Criticism is Stupid

Criticism is easy.  Any knucklehead can do it.

Real genius is in seeing why something will work rather than the 100 reasons why it won’t.

photo by daftgirly

photo by daftgirly

As the team leader you need solutions from your team.  You need them to unabashedly throw out half-baked ideas because it’s only from those nascent thoughts that real change comes.  Allowing criticism to creep into your work environment creates a competitive scenario where people are first looking to score points by killing the ideas of others rather than coming up with solutions of their own.

Instead focus on collaboration.  People shouldn’t be made to feel stupid because there were a couple flaws in their idea.  Focus on what works in the idea and follow those breadcrumbs.

It all begins with you.  The team will follow your lead.  With that, a few thoughts:

  • Encourage your team to throw out their filters
  • Don’t tolerate criticism.  Instead require people to build off the original idea if they feel the need to comment
  • When presented with a problem ignore your first reaction to spew out an answer.  Ask people for their solutions first.  Get them in the habit of thinking ahead and seeing opportunity instead of hurdles
  • Have fun with your failures.  Celebrate them in a light-hearted way.  It’s not the end of the world
  • Act on the ideas. If your idea will change the world then you’ll need to know how.  Often the problems you thought you would have before your idea was unleashed aren’t the ones that matter most

This is something I struggle with all the time in my internal voice.  I’m my own greatest critic, but I’m changing.  What else do you have?  Any other ideas?

Posted by brentdaily on May 4, 2009 | 1 comment so far | Business, Coaching, Creativity, Feedback, Motivation, communication

Creative Leadership

photo by oljmpya

photo by oljmpya

A good friend just started blogging at the Harvard Business site on “creativity in leadership.”  Clearly a topic that is right up the alley for RoundPegg.   There couldn’t be two more interesting people to start the discussion on this topic.  I’m definitely looking forward to more.

Until then, a couple thoughts on the human side of creative leadership:

1.  Creativity is at the heart of engagement.  Engagement leads to creativity, innovation and problem-solving.  Each being the root of any competitive advantage a knowledge business enjoys.

But what if our leaders aren’t engaged?  Then we’re stuck with trickle-down demotivation. There has to be something more than the weight of the world on one’s shoulders, a big ego or out-sized bonuses to motivate.  People are intuitive enough to recognize when selfish motivation drives a leader.  People are inspired by being human and the excitement, optimism, creativity and passion that comes with it.

2.  Leading people is indeed a creative endeavor.  Approaching leadership with a one size fits all approach fails to recognize the differences in each of us and fails to take advantage of what we each uniquely bring to the table.  Knowing how to handle those differences requires a flexible approach and one that creatively utilizes each of us.

Posted by brentdaily on March 20, 2009 | Add a comment | Creativity, Engagement, Inspiration, Leadership