Transcript No Slide Title

LCS
A Simple Way to
Keep New Ideas Alive
@ Idea Champions, 2002
Have you ever had a
really good idea only to
have it squashed by
the powers-that-be?
You knew your idea was
hot. You knew it was going
to make a difference. You
knew it had the potential of
becoming the “next big
thing” (or at least the next
little thing) – and yet the
people you pitched it to just
didn’t see its value.
But not only that, they
insisted on telling you
everything that was “flawed”
about it… why it wouldn’t
work.. why it couldn’t work..
why the timing was wrong…
why it was too expensive…
too quirky, too risky and
too, too, too, too, everything
else.
(You know what Charles Kettering, the esteemed British
scientist and philosopher, said about this phenomenon?)
“Man is so constituted as to see what
is wrong with a new thing, not what is
right. To verify this, you have but to
submit a new idea to a committee.
They will obliterate 90 percent of
rightness for the sake of 10 percent
wrongness. The possibilities a new
idea opens up are not visualized,
because not one person in a
thousand has imagination.”
This kind of nay saying behavior –
often called “idea killing” – has
become a kind of indoor corporate
sport in America. And no matter
how much a company proclaims
its commitment to “more
innovation,” this sport – like some
kind of weird calf-roping event
gone wild – continues to entangle
even the most inspired of fledgling
innovators.
What do idea killers do?
They look for what’s wrong with a
new idea before looking for
what’s right. They judge, ridicule,
criticize, denounce, disapprove,
trash, diss, dismiss, and evaluate
too much and too soon, often
shutting down the creative spark
in others – a spark that requires
far more nurturing and postive
regard than most people realize.
You know what it looks like:
• Frowning
• Rolling of eyes
• Folded arms
• Blank stares
But what does it sound like?
1. “We’ve tried that already.”
2. “It’s not in the budget.”
3. “That’s the stupidest thing I ever heard.”
4. “We have enough problems around here.”
5. “The boss won’t go for it.”
6. “When are you going to find the time to do it?”
7. “Why don’t you form a committee?”
Ouch!
Not only is the baby
thrown out with the
bath water… so is
the bathtub.
Of course, not every
idea deserves serious
consideration,
development and
funding.
Still, many ideas being
pitched daily in your
organization deserve a
much fairer hearing
than they are getting.
Why don’t they get a fair hearing?
1. New ideas make most people uncomfortable
2. New ideas usually create new problems
3. Most people are consumed with their own ideas
4. Few people take the time to stop and listen
5. New ideas imply change and most people, no matter
what they say, simply don’t like change.
And the Price Your
Company Pays?
Aspiring innovators tire of being
disregarded and eventually:
1. Withhold their brilliance
2. Gripe and grumble
3. Become idea killers, too
4. Quit
If you want to
elicit new ideas
from others...
Start listening
and responding
in a new way.
It’s a know brainer
But how?
How do you actually turn this theory into action?
How do you actually
institute an honorable,
simple-to-use process
that will significantly
increase your
company’s ability to
elicit, develop, and
eventually implement
new ideas from it’s
workforce?
LCS
Likes
Concerns
Suggestions
Alright then, what is it?
It’s a user friendly
way to neutralize
the virus of kneejerk negativity in
response to the
articulation of
new ideas.
And it works for anyone who tries it:
• Left-brained people
• Right-brained people
• Air-brained people
• Hair-brained people
• Reptilian-brained people
Bottom line, it’s a
simple way to give and
receive feedback on
new ideas – a way that
empowers aspiring
innovators and turns
potential adversaries
into creative
collaborators.
How does it work?
Like this:
When someone pitches you a
new idea, instead of immediately
telling them what’s wrong with it,
begin instead by genuinely
acknowledging what you like
about it. (This not only builds
rapport with the idea originator, it
sets the context for some useful,
just-in-time, creative
brainstorming.)
Then, after you express your
“likes,” you proceed to
express your concerns about
the idea, but instead of just
“hitting and running,” you take
responsibility for following
each of your concerns with a
suggestion, offering ways to
improve or refine the idea that
has just been pitched.
This process enables the idea
originator to get feedback in a humane
way. It short circuits the tendency to
look for what’s wrong first – a behavior
that usually leaves aspiring innovators
feeling diminished, disempowered and
defensive.
Simply put, LCS turns potential “idea
killers” into active collaborators. You
get the best of another person’s
thinking rather than the worst of their
hair-trigger, mood-driven analysis.
The result is alchemical.
It turns lead into gold.
We’re not saying that LCS is a
magic pill. It isn’t.
But it is a powerful antidote to
idea killing.
It neutralizes knee jerk negativity
long enough to allow a new idea
enough breathing room to have a
life after its initial conception.
Precisely what new ideas need in
the early stages of their
development.
Should you use LCS every time
someone pitches you a new idea?
Probably not. (It might get tedious).
But you should use it sometimes –
at least when you see the glimmer
of a possibility being articulated.
And when you want to support the
creative process in another.
And when you want to do your part
to help establish a culture of
innovation in your organization.
Ultimately, you have nothing
to lose.
Oh, maybe a few minutes
here and there, but in the
end, the extra effort you
make to give useful feedback
on a new idea may just be
the difference between a
brilliant breakthrough and
business as usual.
SO…
Are you willing to do
something different in order
to get a different result?
When can you try
LCS this week?
With whom?
“If not YOU, who? If not NOW, when?”
LCS
Likes… Concerns… Suggestions
© IDEA CHAMPIONS
[email protected]
845-679-1066
“We need to entertain every prospect of
novelty, every chance that could result in
new combinations, and subject them to the
most impartial scrutiny, for the probability is
that 999 of them will amount to nothing,
either because they are worthless or
because we shall not know how to elicit
their value, but we had better entertain
them all, however skeptically, for the
thousandth may be the one that will
change the world.” – Alfred North Whitehead
Man, I wish they had
LCS back in my day.
The wheel would have
been invented a whole
lot sooner!
Hey, that’s it! Show’s
over! Go back to
work! If you want to
get more cool shows
like this*, call Idea
Champions at 845679-1066
* Ask for the “Innovation Assurance” series.