Not everyone will choose to get out of the box. Managers may attempt to push people out of the box, but that requires creating a new and radically different work environment. In the latter part of the twentieth century fewer and fewer people were willing to give personal time for organizational activities. Subsequent organizational downsizings, the bursting of the dot-com balloon, and a very slow-growth economy only exacerbated the situation.
Shows the integration of thinking, motivation, knowledge, and experience leading to some form of expected output. Thinking and motivation are the two critical factors. Without them knowledge and experience will stagnate. These four components that put us into the box must somehow be changed to get us out of the box. Integrating these four components requires integration of people, management, and attitudes. Keep in mind that the box involves not only generating new ideas and concepts but also finding ways to implement them. Some level of expertise in problem solving or opportunity finding in the field is also essential. Managers who wish to have their people get out of the box need to develop a culture that allows the out of the box thinkers to function.
If people are an organization’s most important asset they need to be treated accordingly. That involves setting high performance standards, identifying the critical mass of talent required to meet the purposes and objectives of the group, building high levels of trust, establishing and maintaining integrity, promoting excellence, promoting teamwork while recognizing individual contributors, and insisting on accountability. This is a culture that will allow those people who have those supposedly off-the-wall ideas to take a leadership role in the future of the organization and with guidance from their manager build a forward-looking team.
Managers set the direction for developing an appropriate culture by their actions. Those actions begin with their own thinking out of the box and include defining the purposes, objectives, and strategies of the organization; focusing attention on organizational unit outcomes; communicating appropriately at all levels; providing leadership that focuses on doing; developing operational discipline; introducing change where and when required; taking acceptable risk, making timely decisions, and anticipating the future. A manager who fosters these actions will have little difficulty developing a culture that then focuses on out of the box thinking. The attitude with which people approach their work makes a significant difference. The people and management components are linked by positive attitudes. Unconcerned, dispassionate, or perfunctory attitudes prevent the development of a proactive out of the box thinking culture. There are a few critical attitudes that define a culture: a sense of excitement about the group’s activities; flexibility and freedom to those who can manage it; appointments based on competence and performance; motivation from managers by example; performance appraisal based on well-defined objectives; and opportunities for exploiting personal initiatives. Imagine working in a blah environment, with no freedom to act, where performance appraisals are perfunctory, with no defined objectives, and no opportunity to exercise personal initiative. Not a very inspiring culture for a professional in any discipline.
To make the transition to a thinking organization requires going through a metamorphosis: going through a profound change. Individuals through their creativity and persistence change the game. I say creativity and persistence because creativity without implementation provides little if any value. A great dream without the drive and tenacity to pursue it to a conclusion does not add any value. Implementations of new ideas that invalidate current thinking or actions drive this metamorphosis.