Praise First

Thinking is an art, with its own purposes, standards, principles, rules, strategies, and precautions. And it is an art well worth learning, for every important thing we do is affected by our habits of mind.

–Vincent Ryan Ruggiero

After a recent workshop, a teacher asked me in private, “Are we SERIOUSLY serious about fostering creative thinking in our curriculum?” A student jokingly commented that teachers are ‘2 fast 2 furious’ to point out flaws and judge ideas. A colleague felt proud that she has a brilliant idea to present to her team leader but at the same time felt a sense of vulnerability.

Transformational leadership (Downton, 1973) focuses on developing others to their fullest potential. In recent developments, Northouse’s (2004) listed intellectual stimulation as one of the main characteristics of transformational leadership. Based on his description that transformational leaders “stimulate followers to be creative and innovative”, are we - leaders shaping Singapore’s education landscape - providing sufficient room to “try new approaches and develop innovative ways of dealing with organizational issues” (p.177)?

What’s wrong with MY ideas ?!@#!

Do you know that you have a reptile living in your brainstem? Our “gator brain”, like that of the entire brain of an alligator is solely concerned with survival - food, protection, turf guarding , and yes…. reproduction. Animals comfortable in their natural environment will regard any change as a threat. Thus, their natural instinct in dealing with “newness” will include the following: kill it, eat it, and run from it (or mate with it).

If you want to think creatively, then you had better break away from old mental habits - think ‘out of the box’! Many people automatically kill new ideas when they start thinking “Mine-is-better” and it does not help that our tendency to over-rationalize (even at the expense of compounding a mistake), or simply to give in to irrational prejudice by way of stereotyping. Unfortunately, they also destroy the possibility of innovation, creativity, or improving morale with such early closures.

Back to our ‘gator brain’: Thankfully, we are blessed with a neo-cortex (the “innovative brain”) which has the capacity to override the primitive instincts of the brainstem. That means, MAN can be creative by treating “newness” with curiosity, defer judgment and identify possibilities in new ideas. In short, we can be smarter than gators- if we choose to be. Instead of dampening the spirit of creativity, if you spot the “holes” in the ideas first- ideas that seem too “fresh” or dangerously too risky, use Praise First to evaluate and strengthen an idea to give it extra bite!

Praise First- Pluses, Potentials, Concerns, Overcome Concerns (PPCO)

Praise First is founded on the principle of affirmative judgment. The technique allows the expression of both positive and negative responses to an idea without crushing its potential – or its originator. Instead of jumping in to critique an idea, seek first the value in it. Express what you like about it. Think about what might be possible if it worked. THEN, present your concerns as questions to invite further thinking. Praise First is a great way to strengthen the idea (and the originator) by identifying key shortcomings and highlighting key advantages by laying the cards on the table. It is also a powerful tool for the team to brainstorm on how to overcome concerns together.

Praise First is not only a great tool to analyze and improve ideas by transforming them into workable solutions, it is also very useful to provide feedback on behaviour products or proposals. (Refer to www.think-learn-grow.blogspot.com for an example of how I used Praise First during a classroom boservation)


Thomas Edison once said, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” The deliberate work to affirm new ideas is such an opportunity.

The Future is in Your Mind

I bought a shapes chunky puzzle for my 10 months old daughter. While she was toying with the pieces, my wife with all good intentions commented, “Darling, you cannot fit a round block into a square hole.” Shortly after, the baby amazingly took some scrap cloths to pad the base of the block and managed to make that supposedly impossible fit. The point is, to envision the possibility of change, evaluate ideas in an affirmative and developmental approach. As the former UCLA basketball coach John Wooden said, “Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.”

References:

Downton, J. V. (1973). Rebel leadership: Commitment and charisma in a revolutionary process. New York: Free Press.

Miller, B. J., Vehar, J. R.; Firestien, R. L. (2001). CPS facilitation: A door to creative leadership (3rd Ed.) . Williamsville, NY: Innovation Systems Group.

Northouse, P. G. (2004). Leadership: Theory and practice (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Puccio, G. J., Murdock, M. C., & Mance, M. (2007). Creative leadership: Skills that drive change. Three Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.