I suspect most of us would like to think our life had an impact.  We ponder big questions about changing the world and then get bogged down by the enormity of the challenge.

Here are some ideas for making this reflection process more manageable.

1)  Recognize that I don’t need to think in terms of worlds, countries, states, or cities.  They are just too big. Perhaps, I can define a tiny portion of the world that is within my sphere of influence.

2)  Look at my list of important issues and simply choose one on which I will focus my attention.

3)  Study the issue. Find out what the problems are and what is being done. Get to know real people who are involved with the issue. Listen to the stories. By immersing myself, I may discover the spark that ignites my passion.

4)  At the same time I am learning about the issue, look for opportunities both big and small to support the cause and then take action.

Alone, none of these will make a big difference, but each will make some difference, and that is a step in the right direction. Mother Teresa summed it up best when she said, “What we do is less than a drop in the ocean. But if it were missing, the ocean would lack something.”

Photo by spettacolopuro

Last night I was watching part 1 of the PBS series The National Parks: America’s Best Idea. For me our national parks (and state parks too) have always been about beauty, nature, and relaxation. When I buy an annual pass and use it a couple times, I’m always struck at what a good deal it is.

It wasn’t until watching the program, however, that I began to think of parks as an incredibly powerful idea. The video below explains that idea and features some fantastic scenery captured on film.  After watching it, one can’t help but wonder what other cool ideas like this one are just waiting to emerge from our collective will as a nation, a community, or even within our work team.

Photo by Marie LaForce

People are afraid to throw out ideas because they think someone will criticize them. This severely inhibits creativity. The way around this is to focus on generating new ideas without any evaluation. This is easier said than done. Here’s how to keep the criticism at bay.

• Speed. Don’t give people time to think. Idea generation is a spontaneous activity. Evaluation requires thinking. If you want to create a list of ideas, give yourselves a time limit and then use the limit to increase the sense of urgency. Setting the pace with music or with a timer can also keep the ideas popping without time for evaluation.
• Quantity. Give yourselves a goal for the number of ideas you want. Keep pushing the group toward the number, and they will quickly forget about the quality of the ideas.
• Build on ideas of others. Allow people to add their ideas only if they can build on the current idea with a statement that begins with “Yes, and…” This forces listening, and what they hear stimulates new ideas.

If you’re like me, I used to wonder how it could be that there weren’t any ideas around the table.  Then I realized I was making a big assumption.  Just because nobody was sharing ideas didn’t mean there were no ideas.  It just meant that people weren’t willing to open their mouths.

Why wouldn’t somebody with an idea want to share it?  There are several viable explanations.

1.  The person has learned that opening your mouth means opening yourself up to ridicule.  Ideas are personal.  Egos are involved.  If the group shoots down the idea, it feels like they are shooting down the person who offered it.

2.  We have a tendency to ask the person who offers the idea to run with it.  This does make some sense in that the idea owner probably has energy for seeing it implemented.  The problem is that most people are about as busy as they want to be.

3.  The person fears that the group may agree to the suggestion, but if later something goes wrong, they’ll come back to blame the idea originator.  This concern prevents ideas from surfacing unless they are absolute sure shots.  And how often does that happen?

4.  Finally, there may be some reluctance to give up control of the idea.  When the idea is in my head, it’s totally mine.  Say it out loud, and now the group owns it and may choose to do all kinds of things with it that don’t fit what I had in mind.

If you want more ideas in your meetings, you’ll need to find ways to deal with the four problems listed above.  Take care of these, and hear the ideas begin to flow.