How Successful Organizations Avoid Creative Killers Like “That Guy”

Have ever been in a meeting and as soon as “that guy” walks in the room, you feel the air get sucked out of the space? There is NOTHING worse than being the person who is sitting in the room ready to share your most bold ideas EVER, only to see the “that guy” coming in to kill all of our creative dreams!

How do we navigate the idea killers and protect our courage?

Asking questions is vital to a team’s success. Knowing when to ask them is an art. We have all been in those brainstorming meetings where we are trying our best to be brave and share an idea we know is only, but we think that if we can just get it out, it might spin off into something great. So we take a big gulp and go for it only to be shut down by “that guy.” So how do you make sure you are not becoming that guy in a meeting?

Here are some characteristics of “that guy.”

• You lead with the negative, not the opportunity. Don’t do this.
• Your focus is more on what is not working with the situation your group is working on, especially when you don’t have any real ideas of your own about what might be successful. If you are going to shoot something down, you better have a better idea to support and follow up with.
• You speak for people you have never talked to about an idea. Don’t assume or presume you know what people want, like, or feel. If you don’t have data, don’t pretend you actually know the truth.
• You tend to drift towards the assumption that creativity is more expensive, margin diminishing, or complicated than doing the practical thing.
  Count on repeating or reusing an idea rather than conceiving a new one.
  Once you get the negative bus out of the bus stop, you never shut up and keep fueling the fire.
• You talk over people or continuously interrupt people.
• You show up late or don’t engage in the process. This REEKS of entitlement. Respect others and the process.
• You choose to be in an aggressive posture as opposed to a creative or open position. No one wants to fight to share ideas. Everyone is honestly doing their best to be brave, which leaves them vulnerable.

Are you “that guy?”

Do you have this person in your meeting? If so you have a responsibility to adjust yourself or have a hard conversation and coach them out of this posture. Or, stop inviting them to the meeting. You can’t let this guy destroy team morale, sidetrack innovation, or prevent the next best idea for your church to be shared!

‘How Successful Organizations Avoid Creative Killers Like “That Guy” blog post was posted with permission from author at STEPHENBREWSTER.ME