BOLD: 4 Simple Steps to Enhance Ideation, Communication, and Results

The pace of life and commerce is disruptive; everything is changing and will continue to change. The health of our lives, our workplaces, our businesses and organizations sit squarely on the shoulders of those who will dare to think boldly because our ability to ideate, innovate, communicate, collaborate means embracing that which is bold, that which is untried, that which can take us forward faster, smarter and better.

Be bold because tried and true strategic tools are impotent if they do not improve and enhance your ability to ideate, innovate and execute.   Talent management is an oxymoron, because our survival rests on optimization NOT management. Our ability to thrive in unexpected environments, confront and change systems of thinking and doing that no longer work, and unleash our power to overcome difficult constraints while boosting the creative output that drives results, are all very real.

Be bold because recognizing and embracing your ability to improve the way you think, communicate, collaborate and execute is critical.  Doing so means tying a knot around the timeless anchors of sustainability, the intrinsic motivators that strengthen you when the chips are down, while learning to use changes, challenges, and failures to better shape and seize the opportunities before you.

Be bold because recognizing and embracing your ability to improve the way you think, communicate, collaborate and execute is critical.

Be bold by building your 3Q Edge™. Your ability to optimize strengths while using changes, challenges, stressors and failures help build/improve ideation, emotional awareness/management, and your values and integrity. These are the timeless anchors of individual, collective and business sustainability, and the intrinsic motivators that will push you forward to hold you on course when the chips are down.

Be bold by embracing your ability to innovate, because the call to evolve or devolve is real.  We each have the ability to be innovative, growing our ability to innovate means recognizing it. We are all creative in different ways; we all have the ability to use our mind to create new ideas and solutions.  How are you exercising innovation?  What can you do each day to build your ability to innovate?  How can you start looking at challenges and problems with new eyes – eyes that help you see solutions?

Being bold is tough, but it is worthwhile!  Here are four simple, and powerful steps to help catalyze your potential in disruptive times!

Build Adaptability on a daily basis. Do one small thing differently every day-brush your teeth with your non-dominant hand, take a new route home or to work.  Change one thing, one routine habit of what you’re doing daily and watch adaptability grow!

Being bold is tough, but it is worthwhile

Optimize your ability to focus in the midst of information overload and the myriad of challenges before you. Set your intention.  It is well-known that those who accomplish, write down their goals and keep them top of mind.  Goals are critical, but so is your intention.  What is your intention for this day?  What is the one thing you want to accomplish?  Start the day setting your intention, because what you focus on grows, and a successful day is one that starts with a strong intention.  Use your ability to refocus on your intention when emotions try to deride you. Take a critical moment to pause and refocus on your true objective.

Levitate your brain power by giving yourself a brain break!  Take even five minutes down time, blank time every 90 minutes. Five minutes where you think of nothing, where you zone out, where you have blank time!  Schedule your five minute time-out in your calendar. Use it, do it.  If you can schedule more than five minutes, terrific.  But, even the busiest among us can manage a 5 minute break every 90 minutes.   The imperative to take regular breaks during the day is critical.

Be bold because tried and true strategic tools are impotent if they do not improve and enhance your ability to ideate, innovate and execute.

Disrupt the status quo. Use the skills noted by professors Clayton, Christensen, Jeffrey Dyer and Hal Gregerson:  associating, questioning, observing, experimenting, and networking as critical to innovation in your team meetings.  Change it up.  Move past group think or complacency by using areas of conflict or challenges to build upon and grow all five skills. 

Be bold in small ways that stretch you. You can integrate small steps and build upon them daily. Embracing the intrinsic motivators, the timeless values that will never change while pushing yourself to boldly stretch, to increase adaptability, flexibility, resiliency of thought, action and communication is the way forward.

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