Making Workplaces Idea Friendly

Imagine this. You're at a meeting and your supervisor, who is chairing the meeting, announces a "great idea." No matter how poor the idea, few if any will say anything against it. Why?

Workplaces are political arenas. A handful of people are 'in power' and the other are not. Those in power will do anything to stay there. Those seeking power will "play the game" and won't "rock the boat." This includes agreeing with the boss.

From the perspective of interpersonal communication, solutions and visions of the future coming out of the bosses mouth, no matter how seemingly stupid, are taken to have more value than those coming from those on the ground level. Thus, workplaces can be toxic to new ideas, especially those coming from subordinates. Somehow this communication block must be surmounted so that ideas from all sources are given a fair hearing. One way to do this is to use easy to learn, practical tools and techniques.

People tend to immediately love, or hate, new ideas. For example, most people would outright reject the idea of working for no salary one month a year. On the other hand, the suggestion that employees be offered grants and interest free loans to purchase personal home computers would get a positive reaction. Without a good reason, we just don't put much thought into new ideas. We love 'em or hate 'em. And there is another danger. Even ideas that seem good at the time often turn out to be poor ideas in the future. We need a way to respond to ideas so we will not just react to them.

On way to increase the consideration of ideas, both "good" and "bad" is to introduce an elegant and powerful thinking tool contributed by Edward de Bono (1992) called the PMI (Plus, Minus, Interesting). Once learned, it becomes a simple a matter of instituting the practice of "doing a PMI" whenever anyone comes up with an idea.

Here is how it works. On a sheet of paper (during a meeting a white board or a flip chart would be used) the idea under consideration is written on the top. Underneath the idea a line is drawn. Immediately under the line a large P is written on the left side, a large M in the middle and a large I is entered on the left side. Vertical lines are drawn from the top horizontal line to the bottom of the page.

Someone, ideally a rotating "designated idea facilitator," ask the question: "What plus or positive about this idea?" A minimum of three items are generated and written under the P. Next, the facilitator asks: "What is minus or negative about this idea?" A matching number, in this case three, of responses are solicited and recorded. Finally, the question "What's interesting about this idea?" is asked. Three responses are sought.

The last question is always the most difficult. The facilitator can ask one or more of the following questions to stimulate and response to the "I" question:

• What might happen if this idea was put into place?
• How might other people respond to this idea if implemented?
• What kinds of opportunities open up with this idea?
• What new thought, mental images, feelings pop up in your mind as you imagine this idea?

The purpose of doing a PMI is to give all ideas a "decent hearing", and to deepen the thought process enough so that many aspect of the idea are publicly disclosed. Deeper thinking will help prevent the regretful refrain of "why didn't we think about that" when a good idea goes bad.

While initially awkward, instituting the PMI as a required procedure in meetings will become a welcome habit, one that will help make your workplace idea friendly.

Closing Thoughts

Ideas are fragile entities. Like a random seeds seeking a place to germinate and grow, many ideas die along the way.. They enter our minds as mild sensations. If recognized and supported by an idea friendly environment, they evolve from whispers, notions, and concepts, to prototypes, products, services and new visions.

One of the most insightful phrases I've ever heard was "always give ideas a decent burial." Ideas are the highest achievement of human thought. Emergent ideas are forever growing in billions of human minds. Ideas are our future. Treat them, and the people who bring them to us, with respect. Prepare yourself by learning how to build contexts and visions that will provide a home for your ideas. Learn how to present your ideas to others in ways that make them compelling. Help to build workplaces that give ideas a chance to grow, develop and evolve. And, make sure to give a decent burial for all those ideas that you don't accept. You may want to go looking for them in the future.

Welcome to the place where you can finally get to work on your dream! 
HowMuchJoy.com

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