Give Me Your Worst Ideas
Cultivating a Culture of Creativity
Fostering a culture of creativity in both life and the workplace has been a constant balancing act for both myself and the teams that I’ve managed. The pressure to stay productive while pushing creative boundaries can often lead to burnout and frustration. So, finding unique ways to approach potentially difficult creative blocks within a team setting has become essential.
One tactic that I continually use is to never ask for “good ideas”. When I sit with my team for a brain storming session, after presenting the issue up for discussion, I often ask, “Okay, who has the worst idea? I don’t want to hear any good ones yet.”
This simple, reframing of the problem solving process has had amazing results. The most immediate effect is that it takes the pressure off of the participants from having to justify -even in their own minds- weather or not a particular idea is good or not and can encourage someone who might not normally speak up to chime in.
When a team is looking for “good ideas” and one gets presented, there can be a tendency to close down around it and stop looking outward for other possibilities. But, when we are throwing around “bad ideas” we don’t get locked down too quickly. Often a great idea will be presented and there is always the desire to hone it down, sharpen it into the answer that was initially being sought. It’s risky, but I try to keep the bad idea creation going a bit longer. If a good idea is presented in the bad idea phase of our meetings I’ve often said, “That’s too good. Save that for later.”
Once the bad ideas have been exhausted, we sort through them and identify which of them was actually a good idea in disguise. Invariably, there are a handful. Often, by combining two or three poor concepts an incredibly great solve for the problem will spring forth and let itself be known.
Ultimately, cultivating a culture of creativity isn't just about immediately generating perfect, flashy solutions: it's about creating an environment where concepts -both good and bad- can live next to each other and be heard in unison. It’s about creating a space where team members feel valued, empowered, and inspired to make mistakes.
I would never say that there are “no bad ideas” because there are, oh man -let me tell you- there ARE. Nor would I say, “embrace the bad ideas” because that is not the point of the exercise. The goal is always to find the best creative solution.
But, once bad ideas are looked at as sign posts for the good ones and not literal and metaphorical dead ends, a liberating perception shift takes place.
