We’re always told to think outside the box. But it’s about time someone spoke up for the box. Because, paradoxically, thinking inside a box can spark creativity, not squelch it. So maybe you don’t need to think out of the box. Maybe you just need a new one to think in.
For instance, let’s say you manage a bank. Your top marketing person comes to you with an idea to redesign the service areas of the bank. He says, “We want the bank to be less formal–hipper and more inviting to our young professional customers.” Quick: How do you envision the new space? What do the light fixtures look like? What color are the walls?
Your mind is probably a blank. Perhaps that’s what people seek when they recommend an outside-the-box, “blank slate” approach. But the blank is not helping you create a less-formal lobby. After all, your team might sit at the conference-room table and nod vigorously that the goal is to be “more inviting to young professionals,” but secretly, the team members are envisioning success differently. Jon imagines Alicia Keys’s music piped into the lobby, Brenda ponders adding a playroom for young children, and Sonny thinks all the customers would be happier if the clerks would just smile more (“We should develop a smiling policy“).
What if your marketing person had said this instead: “We want the space to be more like a Starbucks and less like a post office.” Suddenly, it’s easier to picture the goal (and to answer the light-fixture and color questions). Notice, though, that the Starbucks vision is constraining. It takes options off the table. The Starbucks vision is judgmental–it says yes to Alicia Keys and no to the playroom. It’s helpful–it constrains freedom, yes, but it also dramatically improves the chances that your team will hit the target.
