Building a Culture of Innovation

The EVP of Marketing, Vic, was frustrated with his team. A highly intelligent and forceful leader, Vic demanded the best from his people. He held them to the highest standard, expecting them to demonstrate a deep understanding of the business and to execute flawlessly. His team members admired and feared him, and they did their best to meet his expectations. The problem was innovation. Vic was tired of being the only one on the team who came up with new ideas. He was sure others on his team had thoughts to contribute, but they didn’t speak up. He talked with me about his plan to foster innovative thinking on his team. He would hold a meeting and start by offering his best ideas, then invite others around the table to contribute theirs. I gently explained to Vic that his approach was unlikely to elicit the desired response. By offering his ideas first, he would generate agreement and support rather than challenge and creativity. And besides, his people were afraid of his sharp critique of their work. They were not going to offer up the kinds of half-baked ideas that lead to innovation. If Vic really wanted to create a climate that supported innovation, he would have to moderate his leadership style. He needed to make it safe for people to take risks and bring a playful attitude to their work. Fortunately, Vic was willing to reflect on his leadership and make some changes. As we worked together, I suggested that he incorporate an idea from improvisational theater – the technique of "Yes, and." In improv, one of the basic rules is to never reject someone else’s idea. When actors are trying to create a skit out of thin air, it is deadly to reject someone’s idea – it just kills the flow of the sketch. So the rule is that you always take the other person’s idea and build on it. The problem for business leaders is that most people who have some higher education have been well trained in the skill of critical thinking. This important cognitive skill involves the highly developed ability to see what is wrong with an idea – to challenge it, poke holes in it, find the flaws. This is the skill of "Yes, but..." While it is important to be able to critique ideas, when leaders do this too soon or too forcefully it intimidates people and makes them unwilling to speak up. "Yes, and..." is the skill of taking a flawed or incomplete idea and building on it. At his next team meeting, Vic surprised everyone by getting them to sit in pairs. Their task was to have a conversation in which every response started with the phrase, "Yes, and..." At first, people were suspicious and hesitant – it seemed very artificial. But as they carried out the exercise, it began to be fun. Each comment was greeted with, "Yes, and ...," and people began to enthusiastically build on each other’s ideas. To their surprise, the experience was fun and liberating. Did they come up with any brilliant innovative ideas in that exercise? No. But it opened up a new way of listening to each other’s contributions. In subsequent meetings they were less likely to immediately shoot down each other’s ideas, and Vic learned to be less aggressive in his critique as well. By continuing to develop a "Yes, and..." mindset over the next few months, the team did in fact become more innovative and creative. They developed some great ideas, they had more fun together and Vic wasn’t so frustrated any more.