A few months ago I shared how I feel about the phrase ‘think outside the box’. Basically I hate it, because it puts most of us under so much pressure and stress that we are rendered incapable of any thought, let alone a creative one.
When and where do you have your best ideas? For the majority of people it is when we are relaxed and our subconscious mind continues to work on our problems. It is not when we are stressed, juggling conflicting priorities or at our desks responding to a barrage of emails.
As managers of teams, volunteers and supporter relationships we can help others think creatively by giving them explicit permission to be creative, encouraging divergent thinking, creating an environment that helps people to have ideas, supporting the development of ideas that are not yet fully formed and building them into something workable.
A great starting point is to frame your problem as an interesting question.
In his Harvard Business Review blog, Warren Berger, explains how some of the most successful companies in business are known for tackling difficult creative challenges by first asking, How might we improve X ... or completely re-imagine Y... or find a new way to accomplish Z?
Berger explains that when people try to innovate, they often talk about the challenges or the problems they are facing by using language that can inhibit creativity instead of encouraging it. People often ask ‘How can we do this?’ or ‘How should we do that?’ The ‘can’ and ‘should’ in the question implies judgment. Can we really do it? Should we? Using the word ‘might’ instead of ‘can’ or ‘should’ defers judgment, which releases people to create more options and therefore more possibilities for creativity. The use of the word ‘might’ also takes the pressure off coming up with something immediately workable. It subtly indicates that the idea you are suggesting might work or it might not, and either way that is ok, because we are just generating ideas about the possibilities.
There is an art to framing your problem in this way. Your ‘how might we’ question also needs to be interesting.
It needs to be ambitious enough to provide opportunities for change and creativity, yet focused enough to feel achievable. For example ‘How might we end world hunger?’ is too big for many people to comprehend that they could be part of a solution, but ‘How might we ensure that every child in Zambia eats at least one proper meal every day? Still has ambition, yet feels more achievable.
Like any new skill, framing the problem in the way to get the best results takes practice, but if you are spending time really considering the problem and articulating it well, you will be leagues ahead of many of your competitors who are only dabbling with innovation.
Consider your most pressing fundraising problem. How might you frame it as an interesting question starting, 'How might we….?’
Lucy Gower is a trainer and coach specialising in innovation. She led the first innovation team at UK children’s charity NSPCC and it was there that Lucy realized that you can have the best ideas, processes and technology, but if you don’t have the right people working together then even the best ideas will fail. Since leaving the NSPCC in 2012 Lucy has worked with over 50 organisations including Amnesty, Cystic Fibrosis Trust, Nesta, The Children’s Society and Greenpeace.
Lucy is also author of The Innovation Workout, a blogger and conference speaker, and is often seen on Twitter @lucyinnovation
