At -
You define and recommend CC (creative correctness) instead of PC
(political correctness) in communication for the benefit of bringing out
the creativity in others. You suggest: "Use plain, simple commands in a
friendly and civil manner." In our organizations you suggest:
>Do yourself a favour. If you are a member of a LO, stop using CC (meaning PC?)
>incessantly. Explain your actions to anyone and not only those who demand
>it :- "From today I will use simple commands where I want creative
>results". Yes, begin commanding yourself in things which you have
>concluded that no progress is possible. At first the progress will seem
>to be a miracle, but eventually you will realise that it boils down to "to
>learn is to create".
>
>Here is a simple test to make sure that your organisation is not a LO.
>Begin to use simple commands to get creative results. Observe how other
>members of the organisation react to your imperative mode of speach.
AND WARN:
>Be ready to defend yourself from all sides. If you are a MD, do not assume
>that their fear for you will prevent them from attacking you under all
>sorts of cover.
This is very thought provoking. Working with obnoxious people obviously
enhances one's creative responses. Opposites clash. In my regional
cooperation work I seek ways to define a common ground in reaction to the
demands of all the local government stakeholders. I have referred to
myself in the past few years as "a professional trouble maker" since the
reactions to the issues raised are so negative. When I proposed to a
County Board of Supervisors that they participate in the region's Minimum
Instream Flow project in order that the critical points in the Shenandoah
River water flow be determined scientifically so that conservation
measures can be implemented before damage is done to the "beneficial uses"
the response was "Maybe we don't want to know that answer." They did not
agree to participate.
In business, this probably explains the value of "skunk works" for
generating new solutions in companies. The demanding (obnoxious) people
are squirrled away out of sight so they don't irritate others.
It is clear that I present leading questions to others in order to try to
get their agreement to the underlying assumptions. Don't we all?
I'd appreciate some examples of shifting to imperatives from questions,
from PC to CC.
Another issue this raises is the projected end of "Command and Control" -
where that is deemed not possible in today's complex world. If your
proposition is "Command and Create" then how is the creative soup managed
to produce output. What kind of process then takes the demanding members
of a team to a usable public product? The customer might be the judge -
but having the customer in the design process would seem to be better.
As always, thankful for your perspecitve living the learning imperative.
Tom
Tom Christoffel, AICP * e-mail: tjcdsgns@shentel.net
Futurist, Facilitator & Regional Planner - My mission: "Regions Work! The
business of regions." Why?
The economy is global; production is local; all markets in-between are regional.
Regional alignment of public data sets enables creativity and supports
sustainabilty.
*TJCdesigns * Box 1444 * Front Royal, Virginia (VA) 22630-1444 * Ph:
540-635-8582*
Regions Work Initiative discussion:
http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/regions_work
--Tom Christoffel <tjcdsgns@shentel.net>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>