Have you ever been part of a team where you know members have good ideas but they are not sharing those ideas? Most of us have been in that very same situation, or knows someone who has. Many years ago during our team meetings we could see this was happening, the topic was raised among our leadership team, we knew there was knowledge there, we just needed to find a way to unlock it.
Whereas, initially some of our leadership thought it was based on shyness and insecurity, we began to wonder if it was not a form of perfectionism. That is, their attitude might be, “I will share it when it is perfect!” But of course, perfectionism is one of the most serious roadblocks to creativity, and success.
Being in those rooms, as a perfectionist must be a very uncomfortable place to be, yet we made a commitment to ourselves to continue to include those same individuals in ongoing brainstorming meetings. Over time (sometimes a very long time) many of those individuals began to see the light. Someone would throw out an idea, maybe not a good one, there was no judgement, rather someone else would piggy back another idea to the one just posed, they began to see as ideas morphed through the creative process into something we could put into action, and refine later.
As the quiet ones in the room began to realize it is the seed that is important, and no one was going to laugh at, or judge them they began to contribute, even flourish in the creative process. Many of those individuals today routinely share good ideas that we can put to work. Look for the quiet ones, invite them to the meetings, show them it is a safe environment, and unlock that knowledge.
As team leaders, it our job to encourage team members to be willing to give up the need to ‘do it right the first time’. And with team and leadership encouragement celebrating works in progress, versus the big perfect reveal, creativity can, and will prevail!
One of the values of Cadorath that we practice is to celebrate the effort, even in its rawest form, in doing so, the team, and all it’s member’s flourish and creativity abounds.