Yes?
Great, you will empathize with me on what I’m saying.
There are situations where you need to become an idea machine. And same goes for your colleagues/friends.
Somebody takes up all these people, put them in a room, and asks them to thrash for ideas. Initially, I used to enjoy this process, but soon, I realized it was not going anywhere.
There is a pattern of sins to all planning phases in most work situations.
Such as:
- Too less time The group tries to conduct the thrashing session, and before they finish, their time is up. The day has ended. The group would feel, if we had just little bit more time, we would finish for the day.
- Need too much time (= too much complicated) Similar to the point-1, but the group feels “who thought we could do this in just a day? It would take at least a week!”
- Urgency This type of situations: “We needed this solution yesterday, you have half a day to come up with the first draft.”
- Idea repetition When group members unintentionally repeat each other’s ideas with similar or same versions.
- Airtime Dracula The group is hijacked by a Dracula whose sole purpose is to get maximum airtime. No meaningful contribution.
- Idea Hitchhikers These hitchhikers rarely speak, and when they speak, they say something like: “I agree with Akshay, I was thinking the same.” They don’t contribute, just hitchhike their way to the end of the meeting with fake engagement.
- Futility Where the group thinks “but what’s the use of this thrashing sesssion? We know they won’t be realized.”
Of all the seven sin patterns, I believe the seventh one to be the most profound one. Because it is not linked to your team members’ temperament. But rather, the organization’s functioning. It is a symptom of something not being right.
When would people in your organization start believing that “no matter what my idea, it doesn’t matter. It is futile to pitch.”
In my experience, there may be a combination of different reasons:
- People would have seen that their ideas will be eventually overturned by their seniors.
- They know from their experience that six months into the execution of their collective ideas, some seniors would use a wild card to implement their own idea, discarding all the previous work.
- Probably, they would have observed a pattern of not seeing their project living beyond the ideation phase. For whatever reasons.
- The group would have been composed of obsequious people, with the sole agenda of pleasing someone. The thinking individual would find it futile to even try.
- The group may find it futile not because their ideas won’t be implemented, but because they won’t receive due credit. Many sensitive individuals want to refrain from contributing in such an environment.
So, what should we do?
You already know the answers. Because they’re part of common sense to anyone. The difficult part: it is tough to implement in an organization.
So, let me lay them out here because the importance of this common sense doesn’t decrease.
- Too less time Plan for double the time than your estimated ideation time. Actual thrashing time = 2 x (estimated thrashing time)
- Need too much time (= too much complicated) When it takes too much time for people to thrash, check two things:
- Are you trying to ideate on a matter that is too complicated to complete in a single sitting? If yes, provide gap days with sufficient time for the creative process.
- The matter under ideation may be easy, but it may have several pieces. Again, the solution is to distribute ideation over several days in small chunks. Same as people train in a gym: exercise – rest – exercise – rest – exercise
- Urgency If the organization was in such an urgency, there won’t be any thrashing hour. So, is it urgent enough to have ideas produced, feasibility-tested and approved in a short time? Your answer to this question would tell you what to do.
- Idea repetition This happens due to either of two reasons:
- The participants are mentally absent and not registering that the idea has already been suggested. There is no general prescription to fight the attention deficit, however, not holding a thrashing session in the afternoon is useful.
- The participants are unable to differentiate between similar ideas. This problem cannot be eliminated in its entirety, but you can cultivate clear thinking by promoting writing on a daily basis. Refer to the guide on my powerful lean-mean writing system for anyone.
- Dracula Airtime Dracula problem is combination of many different problems. Let’s call it a facilitation problem. Having a strong facilitator mostly solves this problem.
- Hitchhikers You can deal with idea hitchhikers with a combination of facilitation strategy and accountability. I prefer interacting with such hitchhikers in a one-on-one session. Trying to understand their reasons behind low engagement. Sometimes, providing lone space or low pressure to highly introverted types helps getting useful input from them.
- Futility Solution to this problem requires more work. But it is not impossible.
- Check whether it is a perception problem. If it is a perception problem, track down the root from where the perception took its hold and work to nullify it. For example, if you find a couple of scattered incidents that have provided this perception that it is futile to contribute ideas, actively work to make it visible and erase the perception.
- If it is not a perception problem, it may be cultural and group problem which requires “show, don’t tell” strategy. If you start announcing “we value ideas, please come forward”, it is ineffective because the reality is different. There is no choice but to mend your practices so that you don’t have to tell. The work would show itself.
NOW YOU.
What annoys you most during thrashing sessions? Do you want to share any secret tip that always works?
Hit Reply and tell me. I will compile and share everyone’s tips to all readers.
Reads of the week:
- How To Do Great Work Paul is back with his peculiar long essay. It took me almost 2 hours to finish reading this essay. Of course, including note-making.
- We Are All Artists Now “This isn’t a manifesto for other people. This is a manifesto for you. It’s a manifesto for anyone who has been overlooked or brainwashed or seduced into being invisible.”
- Taking Affection Back Professor Galloway talks about today’s culture and the issue of we’re not bringing up enough economically and emotionally viable young men. What I liked was he outlines suggestions other than the trite “let men cry”. Such tokenism doesn’t change society for better.
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