More on Doodlers

In the last post - Doodles - I talked about the merit of innovation through chaos and a quick exercise by the act of drawing/doodling.

I heard a piece on NBC Nightly News Fri night about doodling. There was a recent study performed that discovered actual benefits to doodling...apparently it keeps your mind sharp. Full Article.

Try it out the next time you're in a long meeting!

Doodles

Reading The Designful Company: How to build a culture of nonstop innovation, has definitely gotten the rhombus (i.e. not square) side of my brain pumping. Its led me to consider how ideas are generated that follow non-method based formats. I'm talking about Flux Capacitor ideas - those ideas that come when you bump your head in the middle of the night. Ideas that you have to immediately write it down or they are lost forever.

If you can't sit down and force those ideas out by sheer willpower, can you at least give them more opportunities to surface?

I believe so.

I've noticed two main things that seem to fuel these types of ideas in me - frustration (even sometimes anger) & chaos. Let me explain...

Frustration is usually birthed out of someone presenting me with a problem that goes completely contrary to a deeply held belief or ideal. Out of fear, I want to immediately reject the opposing idea, considering its failure to altogether recognize key flaws. And here's where things get tricky...if I will stop myself from immediately rejecting the idea, and pause for even 10 minutes - quieting my internal mental arguments - a funny thing starts to happen...I start to see a new side of the issue I never saw before. Its not that I change my mind, or even give up my original opinion. It merely causes me to explore one side of the issue I had never even known existed previously. And when I explore that new angle, and then revisit my original ideal, the compounding result is that a solution emerges that both addresses my previous concerns as well as stretches beyond them.

Chaos is the second place where I see new ideas begin to emerge. Sitting in the midst of competing priorities, limited time, budgets...colliding constraints, stress starts to set in. Stress can do a lot of things to you, but if you stick with it for a minute, I find many times you start to see patterns take shape in the midst of the choas. You stop seeing lines on a page and start seeing musical notes. You can actually give this one a try in a simple exercise...

Draw a series of random, disconnected lines all over a page (you can also just draw a number of dots). Start connecting those lines or dots randomly until you have about 5-6 connecting lines. Now stop, put down your pen, and look back at the lines you just connected. Don't stare at the lines individually, but look around them and in between them. See it yet...a shape, a person's face, a dog, a car?

This is not magic eye; its merely your eye ordering the lines into some recognizable pattern. Your mind can do the same thing with the chaos around you.

So the take-away is this - as a Middle Manager, let the frustration and chaos act as a catalyst toward truly innovative solutions. Resist letting them shut you down.

There will be more thoughts coming in the weeks ahead on this topic...so stay tuned.

The Deteriorating Art of Email

The Pony Express, Morse Code, 2-Way Radios, FedEx, Certified Mail, Email, Facebook, Twitter. The speed at which communication changes is increasing - and will continue to - and so goes the question everyone (especially old people) asks: "Is it for the better?".

Email can be a great tool, but it is not always the best form of communication. Confrontation by way of email never works; explaining a new process to someone via email is a bad idea; discussing sensitive information by email is risky. Email is great for quick, on-demand communication, but it is not THE communication platform to rely on. So as MMs, we're left with the task of determining when we should email and when we should actually pick up the phone and call someone, or even meet in person.

Then there is the challenge of actually managing emails. All emails should be responded to in some form or fashion - whether by email or a phone call. But an email should never be ignored.*
*Speaking of email management, I have to mention that Blackberry users can be some of the worst when it comes to response rate. It is hit or miss...people either get an email via Blackberry and respond immediately or not at all. It can be a totally unreliable way of keeping up with emails. It keeps you, the user, informed - but does not reciprocate back to the sender. Blackberry users - beware of this bad habit.

And last, there's the issue of tone. Emails can leave much to be translated on the part of the recipient - so if you are not absolutely clear, you may unintentionally cause someone to read between the lines. A great way to avoid the unintentional email miscommunication is to read through your email at least twice before you send it. How positive does it sound? Does it do more than just communicate facts...does it communicate the right tone, style, and personality?

Email is not Morse Code...there is more of an art to it than "send message A to person B", and it requires more than a quick type and send.

Don't be lazy with email...manage it, leverage it, and pick up the phone every now and then.

Curve Ball Index

I love it when things go along at a predictable pace. Not too much work, not too little; projects that are challenging, but too much so; information that takes some problem solving, but not straining effort. Basically, I like to be comfortable. Nothing earth-shattering about that.

The problem with that mentality is that it assumes that anything can ever be truly comfortable. No matter what, the pasture will always be greener, there's always that one issue, that one project we're waiting on to end, that one pending catastrophe that looms out there. Its the curve balls we get thrown in most areas of life, including in our roles as Managers, that trouble us.

I like to call our ability to respond to these issues our CBI (Curve Ball Index). Do we expect it, do we anticipate it, or do we get angry, frustrated, and fearful when they head our way? Depending on the situation, I'm probably higher and lower at times, but I'm never fully ok with the unexpected shake-ups.

I think the simple thing we can do is accept that this is a reality we all face, and allow ourselves to embrace it the more we are confronted with it. This isn't something we can manufacture, but it is something we can allow to shape each of us the longer we Manage and the longer we learn.

Accept the curves.