What does “critical naivete” mean to you?
What led to this unique design?
(image courtesy of Seattle Central Library)
“If you study a problem with critical naivete you will come up with a solution that has not been seen before”
I live in Seattle, home of the iconic Seattle Central Library. The library is truly a magical place.
When I came across the above quote in an article*, I was bowled over by how similar their philosophy is to our mission at The Potential Center® which is to help emerging managers stand out, get noticed, and guide their team in discovering solutions that haven’t been seen before.
“Critical naivete” also resonates because naivete implies childhood, which includes a lot of play. Play is crucial for kids, as a way to explore and learn, to experiment and adjust, to build social skills, and to be led by curiosity and wonder. Applying the principles of play to creative problem-solving in adulthood means transporting ourselves back to a time when play was our domain.
Looking for the right answer
Typically, though, we feel we have to get the answer right, right from the start. But playing and exploring and dreaming moves us forward – you can’t have a different future unless you can dream about it – so give up on that idea of getting it right the first time.
I talk more about the power of play in a previous blog post.
Is it right,… or is it habit?
Here’s another quote from Rex Architects in that article*:
““We showed that a lot of conventions aren’t rational… they’re just conventions.””
Another way of putting it is that “When you always do what you’ve always done, you always get what you’ve always got.” In other words, we create conventions simply by falling back on habitual ways of thinking and doing things. Play busts you out of that box of habitual thinking by purposely providing constraints that get us to think in a certain way.
Playing with constraints
Experiment with this approach by challenging people to finish these sentences:
“Imagine that [there was no…; a creature from outer space saw…; etc]”
“Let’s pretend that [peanut butter didn’t exist; children stay children and there are no adults; etc]”
“What would [Superman; Yoda; Martha Stewart; your hero] say about this problem?”
Want to learn fun ways for teams to come up with ideas?
You’ll gain new methods for creative problem-solving that help you stand out, at our upcoming webinar “Becoming a Rockstar Manager: Stand Out, Get Noticed, and Set Yourself Up For Promotion!”.
*The full article can be found here.
I coach emerging managers who want to excel at their work without losing their spark. I show them how to build and lead a creative team that consistently delivers new ideas and solves difficult problems while having fun, so they can have a work experience that’s rewarding and meaningful, and which gets them noticed.
If you’d like to see what tapping into creative potential could look like at your place of work, contact me at Ellia@ThePotentialCenter.com to arrange a no-obligation call.