Great Ideas
Where do great ideas come from? One group may brainstorm to solve a problem; another may ask peers to find out what already works. In a creative environment, one idea sparks another as a group works together to discover a unique solution. This is not only productive but energizing, leading to even more great ideas.
As a pathologist once told me, "If you have a great idea, give it away." The effect can be like dropping a ping pong ball into a roomful of ping pong balls sitting on mousetraps: it causes a chain reaction. Before you know it, everyone has ideas. People are talking about new approaches, new ways of doing things, and new perspectives.
But as a marketing director once told me, "The pull is always down." In many environments, people are inherently pessimistic, disinterested, or just working for a paycheck. According to Gallup, only a third of employees are "engaged" and have a drive to be innovative. There is little difference between for-profit and non-profit hospitals. Most people, it turns out, are going through the motions.
But it doesn't have to be so. There are places to work where there is a "buzz" of ideas. These are the places where meetings are not droning lectures but active discussions. Where solutions-real solutions-happen every day on the front lines with or without management. Where, surely, most employees are engaged. And where, most importantly, we all want to work.
How do we get there? I think giving away ideas, great or not, is one answer. And management needs to encourage this, seeing ideas as catalysts rather than threats. The end of every meeting can be a round-robin of suggestions. Brainstorming sessions, message boards, suggestion boxes, and even email are good-anything that works. Such open discussions can generate a buzz, changing a workplace from mediocre to great.
No one wants to work in a laboratory or hospital that leaves one drained, dull-eyed, and dreading returning to work. We all want to work at a place that is exciting, progressive, and filled with great ideas.