How To Respond To New Creative Ideas

One of the more fascinating findings around creativity (especially creativity at work) is how important the social environment is to whether or not individuals tap into their creativity potential. 

The social environment is one of four components that Teresa Amabile discovered were precursors to creative ideas. The social environment stimulates creativity by effecting collaboration, the safe sharing of ideas, and the freedom to decide how work gets done.

As a leader, you help shape that social environment. And a big part of how you shape it lies in how you respond when new ideas get shared. When someone shares their “crazy” idea or offers any idea or potential solution, the people on your team are looking at your response and judging future actions accordingly. 

React positively, and the social environment shifts subtly closer to a positive one for creativity. React negatively, and the opposite happens. You want to respond in a way that stimulates further creativity, even if the idea on its surface sounds truly crazy.

And most of them will!

The ‘Science’ Behind Creative Thinking

Creative ideas rarely come out as fully formed amazing ideas. They come as half-baked “what ifs,” and it’s the team’s job—and your job as a leader—to help develop those ideas into something really workable. 

Ed Catmull, the founder of Pixar, liked to say that every film started as a terrible idea. And it was Pixar’s job to get the idea from “suck to nonsuck.” THAT was the creative process—taking an idea and slowly refining it until it was good.

The beauty of Catmull’s concept is what he’s not saying. If every idea starts out terrible, then the leaders of Pixar obviously aren’t responding to the initial idea with judgment. They’re not saying, “This isn’t how we do things around here.” Instead, they ask, “How would this create value?” “What else do we need to know?” “Who else has an idea that would coincide with this?” or my favorite: “What would have to be true for that idea to work?”

So, how do you respond to new ideas?

Respond in whatever way would help the idea go from suck to nonsuck.

The Right Way to Respond to Creative Ideas

Out-of-the-box thinking or new/creative ideas are often difficult to respond to. We can either willingly accept them and show how good they are, further encouraging new and innovative thoughts, or shoot down the entire concept by openly stating why they just won’t work!

The latter reaction is usually more common, as rejecting a new idea is easier than accepting it. We are naturally inclined to reject change; we like to stick to the status quo.

Many good ideas that could literally change the world and bring in a lot of fortune are rejected easily at first for the very reason.

So, how should we respond to creative ideas?

Fortunately, there’s a right way of responding to new ideas instead of simply accepting or downright rejecting them: questioning them!

How to Question New Ideas

The questions that you ask in response to a new idea—and they should almost always be questions and not statements—are the responses that are going to create a social environment of creativity. They’re also the things that are going to help that individual idea move forward, make progress, and eventually be something really creative and innovative.

Ask them what conditions must be met or what has to hold true for the idea to work.

This way, you’re not saying no, and you are not shutting down creative thinking, but instead, you are putting the idea to the test.

When you ask a question about how to make an idea work, you are actually asking people to present facts and statistics to make it work. That opens the floor for exploration and testing. 

A lot of thoughts and setbacks you’d have along the way if you accepted the idea at first would be answered in the beginning only. (Saving you a lot of struggle and hassle that’ll come later on.)

It’ll be easier to know if it’s worth the effort and time at this point. If it’s not a viable idea and is not worth it, the presenter would agree immediately without feeling hurt or resentful.

Encourage Your Team

You must always maintain an open environment that encourages new ideas while avoiding downright accepting or rejecting an idea instantly.

• Give Space. Implementing new ideas and making them work will definitely require a lot of hard work and effort. Work on your ability to tolerate the unknown and unexpected. Instead of turning down an idea immediately, try looking for a positive aspect first.
• Lay the Foundation. Create a welcoming environment that encourages new ideas. Every single person on your team must be comfortable sharing and talking about the ideas they have in their heads. Give them clear goals you want to achieve, and welcome all kinds of ideas as long as they are willing to test them with your questions.
• Stay Open-Minded. Begin with an open mind, as a creative new idea can often determine the fate or future of your company. Remember, no matter how absurd an idea sounds right now, it may just work and make your business a success. 

Wrap Up

The next time you hear a new idea or solution, take your time responding to it. Let your team be part of the process of accepting or downright rejecting the idea. An open, objective, and respectful mindset can make a huge difference in your employees‘ morale and organizational goals.