*****
I took a small team into a space that needs transformation and asked them what could be done to make the space youthful and vibrant. They weren’t to consider “how” to do it, at least at first. Just imagine possibilities.
Imagination ignites enthusiasm,
instills engagement, and deepens commitment.
About 40 minutes into the conversation, one person began taking the lead. Why did this one rise up? Why did they end up standing in front of the group with everyone else sitting down?
He wasn’t the most creative person in the room. He was the most passionate. He took the lead because he imagined himself and others in the new environment.
“People can’t do things they can’t imagine.”
Peter Jensen, author of, The Winning Factor.
Everyone in the group contributed in significant ways. Everyone was creative. Everyone is dedicated, talented and committed. The one who imagined most rose to leadership.
Leading with imagination:
Jensen suggests leaders use imagery to tap the power of imagination. “Good coaches make constant reference to what they would “see” and “hear” in optimum situations… Ask, ‘What would I see you doing, and what would I hear you saying, if you were demonstrating the qualities of a caring leader,’” for example.
How do you imagine your team and organization when they’re at their best?
Clarity:
People can’t go where they can’t imagine.
Tell people what you want. Jensen says, “Paint clear pictures of what is desired.” Leaders who constantly correct are helping people “not do.” Successful leadership is more about doing than not doing. Jensen suggests leaders:
- Encourage mental rehearsal.
- Imagine someone they know who has a high level of competence at the task.
- Ask performers about their end goal, their dreams, and their vision.
How have you seen imagination change others or yourself?
How can leaders tap the power of imagination on a day-to-day basis?
Tags: Book Notes, creative person, Leadership Development, mental rehearsal, Organizational Development, organizational success, peter jensen, power of imagination, taking the lead, Vision
August 7, 2012 at 6:48 am |
How do you stop yourself from asking ‘how’? It’s probably a major character flaw of mine, but whenever someone comes up with an idea I’m very quick to think ‘great, but how can we do that?’ I have managed to stop myself saying it, I might add. My partner calls it pouring cold water on everything, I call it pragmatism
August 7, 2012 at 7:10 am |
Thank you Vanessa.
I know exactly what you mean. New ideas can get “How’d” to death. I try to keep my mouth shut and listen. It’s pretty hard.
Perhaps you could think of it as giving another a chance.
August 7, 2012 at 10:44 am |
My first impulse to respond to your comment, Vanessa, was ‘why did you put your ‘but’ in with ‘great, but’… One simple three letter word can be such a big red ‘but’ stop sign.
I do not disagree with you about the ‘buts’, absolutely there needs to be grounded pragmatic process and ‘but’ timing is important.
Nothing stifles passion and creativity more than someone sticking their ‘but’ in too soon.
In the creative leg of a development process, the devil’s advocate needs to be, perhaps a grounding anchor, willing to be lifted, and certainly not the lead.
If you truly believe ‘great’…go with it…’great, how can we do that?’ or ‘great, what can I do to make that happen?’. Unless of course, you don’t really mean ‘great’ and that is a different issue. It is interesting to note that parade rainers may often have a root in fear.
August 7, 2012 at 11:28 am |
So leave the but’s out…
August 12, 2012 at 12:57 pm |
Well, my but(t) is certainly large enough that I’m sure leaving it out would be most welcome *lol* In all seriousness, thank you for your point about ‘but.’ As soon as you say ‘but’ after a positive comment you negate what’s gone before. And you are very correct about the root being fear. Fear of failure, fear of success, fear of change, fear of not changing!
August 7, 2012 at 7:09 am |
It sounds like great leadership both imagines and encourages imagination. When the team is dreaming, they are owning their work and motivated. Great post!
August 7, 2012 at 7:11 am |
Thank you Harrison.
We used to think leadership was about telling people what to do…now we know it’s about helping them imagine.
August 7, 2012 at 7:24 am |
I once heard, “You have to believe it to see it” as a means of turning the vision into a tangible reality. Of course, the key to success is understanding what “it” is.
You hit the nail on the head with this post. By stirring the imagination of others on the team, we certainly heighten the sense of passion in its achievement.
As Vanessa noted above, attempting to resolve the “how” can prevent some great ideas from surfacing. I advise the team that ideas are not clay pigeons to be shot down.
Often times, the most “far fetched” ideas lead to others that may be more realistic and probable.
Another great post, Dan.
August 7, 2012 at 11:30 am |
Thank you Redge.
Thanks for encouraging us to go with far fetched ideas. Even if we can’t do everything…we most certainly can do something.
August 7, 2012 at 8:23 am |
Excellent post. Without a clearly imagined goal it’s very hard to see the steps for improvement.
August 7, 2012 at 11:30 am |
Thank you Scott.
How will we know where to go without a goal? How will we know if we are making progress?
August 7, 2012 at 8:45 am |
Sparking the imagination and creating the time and space to do that is so important. I worry that sometimes we are too quick to jump to action, and miss this vital imagination step.
August 7, 2012 at 11:31 am |
Thank you Karin.
Absolutely…I find it’s work to hold a group back from jumping into action. Decisions end curiosity. Sometimes we need to withhold judgement and just explore. It should be easier.
August 7, 2012 at 8:56 am |
“They weren’t to consider “how” to do it, at least at first. Just imagine possibilities.”
This is HUGE!!! People want to connect with something bigger than themselves… a story with significance that they can play a key role in. If we don’t give them the freedom to dream about what could be, and how they can be a part of it, they hesitate to buy in.
When people are fully bought into the story that you are calling them to live with you, the details and logistics somehow get worked out.
August 7, 2012 at 11:34 am |
Thank you Matt.
You bring an eloquent term to describe this process…”story.”
When we start with details and logistics we tend to push people. When people buy or build the story they end up pulling leaders rather than being pushed.
August 7, 2012 at 9:34 am |
I work with clients all the time around “Stop asking ‘how’! I actually engage them in exercises where they play “I don’t know ‘how’ I’m going to get there, but I know ‘why’ I want to go”. Getting them away from the “how” puts them back into their creative pre-frontal cortex – and playing can lower the neural ‘noise’ in their heads and allow more space for insight to occur. It’s powerful stuff! LoL!
August 7, 2012 at 11:36 am |
Thank you Rachel.
You bring the why to our conversation. People can do most anything if they have a powerful why…reason… or, purpose.
Love your game starter… I don’t know how
August 7, 2012 at 11:12 am |
Wonder if it is a battle twixt left brain rationalization and acting like an ‘adult’ versus right brainers creativity and acting like a child.
Somewhere along the age timeline, we are ‘taught’ to act like an adult, whatever that means, however it may involve letting our logical left brain dominate. “They send me away to teach me how to be sensible, logical, responsible, practical…And they showed me a world where I could be so dependable, clinical, intellectual, cynical”–Supertramp
Watching my son, when he was young, the creativity and imagination was amazing, compelling, and I wanted to jump in too. Is there anything more engaging that pure play? Sometimes, those early, no limits brainstorms may resemble such play.
And while we still can’t go back in time and be a kid just yet, mixing in a pinch of play, a daily dash o’ humor, and a carafe of recreation may be the recipe for a tasty imagination souffle. Whoever said that we can’t have fun at work from time to time? Oh, yeah E. Scrooge, but he changes his tune didn’t he!
August 7, 2012 at 11:41 am |
Thank you Doc.
Isn’t it sad that we educate creativity and playfulness out of people!!
I recently interviewed Soren Kaplan author of Leap Frogging. (great book by the way) He says we pretend we aren’t surprised when we learn something we didn’t know because we want to look like we already knew… it’s not helpful.
August 7, 2012 at 12:06 pm |
And that seems to speak to how insecure we are in our current skin…
August 7, 2012 at 11:33 am |
Excellent article. When I get stuck and can’t seem to move past the how I sometimes pick a guided meditation of some sort that is related to what I want to achieve, and it helps to remove the block.
August 7, 2012 at 1:42 pm |
Thank you Bethany.
You are right in step with Jensen who believes in visualizing…I think closely related… did I over simplify?
August 7, 2012 at 11:37 am |
Dear Dan,
I agree that mental rehearsal is necessary to keep our thought process alive.I do that. While creating ideas I just think ” What I want”. This initially creates anxiety and comfort.This develops to create picture of How. When I find the answer of HOW, I start visualizing clear picture. And that is the successful beginning of materializing ideas. After that it is your effort and determination to execute that ideas.
I believe that brain is soil and imagination is seed. Nature is manure. And we as a human beings are farmer. So, our duty is to sow the seed. Everything will automatically follow. From time to time, we need to see whether our seed is there or not. Leaders can tap the power of imagination on a day-to-day basis by putting manure of energy, enthusiasm, encouragement and will power.In fact, leaders show how seed can turn into fruit bearing big tree after some time.
August 7, 2012 at 2:25 pm |
Thank you Ajay.
Love the soil to manure illustration… I’m originally a farm boy from Maine … I know all about it.
Thanks for sharing your insights…very helpful.
August 7, 2012 at 11:38 am |
Ed de Bono and his Six Thinking Hats recognized the value of each step necessary in creating and then evaluating new ideas. It is a structured way to promote lateral thinking.
The blue hat is worn by the moderator, and is generally worn only by one person throughout a meeting.
The green hat is worn by all but the mediator and promotes creativity, when the permission meter is on 10 and all ideas are welcomed without criticism (imagination is king).
The white hat is for facts.
The yellow hat is for what is good about the idea(s).
The black hat is for what is bad about the idea(s) – lots of room for the how’s in this space!
The red hat is for gut feel, and is always the last hat to be worn by all.
So long as one hat is being worn, no other hat is allowed (except the blue one, of course).
No decision-making is done until the whole process is complete. It sounds onerous, but if you’ve got a good mediator, it can work pretty well.
My meetings are often messier than this, but I segregate the comments and put them up so we can see if we are only black-hatting something, or if we are only red-hatting something. It shows the weakness in a discussion – and one weakness is when the ideas don’t even have a chance to begin with.
August 7, 2012 at 12:09 pm |
Thanks Lynn, could definitely visualize all the hats, great sequence, thanks for sharing. Might have to sneak the Mad Hatter in once in a while.
August 7, 2012 at 3:28 pm |
Thank you Lynn.
I love de Bono. My favorite quote of his is, “Those who think they know, don’t”
August 7, 2012 at 3:51 pm |
And it was Rumsfeld who said ‘there are things we don’t know we don’t know’…probably more dangerous’?
August 7, 2012 at 9:08 pm |
I use Six Thinking Hats as a tool in my consulting practice too. I physically have coloured hats in the meeting; people are often more engaged when there is something to not only see, but touch and feel. Like Lynn, I post up all contributions to the discussion in columns under an image of the colour of hat it belongs under. People are often surprised by how hard it actually is to truly have a balanced discussion but how creatively freeing it is to reserve any judgement until after the exercise!
August 8, 2012 at 8:07 am |
Love how you give tangible expressions to this concept.
August 7, 2012 at 11:45 am |
Passion ignites imagination and can become contagious, nothing creates belief like passion. With a vision, passion and belief ‘how. doesn’t matter, everything moves to align with the vision and the ‘how’ takes care of itself………..don’t you think?
August 7, 2012 at 3:29 pm |
Thank you James.
You are right…passion ignites imagination. In this post, I’m focusing on the opposite. Imagination ignites passion. We must imagine something before we can be passionate about it.
August 8, 2012 at 8:06 am |
I find myself very imaginative. And thus I find myself imagining why would I want to be a leader? What for? Why would I want to expend my creativity and efforts on ‘greater good’ for ungrateful majority, while I could do achieve personal excellence, benefiting me and my family?
But at the back of my head, I want to lead, because I think I can, but I’m confused.
August 8, 2012 at 8:17 am |
Thank you Chirayur.
You’re asking the right questions. Hopefully leadership doesn’t demand the sacrifice of the other priorities in your life. In the end leaders lead for the benefit of others. This doesn’t exclude the idea that they receive benefit as well. Just some thoughts to mull over.
August 13, 2012 at 8:45 pm |
Leaders who encourage people to be imaginative fire up the imagination machine. And as you said, people cannot go where they cannot imagine. Lead on with imagination, Dan!
August 21, 2012 at 1:05 am |
I imagine big,but my biggest weakness comes when my closest family and friends challenge me with the greatest question”How”?(: