Chapter 8

From Wild to Workable

After setting aside all their work with questions to be revisited later, Kate wrote the question, “How might we build alliances in the marketplace?” on the top of a fresh sheet of flip chart paper stuck to the wall. She then asked Juan to put the completed mind map from his office up on the opposite wall. “So if we need to look at the data again, we have it. Especially important, let's keep in mind data related to products and competitors. Now before we begin, is everyone clear about the question? Maya, do you want to add anything related to context here?”

“I just want to be sure we all understand what I intended by the question. I mean, we kind of discussed it before but it might be worth saying again just to be sure we are all still on the same page.” Her team nodded encouragement to continue.

“What I see is that Consolidated not only produces some great products but also that their products naturally fit with other products out on the market. Some have direct competitors—products that are similar in function—and others are used by their customers in combination. I think we can find ways to generate both cost savings in terms of production and higher profits by looking at how to work with other companies to create more value for the customer.”

“Well said, Maya,” Elaine added. “You have been doing your homework. This makes a lot of sense to me. I think if we can find some real opportunities here, Alicia should be very excited.”

“Let's do this!” Damon said, ideas ready to pop out of his head like popcorn.

“OK, let it out, Damon,” Kate said good-naturedly.

Damon rattled off about five ideas faster than an auctioneer on triple-shot lattes. Kate, writing on the board, could hardly keep up. Juan added one. Then Maya had her turn. After about five minutes, Kate was three ideas behind and her forearm was cramping.

“Hold on, guys, hold on. This process isn't working for me. I can go to the gym if I want a workout.” She paused and then continued, “Instead of me being the group scribe, I know a way that will help us go faster because I won't slow down the flow by writing. Juan, would you mind finding us enough large sticky notes for everyone to have his or her own pad? Everyone needs to find a pen if you don't already have one.”

Juan was back quickly with six pads of sticky notes and some extra pens. Kate began again. “This time, you all are going to do the writing. This way I can just collect the sticky notes and put them up on the flip chart. You can also write the ideas down without having to wait for someone else to be done. You can write them without fear that I might paraphrase on the flip chart to save time. The thing is, when you hand them to me you need to say the idea out loud so everyone can hear it. If you don't say it out loud, I'll remind you. If you have several ideas—Damon—I'd like you to say them out loud and pause in between ideas so everyone can hear them individually.”

“All right, are we ready to go?” Kate read the question one more time and then began gathering ideas. The amount of ideas generated in five minutes easily tripled over the write-on-the-board method. Over half of a full page of flip-chart paper was now covered in yellow sticky notes and all Kate needed to do was collect them.

Damon came out with one—his fifteenth, by Kate's count. “They could buy a share of FedEx to get a break on shipping costs.”

“Oh, come on,” Elaine objected. “There is no way FedEx will agree to that!”

“Yeah, Damon. Come back to earth,” added Juan. “That's ridiculous.”

“Ridiculous? Who are you to say it's ridiculous? You guys wanted some innovation, right?”

“It's not really innovative if you can't use it, right?” Elaine added.

“Hold on, guys,” Kate interrupted. “We can avoid this. Just a second.” She opened her laptop and typed “brainstorming guidelines” into her search engine. Almost immediately there on the screen was the reminder she needed.

“Juan,” she asked, “Would you please write these guidelines on another flip chart sheet?”

Juan found himself happy to help. He was struck that he hadn't felt this way when coming up with ideas in quite some time. Usually he'd become more of an observer when his team was generating ideas but now he felt engaged in the process. He chose a purple marker and began writing as Kate spoke.

“Number one: Defer judgment. This means you need to hold off on your judgment while brainstorming. There will be time for critical thinking later on.

Number two: Get as many ideas as you can. If you have more ideas to choose from you would be more likely to find ones that work.

Number three: Allow for novel thinking. When generating ideas allow for original, even unusual, connections and options. The so-called wild ideas create levity, spark new thinking, and sometimes can be transformed into workable solutions.

Number four: Look for combinations. Try to put ideas together to create something new.”

“You guys just violated the first guideline,” Maya pointed out.

“So there!” Damon added, unsuccessfully attempting to sound like he was joking.

“But that idea was ridiculous!” Elaine couldn't let it go. “I mean, if it's not going to work, and it's obviously not going to work, why put it up there? Seems like a waste of time.”

It was clear they were not going to get back on track right away. Kate made the conscious choice to deal with the discontent now to avoid such trouble later. They would get back on track after they sorted through their current frustrations. So she asked a question designed to get these feelings out in the open. “Damon, how did it feel when your idea got trashed just now?” asked Kate.

Damon thought for second. “It felt like, ‘why bother?’ I mean, I'm not going to stop coming up with ideas, especially ones people don't like right away, because that's just who I am. But I did kind of feel like it wouldn't matter. I mean why keep putting things out there if they are going to just get shot down?”

“Maya. You saw immediately how they did not follow the first guideline. How did that make you feel?” Kate asked.

Maya was somewhat embarrassed at being singled out. But seeing in Kate's eyes that she was not going to move on without an answer, she considered things for almost a full minute. Finally, Maya reached into her pocket and pulled out a crumpled yellow sticky-note. She read aloud.

“‘Consolidated can invest in its own shipping concern to mitigate costs.’ I wasn't going to say anything after the way they reacted to Damon's idea,” she admitted.

“Hey, that's actually a workable idea. They could just own a share in the company that they use for all their shipping and provide them all their business. They might end up making back some of their money by just doing what they were going to do anyway. It's basically the same as Damon's idea, just without naming the shipping company,” Amy reasoned.

“So you see,” Kate said, “one sure way to limit the innovation of a team is to publicly judge each other's ideas.”

“Wow. You really weren't going to share that?” Elaine asked Maya, feeling as if she had squashed a child's dreams. She had no idea that her reactions would limit the team's effectiveness to the point of actually preventing a team member from contributing. “I guess I don't realize how I can come across sometimes. I forget people don't all have skin as thick as I do. I'm sorry.”

“Was that an apology or an insult?” asked Damon. “People should have thick skin like you? What's that supposed to mean?”

The daily sparring between Damon and Elaine, like two tectonic plates clashing underground, was finally coming to a head. Unchecked, a volatile eruption was certain. Although it clearly made others on the team uncomfortable, Kate let it happen, thinking that if there wasn't a release of pressure soon, worse damage might result. Look out, she braced herself, they're gonna blow!

“It was an apology, of course,” Elaine bristled. “I just mean that I sometimes forget that people can be so sensitive.”

“There you go again!” Damon blurted out. Kate secretly wondered what took him so long. She admired his usual tolerance and jovial spirit but Elaine had clearly hit a nerve.

“Look, Elaine, it's not up to people to develop a thicker skin; it's up to you to be more aware of yourself. That's what we have been talking about the last couple of days—about how we need to be aware of how we tend to be. Am I right, guys?”

He waited for the rallying cries of support from the troops. None came. Some inwardly agreed with him but they wanted to avoid the conflict. Instead, as unanimously as if they'd just had a telepathic conference call, all four acted as if the question was rhetorical.

“When we were talking about how we each prefer different parts of the process, that's about who we are, right? I mean, we can't control that. What we can control is how we use those preferences.” Damon began to feel slightly guilty, like he was browbeating Elaine publicly. This was contrary to his nature; he knew his frustrations had gotten the best of him in that moment, but once the steam began to vent, there was no stopping it.

“Remember when we were working on the original report, Elaine? I had brought up the shipping issue then and you not only dismissed it, you slammed it. I felt like ‘what's the point?’ You guys seemed bent on going the same directions we always go. Coming up with something different seemed not just pointless but also just plain unwelcome.”

Elaine's self-defense mechanism kicked into full gear. She felt her shoulders tense and her face get hot. She heard Damon and knew he had a point but feeling attacked at that moment she reacted out of impulse.

“At the time, that didn't seem like what the client was asking for. We had a direction and a due date and I was going to make sure we met it. At that point, by the way, I remember you just seemed to check out of the project altogether.” Elaine stopped herself abruptly. What had started out as her attacking Damon back, trying to blame him for their collective poor results, suddenly took on a different flavor. Given their conversation, she realized that his energy for the project had diminished because he felt as though his contribution was not valued.

“Oh . . . ,” she said haltingly, “I didn't realize that was where you were coming from.” It was a moment she would long remember as the time when she saw clearly how her behavior directly affected others. Elaine was embarrassed but composed herself quickly. It was as if she had tripped, fallen, and risen up again in one fluid motion and was brushing herself off getting ready to continue on her way. “It's OK, Damon. You have a good point and I guess I owe both you and Maya an apology. I could have reacted better. I guess I didn't realize that this was the sort of self-awareness we've been talking about.”

Kate thought Elaine looked humbled but maintained her professional composure well. That was enough apologizing. It was time to help the group move on.

“Let's just try to be more aware of how we are as we go through the process. For now, let's stay with these guidelines and see what kind of ideas come up. I think you all see the power of the first one, deferring judgment. It's key. Remember, we'll be judging these ideas when we start converging. For now, though, in this phase, every idea is welcome. The wackier the better.” She scanned the web page on her laptop detailing the guidelines to brainstorming. “Check out this quote: ‘It's easier to tame a wild idea than invigorate a tame one.’”

“Ah, I can see that,” said Maya without realizing she said it out loud.

“That's from Alex Osborn,” added Kate. “Says here, he's the guy who coined the phrase ‘brainstorming.’”

“It makes sense. I mean, if you don't push the boundaries, how are you going to end up with something new?” said Amy, who was happy the conversation was moving away from the “Days of Elaine and Damon” soap opera. “I guess that's what I did with Damon's idea. I mean, Consolidated isn't going to buy FedEx but they could own a few shares of something like it.”

“That's exactly it, Amy. Well done. Do we need a break or are we ready to keep going?”

As if on cue, the knock on the door decided for them—lunch was being delivered.

“Break!” the team said, with collaborative smiles all around.

“Perfect timing,” agreed Kate. “Let's take ten and come back for some grub.”