Here is an article written by Aubrey Daniels for Talent Management magazine. To check out all the resources and sign up for a free subscription to the TM and/or Chief Learning Officer magazines published by MedfiaTec, please click here.
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Requirements for getting something published and circulated in media today are as relaxed as a Sunday afternoon, thanks in part to social media. Social media has us all hooked in one way, shape or form. Even those who have attempted to avoid it have succumbed to its uses and to the potential benefits that, in the end, bring us information that we may or may not hold to be true. LinkedIn is one such example. A few weeks ago I began receiving a weekly email from LinkedIn Today, reporting on the top news stories shared among its subscribers. This week, one caught my eye, “The Six Enemies of Greatness (and Happiness).”
While I have opinions about many of the six enemies named in this piece, the one that had me most riled up is ignorance. The way ignorance is described leads readers to believe that the reason we don’t achieve greatness is because we don’t know any better. On the contrary, the REAL way to achieve greatness is to identify the behaviors that get you there and reinforce them! It’s as simple as that. We know that being great at anything requires persistence, practice and creativity. While everyone knows about persistence and practice, creativity is the most misunderstood and is probably the biggest barrier preventing most people from even thinking about doing extraordinary things.However, creativity is behavior . It is about people doing things that have never been done. We tend to complicate it by thinking that it is a brain thing and that only special people have it. In reality, practice and persistence are at the heart of creativity. An oft-used example is the Edison quote, “I found 10,000 ways not to make a light bulb!” When you accept and understand that creativity is behavior, then you will know how to increase it or decrease it.If you are a manager or leader who needs more creativity from your employees (and who doesn’t) here are a few ideas for how you might foster it:
[Note: Here is the first of four specific insights, followed by a crisp analysis. To read the complete article, please click here.]
Reinforce all ideas: Any behavior that indicates a person is thinking about how to do a job better or how to find a new or improved product or service should be reinforced. An idea that seems trivial or outrageous may be the father to one that generates a more efficient process, product or service.
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To read Aubrey’s other articles, please click here.
Aubrey C. Daniels is a thought leader and an internationally recognized expert on management, leadership and workplace issues who is considered an authority on human behavior in the workplace. Trained as a psychologist and specializing in the science of behavior analysis, Daniels is the author of Bringing Out the Best in People and five other business books. As chairman of his consulting firm, Aubrey Daniels International, he and his staff help organizations employ the timeless principles of behavioral science to re-energize the workplace, optimize performance and achieve lasting results. He can be reached at his firm.
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