Rereading the chapter in Whiplash that inspired this month's newsletter topic, "Resilience over Strength," I had memories-not the good kind-of all the meetings I sat in over the years where time was spent planning for events that might happen "someday." Specifically, I was remembering the energy in those sorts of meetings versus the energy I feel in meetings where the conversations turn to creating the first iteration of an idea that might be the next great thing. You have been there, right? The numbing, downward dullness of planning for a potential challenge in the "perhaps and maybe" of the future versus the energizing upward lift of "yes, and" thinking about a fresh approach to an existing challenge. I am not suggesting that one should never plan for certain eventualities. (After all, I am the daughter of a successful insurance salesman.) Rather, I am thinking about how leaders can impact the type of energy that their teams bring to the critical tasks at hand simply by engaging them differently.

 

In the non-profit world, most of us operate with fewer people and greater fiscal restraints than many in the profit world. How we maximize and sustain the productive energy of our talent to achieve planned objectives matters in our world. Time spent dreaming, collaborating, and designing a fresh idea could be the best way to produce the energy of "possibility" that is a real gamechanger in school cultures. In fact, the reason why ten-year strategic plans are being replaced by strategic visioning that happens within tighter time constraints may well be that the latter capitalizes on the uplift energy of small wins and forward momentum. It is a contagious energy, one that inspires engagement, an energy that builds on itself like the proverbial flywheel.

 

On the other hand, asking teams to plan for "the inevitable" requires questions that can produce less imaginative thinking. The framing for such problem-solving may limit the ways in which creative energy is generated. There is a danger here that goes far beyond the less inspiring meetings. The Maginot Line, built by the French in World War II, is offered in Whiplash as an example of the real cost of focusing on the wrong long-term objectives: a failure of imagination. The French simply did not envision that the Germans would go around the wall by crossing the borders of neighboring countries. Much like our security planning in the United States would never have imagined that any terrorists would use commercial planes loaded with unsuspecting passengers as deadly bombs to bring down landmarks of American strength on 9/11. That sort of failure of imagination is far more likely to happen when one is asked to imagine with the wrong mindset and limited information about the wrong task.

 

While these examples are extreme, the real point is that creative energy used hopefully, optimistically, and joyfully to achieve short term wins over time builds a different kind of imagination muscle in a culture. It is the imagination of grand possibility, or, at the very least, it leads to great improv moments. Substantially lowering the stakes by focusing positively on promoting and encouraging beta testing, piloting, and prototyping fosters growth mindset, adaptability, risk-taking, playfulness and creativity-the essential "muscles" for cultures with aspirations of true sustainability in times when challenges require "just in time" solution-finding.

 

The co-author of Whiplash, Jeff Howe, personalizes this point writing about his son, whose behavior challenges created a mindset change for Howe. He calls it "making peace with chaos, or expecting the unexpected." There are so many times in our lives in which we are best served by meeting the moment with the energy we have and that investing valuable energy in planning for what "might" happen turns out to be energy ineffectively spent. As the parent of a child who has been handicapped since birth, I resonated with Howe. All in our family marvel at the way our Joe's ways of being remind us of what matters in the moment. A formal outfit without matching socks? A hand puppet instead of a handshake? The "Joe" stories in our family are endless, each with the same life lesson: "Don't make life too complicated; it's a waste of important time."

 

We know this to be true. We feel it in our homes and our schools.

 

How can a leader create a team that embraces the thrill of "expecting the unexpected?" It might be easier than you think.

 

 

 

3.  Frame the task of the meeting carefully. "What problem are we trying to solve?" is a question that can get all in the room on the same page. Is the task quantifiable and real? Will finding a new solution save time, save resources, create smiles, and, most important, make the learning environment better in the near term for students and faculty?

 

Certainly, there is a place in schools for managing risk and planning for an uncertain future. Yet, arguably, even that planning is best done in cultures that have developed the habits and muscles of creativity and imagination. In fact, wouldn't we all agree with John Muir, the environmental philosopher: "The power of imagination makes us infinite." Let's use that power to go after our future.