Innovation, Creativity and People
We like to think of ourselves as rational human beings, making good sense of everything that happens in our environment. The reality is that we are creatures bounded by our imagination and self-deceptions, who put our perceptions into a framework that we understand and believe.
I have written about the excellent book by Daniel Kahneman. In it, he frames up thinking and how we process information based on a great deal of personal research done over 20 years. I can summarize much of his thought in a simple manner with a simple quote:
Our perceptions and experience frame what we allow ourselves to see. And thinking should be a team effort, since we can add other people’s ideas to our notions of reality.
“I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow.”
Woodrow Wilson
Only by challenging assumptions and sharing reality among and between people can we begin to uncover a broader base of new ideas for making improvements. All of us know more than any of us and sharing ideas generates better ownership involvement. I will simply frame this up in a manner similar to the above with this Square Wheels LEGO Poster:
We can generate ideas for improvement by stopping our push forward, stepping back from the wagon, discussing issues and possibilities as a group and sharing our different perceptions, and then looking for ways to implement or install those changes in how we view the world. Our vision and our hearing only determine the input into that mass of tissue that we call a brain.
And it is that tissue that filters the input, stores those perceptions into categories, and structures how the information is processed and handled. Our sense of reality is far different than the world around us. We can perceive only what we can input and process and our believe will tell us things like the earth is flat, that the earth is the center of the universe, that stars are close to us and that the moon is made of cheese. Only when we allow ourselves to accept new information and new inputs, will those beliefs come under the pressure of change.
Managers (aka Wagon Pullers) have a strong sense of the journey forward. How they can position themselves to accept new information is a continuous challenge and opportunity. Consider a purchase of our Square Wheels Icebreaker toolkit to help your people change their perceptions, to impact engagement and innovation as well as build teamwork.
Hope you like this,
For the FUN of It!
Dr. Scott Simmerman is a designer of team building games and organization improvement tools. Managing Partner of Performance Management Company since 1984, he is an experienced presenter and consultant.
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Scott’s blog on People and Performance is here.
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