Stressed? Mind the Gap

Stress is a constant friction that either hones our effectiveness or grinds us  down.  We work hard to deliver on ever-rising expectations in an ever-changing world.  It's not just work pressures - our own expectations keep rising.  The more we  achieve, the more we and others often expect. So we have our conscious and unconscious expectations - and then what  actually happens. As Peter Bregman pointed out, the gap between what you expect and what  actually happens is the underlying cause of stress.      To use stress well, it's critical to "mind the gap." On the London Underground, this means being mindful of how you step forward  from your subway car onto the platform of your destination. In life, this means being mindful of how you step forward from an unfulfilled  expectation into what actually happened.      You have two fundamental choices:  update your expectations or try to change  what's happening.  Trying to change the situation often creates more stress -  and you have more control over yourself than others - so it's productive to start  with updating your expectations.  Remember that other's behaviors and the changing landscape may have little to  do with you.  How you choose to respond to them has everything to do with you.   So travel well during your stressful days. Ask yourself -  "What am I assuming will happen today?"  -  and, "How well have I communicated this?"   When you're feeling stressed, ask -  "What was it that I expected that didn't pan out?"  -  and, "How important is this?"  -  and, "Where's the best opportunity now - in updating what I know and expect  or in changing the situation?" Then take a deep breath - and maybe another - and step confidently forward  into what actually happens next.

Innovation Leadership, With A Twist

You've learned core practices that build strong leadership, like setting the stage for your team's success, concentrating on what matters most, and leading by example.

  

Innovation leaders have the same kinds of practices, but they use them with a twist.

Innovation leaders set the stage for their teams by 

• consistently exposing them to new ideas and experiences
• protecting time to think
• building networks that include many different points of view
• and creating other interesting intersections, because that's where creativity occurs.

Innovation leaders pay particular attention to

• finding and spotlighting good questions
• looking for something they hadn't picked up on before
• seeing ways to create new combinations
• and highlighting the potential within fledgling ideas.

Innovation leaders set a distinctive personal example, of

• commitment to and passion for their work
• active experimentation, and effective uses of failure
• combining, building and improving upon ideas
• and celebrating once again finding an even better way.

If you want to build a stronger culture of innovation, start by noticing which of these practices come most naturally to you and then find ways to do them more, better or in combination with something new. 

  

Many innovation leadership practices are already in your grasp, you just have to use them with a twist.

Anti-Conventional Thinking

Want to try some unusually effective approaches to creative thinking?

Jeffrey Baumgartner studied the way “artists, writers, scientists and other creative geniuses” worked and noticed that they rarely followed the rules for brainstorming or creative problem solving (CPS).  Instead, they used intentionally unconventional approaches. 

They succeeded by using a provocative set of practices he summarized as “Anti-Conventional Thinking” (ACT)”   ACT encourages you to recognize conventional perspectives and then do something purposefully different. 

You can dip your toe in the ACT waters with some of the following practices.

When framing an issue:

If you’re stuck on a stubborn challenge, ask, “What’s a more extreme way to describe our goal?”  

So instead of asking, “How might we improve the customer experience with our services?” ask, “What would make our services as addictive as meth?”  or “How could we make our customers so happy they cry?”

Safer, more conventional ideas simply won’t work with these extreme statements, so you’re compelled to come up with more creative ones.  It’s OK if the provocative statement seems excessive, or if the ideas it prompts seems implausible.  It’s easier to tame down an outrageous but interesting idea than it is to juice up a bland one.

When generating ideas:

Only allow unconventional ideas.  Refuse to write down any conventional ideas.  You’ll get fewer ideas - but they’ll be more creative.

Encouraging respectful criticism of conventional or flawed ideas.  Criticism should be focused only on the idea.  The person giving the idea, and anyone else who’s moved to do so, is encouraged to defend and improve it. Again, you’ll get fewer ideas - but they’ll be better developed.

While brainstorming and CPS focus on generating long lists of raw ideas, anticipating that there will be a few gems in the midst, ACT aims to produce a few unconventional ideas that could have a brilliant impact.

When evaluating ideas:

Highlight the most unconventional ones and make them even better.  Consider potential weaknesses and how they could be addressed.  Find ways to make the ideas even more unconventional, and then identify how to make them work.

In other words, to get something different do something very different.  

Want to learn more?  You can read “ACT in a Nutshell” here. 

In-the-Moment Strategic Thinking

What's your first response in situations like  -  when an employee suggests a new, and somewhat risky, approach -  or a colleague is late with materials you need  -  or a customer requests a cut in rates? To stack the odds in your favor, don't respond to the situation.   Instead, think about the impact you want to create with your response,  and then choose your response. To paraphrase Peter Bregman, this means moving from the typical pattern of:        situation > response > outcome to:        situation > outcome > response. For example, when that employee suggests the new and risky approach (situation) if you want more of the status quo (outcome),  shoot the idea down (response). But if you want to encourage new and better ideas (outcome), have a PPCO conversation (response):             Plusses:  note what you like about the idea,             Potentials:  find ways to extend or build upon the idea,             Concerns:  only then - identify the drawbacks,             Opportunities:  and discuss ways they might be overcome. Responding to the outcome you want, rather than the situation itself, can help you amplify positive events and redirect less positive ones.        The more you practice a situation > outcome > response approach,  the more natural this in-the-moment strategic thinking will become, and the more time you'll spend on creating the outcomes that matter most.

Get a Grip on the Griping

Blamestorming can be seductive.  It's so pervasive that DIRECTV did a memorable spot on it.  It's just easier, not to mention self protective, to blame anyone but yourself for problems.  

Used judiciously, critical analysis reduces risks and improves ideas.  Used maliciously (for example, showing how smart you are by tearing down other's ideas) criticism saps energy, initiative and innovation. 

Whether it's a tolerated form of competitive positioning, a result of frustration, or simply a bad habit, the temptation to blame, vent and criticize is understandable.

And toxic.

So how to get a grip on the griping?

Here are three practices executives I've worked with have used productively: 

Refocus critical comments.  Diane Sawyer noticed that, "Criticism is just a really bad way of making a request.  So why not just make the request?"  Or, when someone else brings a criticism or complaint to you, shift the focus by asking what they want instead.

Check your intention.  Marshall Goldsmith recommends asking yourself three kinds of questions before voicing a complaint:  "Who will this comment help?  Is this comment the best way to help them?  Do I really believe what I'm about to say?"

Respect and practice the power of the positive. Shawn Achor researches positive outliers - people who are well above average.  He found that "...only 25 percent of job successes are predicted by I.Q. 75 percent of job successes are predicted by your optimism levels, your social support and your ability to see stress as a challenge instead of as a threat.... If you can raise somebody's level of positivity in the present, then their brain experiences what we now call a happiness advantage, which is your brain at positive performs significantly better than it does at negative, neutral or stressed. Your intelligence rises, your creativity rises, your energy levels rise. In fact, what we've found is that every single business outcome improves."