Good Manners and Innovation

Brainstorming sessions can easily devolve into a contest of strong egos or a

parade of old, tired ideas and their accompanying resentments. Worse,
meetings around ideation or innovation sour when there is lack of good
manners.
Like roommates coming to terms on who cleans what and when, applying a
few, simple house rules on the front end preserves relationships and creates
a harmony in the environment.
Discipline is the handmaiden to creativity. You have to give the creative
process a framework, basic parameters, to harness its value. Setting the
house rules gives you the power to make something outside of preprogrammed egos in the room, something that may make you a market
leader.
So, how do you manage this oh-so-human-tendency to dominate with the
timeless cornerstone of civilization, good manners?
These manners often have to be imposed externally as social reinforcements
to do the right thing instead of acting heedlessly on our own blinding
passions in a creative frenzy.
The manners become house rules from generating a profusion of ideas. At
this stage, research proves true again and again, the more ideas created the
more valuable. So, the idea isnt to analyze each embryonic concept at this
stage, but to create a trusting environment that allows for maximum idea
creation.
Here are several examples of manners that can be used to create an effective
innovation environment.
First, use good manners. This means doing what your mother should have
told you. Dont interrupt. Have only one conversation going at any time.
Listen respectfully. Dont judge. Dont bring your unruly pets (old ideas and
rigid notions) to the party. Create a sense of trust.
Second, silence the inner editor. This is not the time to analyze or criticize, as
natural as that impulse may be. Creativity is a process. Killing an idea before
it has time to take its first breath and develop is akin to being a schoolyard
bully. Leave your ego at the door. Be vulnerable and have fun.
Third, trust the process. There will be several steps in the process that will
merit further exploration of a concept, so apply patience. More will be
revealed, if you allow the generative creativity. A moderator will guide this
discovery through a series of formal exercises designed for this process.

We could get more elaborate and craft a Ten Commandments of Innovation,

but why? This move may inhibit the joy and outcome of the process. Stay
simple.
Keep in mind that this a session where creativity and good manners will work
hand-in-glove to generate a wealth of fresh thinking.