I am a huge fan of encouraging creativity and individuality in the workplace! 

I believe strongly in sharing direction rather than providing directive. 

In my new Keynote:  “TEAM-Building: Fit vs. Talent” where I talk about Tolerance, Engagement, Accommodation with Accountability and Mentoring, I quote George Patton as saying; “Never tell people how to do things.  Tell them what to do and they will surprise you with their ingenuity!” However, there is a balance that must be achieved.  

If you provide enough broad direction coupled with a clear mission or overall set of goals you can achieve an environment where people are “engaged” and working independently toward a common goal.  

Engagement is much better than enforcement where you rely on rules and regulations rather than the basic human desire to belong and perform. 

There is a popular activity in the academic world intended to stimulate creativity and imagination where young children are encouraged to create a new animal and animal name by using two existing animals.  Example:  a Dolphin and an Alligator becomes a “Dolphigator” with a bottle-nose and big scaly tail; or an “Alligolphin” has a snarly toothed grin with fins instead of a tail.

You get the idea!  This is the same concept as asking your team to “think outside of the box” and “improvise, innovate and adapt.”  I often hear myself say, “be creative, have fun, get the job done!” 

But if you direct with big, broad strokes but fail to provide some clarifying parameters you may end up with some unexpected; and unacceptable results.

Here is a “real life” example:  when my daughter was given this “direction” she chose two animals that had always fascinated her; a Horse and a Peacock.  It took us quite a bit of negotiating to convince my five (5) year old daughter that she could not call her creation a “Horse—-!”  It took a great deal of difficulty to convince her to use “PeaHorse” instead.   

Her rationale was simple and quite advanced; she wanted to use the Horse’s Head and the Peacock’s body because she loved the look of the fanned, colorful feathers.  Suffice it to say that was NOT the vision my mind conjured whenever I heard her talk about drawing a “Horse—-!”

Here is a “work life” example:  when some of my department managers were faced with a potential strike from the “rank and file” at our Center they were also asked to participate in a fundraiser “Bowl-a-Thon” for the local Boys and Girls Club.  The “Bowl-a-Thon” and the Union Vote were to be held on back-to-back days; Bowling First, Striking Second. 

Faced with this one-two punch of a schedule they were stressed out when given the additional task of coming up with a team name for the back of their complimentary Bowling T-Shirts.  As a team member I chose to take a back seat with the encouragement for them to “participate and have fun!”  All was good until they handed me my T-Shirt with the name of our team across the shoulders… “Seaford Center Strike Force!”

I would rather have worn a harness of fanned colorful feathers and T-shirt that read; “Seaford Center Horse—-s!”

So, what have we learned?  Be creative; Have fun; Get the job done; AND, apply a few rules of engagement (rather than enforcement) along with some Common Sense to avoid the Bull—-!

***

Lon Kieffer, author of “Get Out of Bed and Go to Work!”, Speaker, Consultant of Common Sense, and expert on Workplace Culture Change and Generational Conflicts, gives seminars, keynote and plenary addresses, runs annual sales meetings, and provides Common Sense Consulting at:  www.LonKieffer.com. He can be reached at:  (302) 462-6748 or via email at:  Lon@LonKieffer.com