoken at all; the group just delivers the “whack” with sheer laughter.

It can take a lot of courage for a person to offer a truly creative and innovative idea, because many of the best business ideas probably sound really, really strange at first. Consider how silly it must have sounded to want to start a book store without books (Amazon.com), or a restaurant without waiters and waitresses (McDonalds).

In order to share truly cutting-edge and trend-setting ideas that will put your business, organization or agency ahead of the competition, your team members must all feel that your environment treasures and respects all ideas no matter how strange they may sound. But, all it takes is watching one good “whack” delivered to a person with a creative idea and suddenly no one in your organization will want to share anything. This lack of open expression can be a real problem for today’s businesses, organizations, and government agencies that gave to be constantly evolving, improving and innovating not only to compete, but just to survive.

When is the last time that you “whacked” an employee, colleague or team member that had a creative idea? Have you ever sat idly by as a leader of a meeting and watched others ‘whack” a team member for sharing an innovative thought?  What could you do differently as a leader and a team member to make sure that the businesses, organizations, and teams that you work with value creative thought and respect all ideas no matter how strange or silly they might seem at first?

This week, work hard to create a feeling on your team or in your organization that all new ideas are encouraged and will be carefully considered no matter how “strange and horrible” they may seem at first. Stop others from “whacking” new ideas before they have a chance to be considered. Your own intervention to prevent the “whack” of a creative person might be the only step that needs to be taken to lead your team to greatness.

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