The Creativity of Active Engagement

Active engagement? Isn't that redundant? I don't think so. Let me tell you a story first. Many years ago when I lived in Hollywood, I was invited to a night of one act plays. The last play in the series was called Train Station. The first few minutes of the play were very traditional. A man buys a train ticket and waits for the train to arrive. I could see that the audience was a little restless. Another man walks into the station and opens his booth. A sign above the booth reads "Fortunes." Bored, the traveler walks up to the booth plunks down $10 and says, "Tell me my fortune." The fortune teller says "most people don't like my fortunes." "That's okay," says the traveler. "I want to hear it."

At this point: I was passively engaged in the play. I became more engaged after the fotune teller said most people don't like my fortunes." Then, the fortune teller tells the traveler "You'll be dead in 10 minutes." Melodramatic? Yes. Engaging? Very. The audience was riveted. Is this a joke? What will happen? The traveler eventually throws himself in front of the train because of a guity conscience revealed during the last minutes of the play. That's big time "active" engagement.

When brainstorming sessions are led by a pro -- a Doug Hall or a Gerald Haman participants are usually engaged. But many people have told me that when the sessions are "in house" or led by manager, engagement falls off. People are often bored and unchallenged.

Psychologists are taught that when they start feeling bored with a patient 1) the patient is just talking, not connected to his or her feelings or 2) the therapist may be reacting something that has nothing to do with the patient or 3) a combination of the two.

Baker's Active Engagement Theory The concept of a stakeholder is often used in Project Management. You have an active interest in the outcome of that brainstorming session. (Think Apollo 13 and the flight engineers brainstorming ways to fix the problem.) That's the black belt of active engagement. The matador above is actively engaged because the outcome is life or death. Businesses problems aren't so dramatic, but when employees become disengaged -- the company experiences what Seth Godin calls the Dip.

You need to be a stakeholder in solving that problem. A good brainstorming leader/manager make sure everyone is an active stakeholder in solving the problem. I often begin a session by saying, "who owns this problem? Or who wants to own this problem? Who benefits the most from solving this problem? And finally, is there anyone here who has absolutely no interest in solving this problem?"

This should be a no brainer. But typically nobody asks the question. The big elephant in the room is most people want to keep the surface tension low because there are usually at lot of hidden agendas.

Sometimes the person with no interest in solving the problem can be a key to solving the problem. What is your problem with the problem? Anyone who isn't a stakeholder has the option to leave the meeting on a single condition, they write what their problem is with this problem. You can bet that they are now actively engaged in solving their problem. Cool, isn't it.

Okay, not every session is going to be world class. But there are creative ways to get actively engaged. (One way is to toss the baton) Make everyone in the group -- a leader of the session for 10 minutes. Now if you're not actively engaged in the problem, you may be dealing with other problems and putting out fires. In that case, do not come to that meeting. It's not a priority for you.