Here’s a story a long-time client of mine shared with me just today:
[blockquote source=”J.R., Defense Contractor”]I will never forget a discussion I had in the back seat of a rental car on the way to Joint Special Forces Headquarters with Warren K. in 1998. Warren is a retired Air Force Colonel who has dedicated his post military years to improving the ability of Special Forces to coordinate and respond to threats. Warren, with his knees pressed tight to the back of the front seat, described the difference in thought and innovation when Special Forces made the jump from having daily briefings in uniform to having daily briefings in civilian clothes. He said that [highlights color=”ffea00″]so long as there were bars on your shoulders, every man in the room deferred to those of higher rank. But as soon as they went to Polo shirts and Dockers, an idea was only as good as its intrinsic value. No one cared who proposed an idea or what was that person’s rank.[/highlights] And out of this, Special Forces saw an immediate increase in creativity and responsiveness.[/blockquote]
Being able to check the uniform – and especially the rank, roles, and titles – at the door helps to give a more even “weight” to ideas shared during those briefings. But even in Dockers, your boss is probably still recognizable. (And so is her unspoken authority!)
So how do you level the playing field when you’re generating ideas or making decisions…and other people may have more weight or importance associated with their ideas because they’re a top dog?
Draw out those ideas with no names attached.
I call this my “Rule of Non-Attribution:” All voices have a place at the table, and all ideas deserve a spot on the wall for consideration. I design and facilitate my client conversations with this principle in mind so that we can draw out ideas while drawing forth the best in the team. And all it takes is three simple steps to give ideas equal weight during meetings.
Here’s how I do it:
1. Have one person in the meeting serve as your visual scribe, capturing the ideas generated during the conversation or briefing.
Having one style of handwriting helps to keep ideas from being attributed to their originators and their tell-tale lettering!
Use large sticky notes to capture those ideas…one per square.
Write the ideas using a large-tipped marker in a dark color. It’s easier to read than a pen…especially the further back in the room you get!
2. Put all the ideas up on the wall, so everyone can see.
At this point, I typically invite folks to stand up and take a look at what we’ve got on the wall.
3. Invite participants to move the sticky notes around to move like ideas next to each other and see what other patterns they discover.
Because all those ideas are in the same handwriting and on the same size of sticky note, any one idea doesn’t hold more weight than another. Whether an idea shows up on the wall just once, or scores of times, be sure to invite folks to consider all of the ideas on the wall. You never know which idea with be “The One!”
The wall is a great equalizer. By putting those ideas on the wall, folks are no longer focusing on the people who offered the ideas…but rather the ideas themselves. It’s an automatic ground-leveler!
At this point you can weigh the ideas on their own merits, and make better decisions for your team, business, and objectives moving forward.
As always, I cannot wait to see what you draw forth!
