The Firefly Effect E-Book

Kimberly Douglas

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 432

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2009

Beschreibung

How can you tap into your team's creativity to tackle today's toughest business challenges? In The Firefly Effect, Kimberly Douglas presents inspiring yet pragmatic insights into getting your entire team firing on all cylinders and aiming in the right direction. Comparing the difficult act of harnessing and capturing creativity to the act of catching fireflies on a summer night, she will explain: * What to do when the fireflies don't show up (or when creativity dries up) * How to know when it's time to find a new meadow (or a new approach, place or process) * What to do if the leader is keeping too tight a lid on the jar (and team innovation is gasping for air) * How to get inventive when it rains on your firefly hunt (or parade of ideas) * What happens when everyone is too busy to join in (and group problems remain unresolved)

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Praise

Title Page

Copyright Page

Acknowledgements

Part I - Rediscover Your Creative Spark

Chapter One - What Is the Firefly Effect?

Chapter Two - The Individual—Creativity Found Again

Part II - The Leader’s Role—Creating the Right Environment

Chapter Three - The New Role of Leadership

Chapter Four - No Dissing the Red Quadrant

Chapter Five - Beware the Ferocious Firefly!

Chapter Six - Conflict as Creative Abrasion . . . a Pearl, a Diamond, or a Mountain?

Chapter Seven - Was It Something I Said?

Part III - The Leader’s Role—Targeting Team Energy

Chapter Eight - One Team—One Picture of Success

Chapter Nine - How Will You Know When You Get There?

Chapter Ten - Guiding Principles as Guiding Light

Part IV - Everyone Firing On All Cylinders

Chapter Eleven - Team Gatherings—Time to Shine

Chapter Twelve - Team Decisions: Fact or Fiction?

Chapter Thirteen - What to Do if the Leader Is Keeping Too Tight a Lid on the Jar

Chapter Fourteen - Shining the Light of Accountability

Part V - Sparking Creativity

Chapter Fifteen - The Firefly Chase Begins

Chapter Sixteen - How Could You Forget the Toys?

Chapter Seventeen - This Place Is a Zoo!

Chapter Eighteen - When Sparks Collide—Dealing with Interteam Conflict

Part VI - Sync—The Magic

Chapter Nineteen - There’s Something Going On in My Backyard!

Chapter Twenty - Change Is Not a Four-Letter Word!

Chapter Twenty-One - The End of the Day

Index

Praise for The Firefly Effect

“Who knew that learning about fireflies could shed so much light on the creativity inherent in all of us and the importance of unleashing that creativity in every team member to drive maximum team and organizational success! I found The Firefly Effect to be a great how-to handbook focused on inspirational and collaborative leadership. The wealth of practical, tried-and-true methods, as well as new ideas, suggestions, techniques and tools shared by Kimberly can be used to help leaders at all levels (even those who don’t yet see themselves as leaders). They can leverage the creativity in themselves and others to achieve new heights of innovation, more effective team relationships and interactions, and increased business and personal performance. This book is a must read for anyone interested in ‘becoming the change we want to see’.”

—Denise L. Billups Director, Sales Learning IBM Corporation

“At a time when everyone is looking for an extra something to win in the market, The Firefly Effect provides that practical spark that teams need. Kimberly’s passion and practicality come through in a highly usable guide to creating effective teams.”

—Timothy E. Sullivan Corporate Executive Vice President & Chief Information Officer SunTrust Banks, Inc.

“The Firefly Effect is a must-read for anyone who manages teams or is a member of one. Author Kimberly Douglas literally shines a light on the importance of appreciating differences, recognizing accountability, and embracing conflict as a force for change. Implementing the techniques in this book will allow any business—big or small—to thrive.”

—Laura Grams Director, CDO Global Learning Solutions Cisco Systems

“The Firefly Effect uses the childhood memories so many of us share of playing with friends to do something we thought was amazing as a metaphor to empower leaders to build, and be a part of, more collaborative, creative, and successful teams. Douglas draws on her experiences, successes, and challenges working with a great variety of organizations to make this book a practical and realistic guide for leaders to identify and use the strengths of team members to catalyze and inspire them to achieve their strategic goals.”

—Kelly Caffarelli President The Home Depot Foundation

“The author doesn’t just define management theories but instead uses relevant and interesting personal and professional experiences to highlight and inform the reader of the key points on how to lead a team. The section on the ‘new’ role of the team leader was particularly interesting and would be useful for any team leader in increasing the creativity and ultimately the results of a team. This book is very entertaining while also providing great advice of how to be an effective leader.”

—Bill Delahanty Senior Vice President, Human Resources ING

“I’ve had first-hand experience with Kimberly and her approach to building teams and inspiring creativity. This book builds a strong business case for establishing trust and leveraging creative abrasion. Kimberly speaks directly to you whether you are the team leader or team member. She understands that high performing teams deliver results! You’ll need a highlighter!”

—Jill Wilson Group Vice President, Human Resources Macy’s

“Kimberly Douglas’ book is concerned with developing teams of enthusiastic, collaborative, and creative problem solvers in the workplace. Easy to read, informative, and exceedingly charming, Ms. Douglas opens most of the book’s 21 chapters (6 sections) with a firefly story. She uses the natural history of this exceptional insect to preface her ‘stories’ about (ordinary) creativity and cooperativeness in the workplace, and other subjects as well. Transport yourself to your childhood; picture yourself in a field at night with net, flashlight, and collecting jar. You first have to figure out how to do it. Then, you work with your friends to capture these flying insects. The firefly field itself speaks to cooperativeness. The field contains flying males and landed females cooperating in a mating flash code. In a few North American species, the flying and flashing of 1000s of males occurs at the same (milliseconds) time. This cooperative flashing keeps the males from confusing the female, for they maintain the species code through their synchrony. Or, move to Southeast Asia, where the male fireflies are stationary. The synchrony is timed precisely. But, there is no conductor, no leader. This is a self-assembling array in which everyone stimulates everyone else as the males all adopt the same rhythm. Kimberly Douglas’ book will thrill you with the fun and creativity of fireflies in your childhood and help you to transport that creative energy into the workplace.”

—Dr. Jonathan Copeland Professor of Biology Georgia Southern University

“A must read for all human resources generalists, organizational effectiveness and talent management professionals, executive coaches, and leaders wanting to enhance the productivity of their workforce.”

—Mary T. Steele Director, Executive Compensation Delta Air Lines, Inc.

“If you know your team needs a jolt of creativity, but you don’t think of yourself as a creative leader—The Firefly Effect is a must read! Kimberly Douglas uses a story we all know—catching fireflies to light up a summer evening—to remind us how to ‘fire up’ our team’s energy and problem solving skills. Kimberly Douglas is right—we all have synchronous fireflies in our own backyard—we just need to look for them!”

—Nancy Vepraskas Vice President, Human Resources Genuine Parts Company

“True to its title, Douglas leverages creativity in this insightful guide that will appeal to both left and right-brain thinkers. Leaders everywhere will welcome this new approach that taps into innate human behavior to assist them in gaining greater productivity from their teams. A well-written, practical and imagery-laden reference for anyone who’s ever sought non-traditional, yet intuitive ways to release the logjam of blocked team thinking.”

—Dianne Bernez Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications Equifax Inc.

“A management team as a whole is usually smarter than any one member thinking and acting individually. Enabling individual contributions of creativity, while at the same time ensuring the team’s ‘creation’ is delivered on time, within scope, and able to be executed, can be a difficult task for a leader. The Firefly Effect is a practical and entertaining guide for leaders to do just that.”

—Rob Schreiner, MD, FACP Executive Medical Director, The Southeast Permanente Medical Group Kaiser Permanente Georgia

“Seeds of creativity exist everywhere, but they need a nurturing environment to grow; using the principles outlined by Kimberly in The Firefly Effect can help ignite innovation in just about any team.”

—Chris Powell Executive Vice President, Human Resources Scripps Networks, home of HGTV, Food Network, DIY Network, Fine Living Network and Great American Country (GAC)

Copyright © 2009 by Kimberly Douglas. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Douglas, Kimberly, 1958-

The firefly effect : build teams that capture creativity and catapult results / by Kimberly Douglas.

p. cm.

eISBN : 978-0-470-48543-9

1. Teams in the workplace. 2. Leadership. 3. Creative ability in business.

I. Title.

HD66.D675 2009

658.4’ 022-dc22

2008054903

Acknowledgments

I will always be amazed by and very grateful to those wonderful individuals I have had the pleasure of working with throughout the years, who sparked my creative urge to take this journey . . . and the many who helped my vision of The Firefly Effect to become a reality. On this path I encountered . . .

• The wonderful individuals for whom I have such respect and gratitude, who blur the line between client and colleague—Bo Adams, Kelly Caffarelli, Tom Darrow, Halle Holland, Henrietta King, Kathy O’Hara, Janet Parker, Rob Payne, Haven Riviere, Rob Schreiner, Brad Shaw, Elizabeth Spence, Nancy Vepraskas, Fred Wacker, and Ed Wolff.

• Amazing thought leaders who shared their provocative insights, and I hope made me a better resource to my clients. I personally thank you . . . Marshall Goldsmith, Pat Lencioni, Don Clifton, and Marcus Buckingham.

• The many people who were there when this book was just the flicker of an idea—Jennifer Kahnweiler, who first encouraged me to believe I had a book in me . . . Sam Horn, without whom the concept and the title would never have been . . . Marilynn Mobley, for her engaging and brilliant mind.

• Matt Holt, my publisher, who together with my editor, Shannon Vargo, first saw the potential of The Firefly Effect, and to Christine Moore and the rest of the dedicated team of professionals at Wiley, who incredibly grasped the creative magical metaphor of the fireflies and what they could signify to a whole business community trying to improve their teams’ capacity and capability.

• My many colleagues in SHRM and NSA, who have so freely shared their knowledge and expertise with me.

• My parents, Jeanne and Shelby Clark, and the rest of the members of our close-knit family (Debbie, Barbara, Bob, Van, Melanie, and Dorothy), who received (lived through!) regular updates on my book’s progress, always encouraging me that this was possible and that I really could do it.

• The rest of my extended family, with whom I first experienced the joy and fascination of coming together to chase fireflies which led to my passion for bringing teams together in the true spirit of collaboration and creativity.

And above all, I wish to thank my husband, D.K., who responded with an emphatic and loving “yes” when I asked if he thought I should write this book . . . and then worked side-by-side with me to make it an accomplishment of which I could be proud. Both you and our beautiful firefly of a daughter, Madison, encouraged, supported, and uplifted me. You fended for yourselves on more occasions than I would like to remember . . . all so that I could fulfill this dream. I can never thank you enough, yet I will spend the rest of our years together trying.

Part I

Rediscover Your Creative Spark

Chapter One

What Is the Firefly Effect?

Do you remember . . .

. . . the magic of a childhood summer evening?

. . . catching fireflies with your friends?

. . . watching in awe as they lit up the night?

The Firefly Effect will change how you discover and apply creativity within your team to get results. A lone firefly—like the lone genius—does not ignite the imagination of others. It takes the brilliant light of many, and the creative effort of the entire team, to truly spark innovation with impact. You will learn about proven tools and techniques that have already generated qualitative and quantitative results for hundreds of teams in such companies as Coca-Cola, Home Depot, and AT&T. The use of the “firefly hunt” metaphor—as well as facts about these fascinating creatures—along with actual client examples will make the process easy to understand, to remember, and to achieve.

So what exactly is the Firefly Effect? Well, it is the behavior on display anytime you see children chase fireflies. You might notice that:

• Few children chase fireflies alone. The excitement comes from the sharing of effort and results with others.

• Everyone is clear on what the goal is—to catch fireflies—and enthusiasm remains high, because their target is so well understood and so simple.

• Each individual knows his or her task. No one needs—or wants—a dictating leader.

• Children do not criticize one another on a good firefly hunt. Everyone is clearly giving his or her best effort.

• The group eagerly seeks out new and better ways to get to realize a successful result.

• In the end, there is joy in what they accomplished together.

This, in essence, is the Firefly Effect. It is first about the individual—how every one of us can rediscover our unique and creative talents and best apply these to enhance the group’s experience. Second, it is about the leader—how to be an almost invisible role model for inspiring others to do their best work. Third, it is about the team—using their individual talents collectively to focus on the critical business challenges and opportunities, instead of focusing their attention inward on petty personal differences. Finally, it is about the organization—having achieved powerful results as one team, then becoming a spark for the change that’s needed in other parts of the company so that you’re all ultimately working with a one-team mind-set.

Before we go further, I should clarify what I mean by creativity, and the scope of what we are undertaking here. My office is filled with books I have read on developing wacky, brainstorming prompts and driving organizational creativity. While many of these contain great tips and tools for discovering new product ideas—and I have used them with marketing teams for that very purpose—regular business teams focus most often on finding effective ways to capitalize on business opportunities and solve tough challenges. I am not trying to incite a creativity revolution across entire companies. I merely want to provide tools that can help guide you down a path that will dramatically improve your team’s effectiveness.

Your time is valuable and limited. If you lead teams, my promise to you is that reading this book will be worth your while. I know that this is a bold promise; yet I choose to make it, because I have written the book with you in mind. Team leaders—along with aspiring team leaders and ambitious team members—will find new insights and approaches that will make you even more effective in your role. Your entire team will benefit from reading this book and together applying what you learn.

To quote Samuel Johnson, “People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.” My hope is to remind you, in meaningful and memorable ways, of those unique differences that truly distinguish the very best aspects of powerful teams. These things are not hard to understand, but will require the group members’ commitment to stay on track. I have shown teams that once they take that first step and thereby experience—and celebrate—their early successes, a magical transformation occurs. And the momentum of their collective results sparks new levels of team effectiveness.

Each chapter will be brief and to the point, while also being fun, entertaining, and memorable through the use of firefly analogies and stories designed to create a flash of “Aha!” My goal is to create a handy field guide that can be used and referred to repeatedly. Here is a partial listing of topics to be covered:

• What to do when the fireflies don’t show up (or when creativity dries up).

• How to know when it’s time to find a new meadow (or a new approach, place, or process).

• What to do if the leader is keeping too tight a lid on the jar (and team innovation is gasping for air).

• How to get inventive when it rains on your firefly hunt (or parade of ideas).

• What happens when everyone is too busy to join in (and group problems remain unresolved).

• How synchronizing makes everyone’s light brighter (and how to tap into the power of synergized effort).

You can create the Firefly Effect in your team, group, or organization; and I will show you how to go about doing so. The first step on this path is to “Rediscover Your Creative Spark” (Part I). You have creative power within you, and the steps in this book will help you tap into it. You will find it in yourself to be alive and driven to do a great job.

Our journey continues with an exploration of the two critical roles of leadership. “Creating the Right Environment” (Part II) considers the new direction and calling for leaders to create a fertile environment for breakthrough creativity and business results. An appreciation of the unique talents and perspectives of each member, along with an unshakable foundation of trust are critical elements of team development. Once this groundwork is laid, conflict takes on a completely new meaning when viewed constructively as creative abrasion that leads to incredible breakthroughs.

Your team is undoubtedly comprised of a group of individuals who likely have very different personalities, talents, experiences, and points of view. How do very diverse people capitalize on their strengths? By “Targeting Team Energy” (Part III), all members of a team will have—despite their differences—a clear, common picture of the road on which they are traveling, the important mile markers, and guardrails for how we will work together.

Your team will truly be “Firing on All Cylinders” (Part IV) when you gain an insider’s perspective on the secrets of powerful collaboration, including how to maximize your time together, reach decisions based on each person’s candid input, and to hold each other accountable for honoring commitments.

Creativity really occurs when the fieldwork completed in the first four sections leads to “Sparking Creativity” (Part V). This section shows exactly how to do this, with creativity boosters, fixes for when the fireflies (aka creativity) don’t show up, and dealing with colliding team purposes.

The grand finale is a light show beyond compare—the magical synchronicity of thousands of fireflies. “Sync—The Magic” (Part VI) will renew your belief in the possible, and will show you that by experimenting with what you have learned, you can individually shine like never before. You will see how your role as leader is more empowering and fulfilling than you could ever have imagined, and the team and the organization as a whole will reach new heights of breakthrough performance.

My memory of chasing fireflies—of gathering them and having fun with those close to me as we all strove to achieve a common purpose—was so powerful for me that I chose to name my company after it: FireFly Facilitation. I have spent the past 10 years pursuing my passion by working with leaders to help them build more successful teams. The Firefly Effect is my way of sharing what I have taught and learned throughout the process. Now—let’s begin a new chapter about being part of a highly effective team!

Chapter Two

The Individual—Creativity Found Again

Limitations live only in our minds. But if we use our imaginations, our possibilities become limitless.

—Jamie Paolinetti

Everyone has the ability to be creative—if you broaden your concept of what creativity means, and if you know how to tap into it. My experience with hundreds of groups leads me to be able to say, with confidence, that at their core, great teams are comprised of creative, committed individuals who are using their best efforts to reach a common goal. In fact, teams that solve problems and tackle challenges together have a special bond that’s not often found in other groups. And they don’t see these challenges as drudgery or something outside the scope of their work; they view it as the excitement and fun of being a part of a team.

Think of the members of the team of which you are currently a member or a leader. Would creative and committed be the words you would use to describe each one of them? If not, how do you get them—or yourself—to acknowledge and willingly apply their original talents to the success of the group? Let’s begin by rethinking the very word creative.

We tend to hold grandiose views of creativity—why is this? Most likely because there are so many myths and misconceptions associated with this word. First of all, many of us think of creativity as being dichotomous—something you either have or you don’t, like blue eyes, brown hair, or left- and right-handedness. It is, most believe people, a trait with which you are born—or not.

Second, many consider being creative to be something you do versus something you are. This mind-set lends itself to fairly harsh judgment of our own creativity that is based on the value of output versus the ingenuity of the thinking. The emphasis on the left-brain side of creativity—the measurable side—has a tendency to shut down or silence our view of ourselves as creative. Because the notion that most of us are “naturally creative” doesn’t seem logical to us, it just doesn’t agree with our self-image.

A third myth that hinders creativity is that of the lone creative genius, á la Thomas Edison. The negative impact this inflicts upon the teams can be counterproductive. Often when one or two individuals on the team are held up to be the creative ones, the remaining members shrink back to the sidelines, waiting to hear what’s been decided. They believe that their job is to simply implement the ideas, not contribute in their formation. These groups will never know what was lost by not engaging the creative energy of everyone on the team. Even Thomas Edison’s greatest strength came from using an entire team of people to help generate his many inventions. He would be the first to acknowledge (and did!) that “Genius is one percent inspiration, and ninety-nine percent perspiration”—presumably that of others as well as his own.

Each of us has some creative abilities and contributions to make. And yet if I were to ask you about yours, in all likelihood you would deny—or at least downplay—these talents. Ask a preschooler this same question, and they can’t wait to proudly show you their latest creations. For many people, passage into adulthood has dimmed their creative aspirations. In fact, even though all fireflies glow when they are first born, some actually lose that ability when they become adults. How amazingly similar to what happens to so many individuals.

Do you remember how enjoyable it was to discover new things when you were younger? This childlike mentality is often replaced with more adult-centered thinking, such as knowing the right answer, and convincing others that we are correct. Creativity—both individual and team—evaporates.

As a member of the senior leadership team for a mortgage company I worked with, Mary liked being respected, and yes, even somewhat feared. During a recent team development session, I led the group through a card exercise based on the work of Ned Herrmann. (I’ll expand upon the Herrmann Whole Brain® model and assessment tool in a later chapter.) Each person was asked to choose three cards (with words and descriptions) most like them, and one card least like them. “Well, I know which of these cards is least like me!” she exclaimed as she quickly moved to pick up the “Creative” card before one of her teammates could.

As I had done in this same situation with so many others, I asked her to read the description below the words “It only says that you are able to make unique connections—you don’t have to say you are creative in the artistic sense of the word.” “Nope, this is least like me—no question about it,” she nodded vigorously as she stepped away from the table. It proved yet again that our sense of being uncreative is so strong that it often blinds us to what we have the potential to be.

Knowing all of this, how do you begin the process of rediscovering your unique creative abilities? Galileo said “You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself.” I believe leaders can play an incredibly powerful role here. They can encourage those on their teams to embrace a new mind-set about what we mean by the very word creative, which Webster’s New World Dictionary defines as “creating or able to create.” There is so much potential freedom within this simple definition, and yet the emphasis on the word able still makes it sound like a skill that you may or may not have.

What if we were to replace the dichotomous view of creativity—where you have it or don’t have it—with one that instead represents a continuum? On one end of the spectrum might be a piece of art recognized as being suitable for hanging in the Louvre next to the Mona Lisa. On the other end could be something as useful and common as a delicious meal whipped up from leftovers, the reorganization of a closet for greater capacity and efficiency, or the discovery of yet another inventive use for duct tape. Certainly all of us can see ourselves as being included somewhere along this broad spectrum. Unfortunately, as adults, we don’t think of these relatively simple tasks as worthy of being called creative.

So what will it take to convince you that you are creative? Let’s take a look at it through the eyes of youth. When I asked my 13-year-old daughter, Madison, how she would define creative (after remarking to me in typical teen fashion that my question was “random”), she replied off the top of her head: “To be original. To do something that no one else would think of.”

Wow—the power in that definition. Every one of us is—by the very nature of our DNA—original, and thus unique, each having a different view of the world brought about by our genetic makeup and our own life experiences. In fact, you could say that we each bring something new and different to the group.

The explosion of books and online assessment tools to help people evaluate their strengths is proof that many have a desire to discover their unique talents. Let’s explore finding yours right now. Take a mental trip back in time and remember when you did something that made you feel creative. What did that look like? How did you feel? What came easily to you? What could you do well that others couldn’t? I saw early signs of my own ability to facilitate as early as 10 years old, when I enlisted the kids in our neighborhood to perform in the plays I created and directed in our garage. My husband shared with me that he was most creative in the sandbox, building miniature cities with Matchbox cars and plastic soldiers. And as an adult, he became an entrepreneur—building businesses with multiple locations and real people.

Recall those times where you did something well that elicited praise from colleagues, friends, parents, or even a stranger. It could be as simple as hearing a comment from a passerby while you were fishing on how far out you were able to cast the line. It could be that you were the best at finding imaginative ways to have fun with other people’s discarded items; making houses, sleds, you name it, out of empty appliance boxes. Or you were always the last one to be found at hide-and-seek because of your uncanny ability to find the best spot.

Now fast forward into your adulthood. Think of a proj ect or an activity when you were in the zone, when you didn’t notice time passing or care how long it would take. Your energy and motivation grew as you got closer to achieving your goal. What were you doing? Where were you? Was anyone else there? What was the goal you were working toward?

Although you have likely experienced numerous occasions when you have felt lost in the moment like this, you probably just found it difficult to recall perhaps even one. If so, based on what I’ve observed, you’re in the majority. The current focus for much of our lives is on improving our weakest areas. Would you have responded faster if I had asked you what you needed to work on to be a better person, spouse, employee, or citizen of the world?

There is a familiar recruiting slogan for the Army—“Be all you can be.” I agree with that phrase, depending on whether you put the emphasis on the word all or the word you. One should not strive for all; this implies that we should always be pushing ourselves to get better, to work harder, and to struggle more. Instead, the emphasis should be on you—reinforcing the fact that we are each unique individuals with distinctive strengths and talents. If that’s the case, then people can discover and tap into the abilities at which they are especially strong. Yes, you may need to mitigate extreme weaknesses that might keep you from being able to function, but spend more time on your strengths. This is where you’ll find your greatest energy and motivation, and it will come to you easier.

In many of the team effectiveness sessions I lead, this question is often raised: Should people focus on their strengths or should they try to be well-rounded, Renaissance people who always strive to be best at everything? In particular, I have seen this long-standing controversy among the leaders with whom I work. The stance that a leader takes usually tells me a lot about them and their view of the inherent worth of others.

Recently, a senior leader at a retailer asked me which of these I thought was a better approach. I asked him to share his viewpoint with me (since this was obviously one of those situations where he already had an opinion when he asked me the question). “Well, I think you should first identify and reinforce what people are good at, instead of always focusing on their weaknesses to be overcome. Only then can you help them to improve in those other areas,” Bob shared with me. I think that this positive affirmation of his members’ strengths contributed significantly to the continued success of his team.

You might be thinking, “Sure, I’ve got some strengths; but does that make me creative?” One guaranteed path to discovering your unique creativity is using your inherent strengths to light the way. The creative aspect comes into play when you decide to apply those strengths to the situation, goal, or opportunity before you. Sometimes we need a stimulating event to change our view of what it means to be creative; I know, because it happened to me.

Even though I’m always encouraging others to view themselves as creative, I hadn’t been challenged to do the same for myself; and then a business colleague and author strongly suggested I write this book. My first reaction was to disregard her comment, because I didn’t see myself as being creative in that way—that is, as a professional writer. And then I recalled my college and graduate school days and thought, hey, wait a minute, I have written things that were published in professional journals. Maybe this wasn’t such a leap after all. So this spark of an idea began to take hold of me. Even I myself serve as an example of how often we turn a deaf ear (or a blind eye) to the cues that surround us.

The important thing to learn from all of this is that everyone has a creative spark within them. It can be a powerfully motivating force for you individually and an invaluable asset to the team if you have the confidence to tap into it and let it shine. So, what cue or spark of creativity have you pushed aside? Some questions that might help you discover this are: What do you like to do away from the office? What captures your interest when reading, traveling, or working? If you’re like me—as I suspect you might be—then nothing needs to change except your mind-set and your belief in your own creative potential. Pay more attention to what you are paying attention to.

You never know where your particular creative spark will come from . . . or where it will lead. I was having lunch with Lisa, a wonderful friend and colleague. In the course of our meal, she admitted to me that, as a guilty pleasure and escape from a very hectic work schedule, she reads romance novels and inspirational stories just before bed. One story in particular captured her imagination—Twenty Wishes by Debbie Macomber—about four widows who write down their wishes, and then begin to follow the path to their fulfillment. She decides that this sounds like just what she and her small circle of friends who meet monthly for dinner need to do.

Lisa’s own path takes her in a direction she hadn’t imagined. One of her wishes is to write a book. The very next day she receives a notice about a writer’s workshop at a nearby university, which she decides to attend. Weeks later, she receives an e-mail from me telling about the book I am writing. She is becoming more and more excited—and more open to this idea that a book could be in her future. This becomes the subject of the rest of our lunch—what the book is that she has in her. What is the creative spark in you just waiting to be ignited into a full flame? Are you turning toward or away from these whispers that you might be hearing? Take a chance. Accept the fact that you have creativity within you, and there is no telling where you will go if you free yourself to follow that possibility, no matter where it takes you.

Once you acknowledge that everybody, including yourself, has some natural creativity, then you will begin to act on it. The theory of cognitive dissonance states that the mind can’t hold two divergent pictures at the same time. It will try to close the gap. You need only believe in the picture that says you are creative, and you will begin to work toward making that perception reality.

An effective team is composed of individuals who recognize their own creative talents. If you change your view of the word creative from a quality that is inherent (or not!) and unattainable to one that’s more commonplace, and naturally present in each of us, then you, too can rediscover your creativity. Think back to your childhood and remember the things that you were able to do better than others, that came easily to you. This is the root of your creativity, and your current world is fertile ground for you to begin to explore it if you simply expand your awareness of the cues that surround you. The bottom line is that you control your creativity; but only after you recognize it within yourself. Rediscover your spark because, as a team leader, you want to light up your own creativity so that others will do the same.

Part II

The Leader’s Role—Creating the Right Environment

Chapter Three

The New Role of Leadership

The leaders who work most effectively . . . never say “I.” Andthat’s not because they have trained themselves not to say“I.” They don’t think “I.” They think “we”; they think “team.”They understand their job to be to make the team function.They accept responsibility and don’t sidestep it, but “we”gets the credit. This is what creates trust, what enables youto get the task done.

—Peter Drucker

Chapter 2 showed you how a shift in mind-set for what—and who—is creative can lead to an entirely new understanding of the word and of ourselves as creative beings. Now consider our notions about another vaguely defined term: leadership. As we did with creativity, we need to engage in new thinking about what constitutes an effective team—and a great team leader. As a country begins to make a transition from one founded on making the best use of the agricultural resources to one that focuses on capitalizing on its human resources, we see a related transition occur in an emphasis on a new role for leadership. Best-selling author Daniel Pink (A Whole New Mind) outlines this dramatic shift in America from the Agricultural Age, to the Industrial Age, to the Information Age, and now to the emerging Conceptual Age. And this transition is not just occurring in the United States, as evidenced by the theme of the 2008 World Economic Forum in Davos—collaborative innovation. The focus in many parts of the developed world is moving toward such skills and talents as creativity, empathy, intuition, and the ability to link seemingly unrelated objects and events into something new and different. This emphasis on those elements traditionally thought of as right-brained has been newly recognized as absolutely essential for the leader of the future.

There are other signs that there are new expectations in terms of leadership that are emerging in corporate America. In 2004-2005, the Center for Creative Leadership surveyed 118 executives and middle managers to compile “The State of Teams” report. This report found that 91 percent of respondents think that teams are central to the organization’s success; that 87 percent consider collaboration with other teams to be essential to achieving goals; and that 80 percent believe that leaders needed help building strong teams, and keeping them on track toward exceeding expectations.

A survey cited in BusinessWeek’s April 28, 2008, issue noted an interesting shift that’s under way. Across the entire surveyed population, only 30 percent said they were motivated to collaborate to accomplish a specific task, while 46 percent cited learning from others as motivation for collaborating. Women responded that they liked working together to learn from others only slightly more often than men (51 percent versus 40 percent). However, when you break the data down by age range, a fascinating pattern emerges. Of 18-to-24-year-olds, 60 percent said that they liked working together to learn from others, versus 44 percent of 25-to-64-year-olds and only 28 percent of those over the age of 65. It therefore appears that new entrants to the workforce are increasingly expecting to work as part of a team that proactively shares knowledge and skills among its members.

One anecdotal piece of evidence: For the last four years I have conducted workshops for the new management associates of a financial institution to teach them how to work together effectively in a team setting as they collaborate to successfully complete their group projects. For most of them, this is not a new concept, but rather carrying over into the corporate world what many of them have been doing since their college days. As any parent of today will attest, the roots of this shift to teamwork is even starting as young as kindergarten, when they discuss and reach agreement on how they will behave toward each other. Believe me, many of the teams I work with could take guidance from the no hitting and no biting rules. Even if the adult misbehaviors are through their words, the hurt and pain can be just as real.

Leading authority on Emotional Intelligence (EQ) Daniel Goleman is quoted as saying that “Sensitivity to emotional states (one’s own and others’) and effective relationship skills are the critical competencies . . . IQ and expertise are no longer considered the best predictors of performance or leadership effectiveness.” In fact, Goleman found that 85 to 95 percent of the difference between a “good leader” and an “excellent leader” is attributed to emotional intelligence (Working with Emotional Intelligence, 1998). We see this often today in how effectively change initiatives are implemented. There is abundant research that shows that even if the strategy for the change is the correct one, unless the leader can truly inspire employees to willingly give their discretionary effort to make the change a success, then execution fails. Effective implementation of critical changes is all about capturing the minds and hearts of followers.

So, what do today’s leaders need to do if they are to ensure collaborative innovation? In the following sections of The Firefly Effect, I will share with you tools and techniques for embodying the incredibly powerful, two-fold role you play as a leader:

1. To create and maintain a safe, respectful environment where individual creativity can emerge to its fullest potential (Part II, Chapters 4-7); and

2. To focus that creative energy in the right direction based upon the core purpose of the team and the targeted goals (Part III, Chapters 8-10).

The first calling of an innovative leader is to create a fertile environment that will allow creativity to be unleashed. Like the firefly, creativity cannot exist everywhere. Did you know that you won’t find the flash of a firefly west of the Rockies? It’s too dry. Only a few scrappy ones can exist there, and they don’t shine. Survival is their main objective. One could say their true calling as Lampyridae (their official family name, which translates as “shining fire”) is not fulfilled. The leader’s role is to create an environment where fireflies—or individuals—can not only survive, but also thrive and truly shine.

So how do you create this motivating, collaborative, and innovative environment? Each member of your group must first acknowledge that not only is he or she unique and creative, but that every other person on the team has different strengths and talents, and that those differences have the potential to provide incredible value if capitalized upon. And while recognizing their peers’ value lays the foundation for mutual respect and trust, leaders must ensure that team members spend quality time with each other building strong bonds. Finally, all members of the team must view conflict in a new way; not as a destructive, inevitable evil, but rather as a constructive source of creative abrasion. As Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar and the president of Pixar and Disney Animation Studios, captured this critical role of leaders so eloquently in his September 2008 Harvard Business Review article, “. . . getting talented people to work effectively with one another . . . takes trust and respect, which we as managers can’t mandate; they must be earned over time. What we can do is construct an environment that nurtures trusting and respectful relationships and unleashes everyone’s creativity . . . everyone feels that they are part of something extraordinary. If we get that right, the result is a vibrant community where talented people are loyal to one another and their collective work, everyone feels that they are part of something extraordinary, and their passion and accomplishments make the community a magnet for talented people.”

The second role of the leader, which I will explore further in Part III, is to find a way to target this creative energy in the right direction. The first priority is to be clear about the role or purpose of every team member, and to establish guiding principles for how the members will work together. The second priority will be to develop a common understanding of what success for the team means, and how it will be measured. Finally, you’ll want to create a timeline for the major milestones that you need to hit in order to accomplish these goals, with well-understood accountabilities and interdependencies, as well as a process for monitoring progress and course correcting.

In the following chapters, each of these components will be discussed in greater detail so that you’ll know exactly how to capture the creativity on your team and catapult it into results. If you decide to embrace the new expectations, you’ll find that this is an exciting time to be a leader. And as the research above clearly states, you will find a ready and willing labor force emerging who want to work together in a new way.

Chapter Four

No Dissing the Red Quadrant

The world as we see it is only the world as we see it. Others may see it differently.

—Albert Einstein

I have found through my own experience that at the core of every great team are individuals who recognize the differences among them, and have learned to see these unique qualities as a source of value to the group. I love the analogy that Marcus Buckingham uses in his book The One Thing You Need to Know; and I share it with my clients on a regular basis, because it creates such a beautiful and memorable image. Buckingham claims that skillful managers are like great chess players; they know the unique strengths of each player on the team, and are able to use those strengths to their greatest advantage. Mediocre managers, on the other hand, play checkers. Think about it; the pieces all move the same way in checkers. In a game of chess, however, a player must learn how each individual piece moves, and then use this knowledge of each piece to accomplish the work of the team. I have found that it is so much more powerful if everyone on the team—not just the leader—sees each other as valuable chess pieces, and not as simple red or black checkers.

Thus, truly effective leaders have moved away from the notion that treating everyone equally works and have embraced the idea that everyone needs to be treated differently, and as an individual. Enlightened leaders value the process of discovering the unique qualities of each person (including themselves), and create a safe environment in which every member of the team can knowingly and proudly claim those differences, and then apply them in an optimal way to achieve the goals of the team. I’m talking about differences that are not visible to others, those that are deeper than race, sex, job title, and even daily responsibilities. The kind of variation that I mean includes how team members think, what drives them, what kind of work they do best, how they like to be rewarded and recognized, and so on. It is a leader’s role to light the way by making this kind of inquiry a priority, and by finding the tools and processes that will allow people to see each other in a new light. However, this is not solely the leader’s responsibility; everyone on the team needs to get on board with this concept of appreciating the inherent individuality and worth of every other member. Then, they can focus together on how best to apply each team member’s unique combination of skills and experiences to make the team better.

Speaking of diversity within a group—how many species of fireflies do you think there are? Would you guess 2 . . . 10 . . . 20? Would you believe there are more than 2,000 known species worldwide today? There are 170 in the United States alone, and more are being discovered each year. Who knew something that appears to be so simple on the outside could be so complex? And yet, how much more complex and unique are each one of us? How much greater is our individual capacity to shine brilliantly?

You have probably heard the familiar adage that leaders should hire people who are unlike themselves. Unfortunately, even when we get that part right, we then make the mistake of inadvertently—or even overtly—attempting to get these new hires to conform to the norms of the group, or to hide their uniqueness in order to fit in. On a more personal level, we often see this occurrence in many marriages; opposites attract, right? But then you run the risk of spending the rest of your lives trying to change the very differences that first attracted you.

I remember when I joined the human resources team of a large, very successful consumer products organization. There were several of us brought in from the outside at the same time. The company’s intention was to hire us as change agents—employees who would really shake things up and help move the company in a new direction. Before I left two and a half years later, I remarked to a close colleague, “You know, it felt like being in the old sci-fi movie The Blob. They said they wanted change; but in fact, I felt like they just kept sucking me back in to conform and become part of ‘the norm.’ I had to make a choice.” I so wanted to be valued for the different perspective I could bring, and the positive impact I could have. Perhaps I didn’t know how to shape the message in a way that could be heard. As a consultant used to having the change happen on my timeline, perhaps I was too impatient. I was reminded how hard it is to stand out. If you don’t have the leadership’s support to truly be the different person that the company hired you to be, then you will either be sucked under or compelled to leave.