There are plenty of people who don’t like meetings. They think they are boring and a waste of time. Your meetings need not be either of these, but for the sake of some focus, this article will only address creating more fun.

If you can accomplish what you set out to do and have fun while doing it, you have just created a magical experience. Here are some easy techniques for adding fun to your meeting.

• Take advantage of all the creativity research. Although some people will see it as corny; incorporating toys, colors, music, and movement into your meetings can serve as wonderful creativity stimuli.
• Create drama. It doesn’t take much to “stage” the meeting so that it’s more interesting. A big, ticking timer does wonders in helping the team pay attention to time. Splitting into sub-groups for some friendly competition (e.g. seeing which group generates the most ideas) usually notches up the energy. And there’s nothing like role playing specific scenarios and acting out case studies to put people into a creative mindset. Be ready for some serious grumbling if you try that last one.
• Get comfortable. Creativity is fun and free-flowing. It’s hard to achieve this in a formal environment. Find a comfortable setting, and encourage the participants to dress and act informally.
• Add fresh perspectives. Invite people to the session who have no formal “expertise” in the topic. Rules and assumptions do not limit these folks. Their questions, ideas, and challenges will help uncover dangerous assumptions and push the group to explore uncharted territory.

Of course implementing these ideas will take some effort on your part. While many of us would like to think that fun should emerge spontaneously, I have found that it usually requires some planning. Is the time and energy worth it? Try it and discover the answer for yourself.

Image credit: PhotoAtelier

Sometimes a team’s creative results can be improved by a change in perspective. Take the process of brainstorming for example. Brainstorm the opposite of what you want and see what happens. This is how it works.

Imagine your team is supposed to come up with new ideas for increasing customer loyalty. Instead of looking for ideas to improve loyalty, the team brainstorms ways to decrease customer loyalty. Trying to improve employee morale? Brainstorm ideas for destroying morale.

The tool’s power results from its ability to harness negative energy (cynicism, sarcasm, hostility, etc.) and use it to spark creativity. If your team is in this type of mood, it’s very difficult to build excitement for brainstorming. By giving them a chance to vent their negativity, you will witness amazing creativity.

After the team has filled the wall with ideas for lowering morale or chasing away customers, you are ready to get down to identifying potential solutions to your problem.

Ask the team to analyze the list and develop ideas for solving the problem. Many solutions can be found simply by reversing the ideas on the list. Others can be discovered through patterns and interesting combinations of negative ideas. In either case, the list of “bad” ideas is a tremendous stimulus for generating “good” ideas.

Next time you face the same old problems and a team tired of trying to solve them, cut the team loose on ways to make the problem worse. It will be fun, energizing, and most of all…effective.

What do you measure in your organization? When it comes to measurement, there are a few simple rules that will help make them more useful.

1.  Measure the stuff that matters. You went through all the work of setting goals and priorities. You had a big production about announcing what the organization was going to accomplish this year. Show people you are serious. Track progress. This reinforces that which is most important. It also helps people know how they are doing.

2.  Respond to the measures. There’s nothing more frustrating than seeing charts on a wall that show trend lines that nobody looks at or does anything about. If you’ve made the effort to do the measurement, there’s got to be a clear understanding about how you will use the data. If you have no intention of doing anything in response to the measures, then don’t waste your time collecting data and producing charts.

3.  Don’t measure stuff that you don’t care about. This takes time and energy. It sends a confusing message about what is and isn’t important. It creates clutter that can cause a team or organization to lose its focus.

Measurements are an important part of any management system. Make sure yours are working for you and not against you.

How do you create change in the organization when your boss doesn’t help you move your ideas up the chain of command?

This is a common complaint voiced by frontline departments, project teams, and just about any other group that needs the approval of somebody up the chain of command prior to taking action. By the way, this is just about everyone.

Frustration stems from the perception that nobody is listening. This is a problem because many of us equate listening with respect. It’s likely their listening skills aren’t the problem. It is more likely they do not agree with or do not want to implement your idea, and are not good at saying so.

If you want a better response to your proposals, consider the following suggestions.

Tune into the needs. Your proposal may be a wonderful idea. It might, however, address a problem that senior leaders do not presently care about. You may have solved an important problem, but if the bosses do not know it is important, they probably are focused on something else right now. How can you focus your creative energy on problems the leaders are currently facing?

Build a business case. Most of us have heard that we must make a business case argument for our ideas to gain attention. The problem is that this is not always easy to do. Imagine your idea will cost $20,000 to implement, and it is guaranteed to significantly increase employee satisfaction. Somebody should jump at that, right? Well not so fast. A manager is going to want to know what kind of financial return the $20K will generate. You will need to translate employee satisfaction into a financial return. You will also need to do it in a way that sounds realistic. Not always easy, but critical in building support for your idea.

Avoid creating more work. Ideas are the life blood of any organization. They are also relatively easy to come by. The hard part is figuring out how to implement them and then guide them through the system. Leaders always have plenty of people to tell them what ought to happen. They have far fewer people willing to step up and make it happen. Whether this is true or not in your situation, it is possible that your ideas are falling on deaf ears because the leaders are assuming your great ideas are going to mean more work for them. What can you do to pitch your idea in a way that sounds like a gift, rather than a new burden?

Image credit: danxoneil

Groups need creativity. It helps them solve problems, develop products, and improve productivity. So how do you put a creative spark into a group that doesn’t seem to have any?

Researchers have discovered only one significant characteristic between people who are and are not creative. It is their self-perceptions about how creative they are. Everybody has the capacity to be creative. Some choose to use it and others do not. The challenge is not to make the group more creative. Rather it is to help them recognize their own creative potential. Try some of these ideas.

• State Problems Clearly. Creativity is nothing more than finding a novel solution to a problem. The trick is to make sure everyone knows and understands what the problem is that needs to be solved.  The more specific you can be, the better.  For example, tell people that your boss has asked for the delivery date on your current project to be shortened from six months to five. Tell them you need their help to solve this problem, and give them a day or two to get back to you with ideas.
• Reinforce Creativity. When you see people do anything that is creative, make sure you recognize it. The creativity might be an interesting idea, a new method of doing the work, or a skillful response during a thorny conversation. The more times you catch people being creative, the more they will begin to believe in their own creative powers.
• Deal with Inhibitors. If people are not as creative as you like, it is probably because of the environment. Assess your own behavior. Are you doing or saying things that might keep people from taking risks? Are there negative people on the team who act as wet blankets? Are people so bogged down with work that they are too exhausted to offer new ideas for fear that it might make them even busier? There are many barriers to creativity. You need to identify them and remove them. Only then can the ideas begin to flow freely.

How do you break a deadlock when the group can’t decide between two or more viable options?

Actually having more than one good idea is a nice problem to have. I say this even knowing that it can cause conflicts and be uncomfortable. Your group is coming up with workable solutions to problems. This is a good thing. Some groups are not able to get that far. Now we just have to help you convert your good fortune (multiple ideas) into action, so that the team can succeed.

• Establish selection criteria. When trying to pick among several good options, the group first needs to decide what criteria it will use to make its decision. Here are some common criteria: Easiest to implement, most likely to be approved by upper management, cheapest, quickest fix, biggest impact on the problem, etc.
• Let everyone have a say. Once the two or three competing ideas have been identified, ask everyone to share an opinion about each. You might ask folks to point out the strengths and weaknesses of each proposal. Ask them which they would choose if they were limited to just one. Ask if there are any that they could not live with. By going one at a time and letting everyone talk, the group typically gains a couple new insights and the best answer often emerges naturally.
• Change your acceptance standard. Instead of choosing the one that everyone believes is best, look for the one that has the broadest levels of support. There is a difference. If I am asked to choose the best among five options, I might think option four should be chosen. But when asked which I would support, I might select all except option two. You may find that the group is split on the best choice, but has a lot of consensus about one option when asked if they could support it.

When you have a deadlock, a decision won’t come easy. By implementing these three strategies, you increase the odds of arriving at one and decrease the amount of time it takes to get there.

Image credit: Sasquatch

When I’ve been asked to provide a work group with team building, I never forget that a good charter helps create a strong foundation on which a team can build its success. It answers three overarching questions and provides details that help the group effectively operate. Here’s what it includes:

1. Why does the team exist?

• The purpose
• Key clients/stakeholders
• The problem or need the team will address

2. What will the team accomplish/deliver?

• Scope of responsibility
• Major goals
• Key milestones and time lines

3. How will the team operate?

• Team members
• Roles and responsibilities
• Decision-making and authority
• Resources required
• Team norms

One of the big problems teams face is confusion. Much of that confusion can be prevented if the team develops a good charter from the onset. If the team is already established, it doesn’t hurt to go back and tighten up the charter. Does yours need a tune-up?

Image credit: © Can Stock Photo

I once had a boss who thought going to a health club was a waste of time. He believed that if people wanted to be physically fit, there were more practical ways of accomplishing this goal.

His theory involved achieving fitness in conjunction with another goal. “Why make it a separate activity?” he would say. His prescribed workout included cutting the grass, shoveling snow, and splitting firewood. His best advice was ditch digging. I did quibble with that suggestion, as  I argued the opportunities were limited.

He had a point. Physical fitness did not have to take extra time and money. Opportunities to achieve it were readily available in everyday life.

Team fitness can be achieved in the same manner. Companies regularly request team building. They usually want to do an all-day, off-site session in which participants engage in experiential learning activities. In other words, they want to take the group to the “team building health club.”

While a day of team building might be an effective solution, it often is not an efficient one. There are better ways of achieving the goal.

Ask yourself, “What should this team be able to do that it isn’t able to do now?” When you arrive at the first answer, ask yourself “Why do I want them to be able to do that.” Keep pushing yourself along this line of questioning until you get to a problem that matters.

For example, when I first discuss team building with a potential client, the conversation often goes something like this:

“Why do you want to do team building,” I inquire.

“So that people get along better” comes the usual response.

“And why do you want people to get along?”

“So that they communicate more” I am told.

I probe further by asking “Well why is communication important in your department?”

“Because stuff falls through the cracks and customers get angry.”

It’s at this point that we found something that matters. We’ve discovered our ditch that needs digging. I suggest, “Well then let’s work together on solving the hand-off problems in the department and then see how that addresses your other reasons for doing team building.”

Team building done as a stand-alone activity may or may not solve the real problem. In either case, there is a better way of accomplishing the goal. Address the real issues, and let the team building occur naturally.

Image Credit: ILMS DCC

There comes a point in many meetings when the leader says, “So what do you think?” On a good day, a few people chime in with an idea. On a bad day, the question is met with silence. On a worse day, people don’t speak and they avert their eyes. Talk about painful.

When it happens to me, outwardly I keep my cool–or at least that’s what I attempt to do. Inside, I’m screaming, “What the hell is the problem here? Say something!”

I used to wonder how it could be that there weren’t any ideas in the room. Then I realized that was an assumption. Just because nobody shared ideas didn’t mean there were none. It could be that people have plenty to say, they just aren’t willing to do so.

Do you know why people hold back in your meetings? I can offer several possibilities:

• People have learned that opening their mouths means opening themselves 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.
• 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. Who wants more work?
• 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 sure shots. And how often does that happen?
• 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 the ideas will begin to flow.

Image credit: tanakawho

Yesterday was the first hot day of spring. The temperature soared into the mid-90′s. When I went to bed, the trees were just starting to leaf out. This morning I noticed our plum trees in full bloom. Yesterday, I would never have guessed we were only one day away from the bloom. It came surprisingly fast.

It reminded me of how quickly things can change and develop when the conditions are right. As a manager you can push, prod, cajole, and coerce. This is a hard job and rarely yields fruit. Your time might be better spent on creating an environment that’s just right, one in which your employees can bloom.

Look around. What’s keeping your employees from reaching their potential? Change that and perhaps the change you want in your employees will quickly follow.

Image credit: Tom LaForce