I rarely get a jigsaw puzzle out of the closet, but when one is already out I can spend hours putting it together. I do enjoy putting them together and I am quite good at it.
My wife gave a talk to a church group a few months back. At each table, there was a small can of play-doh for each person, and during the talk there was a play-doh activity. During the non-activity part of the talk, people still had the play-doh in their hands and were playing with it. What she noticed was, everyone was very focused on the talk, because they had a mindless activity to do with their hands. The simple act of having a child’s creative toy in their hands engaged their brain and body to be able to focus on the actual talk more closely.
I do most of my creative thinking when I am doing an unrelated mindless activity. Put me in front of a compter and shout at me to be creative and you’ll get nothing. For me, washing dishes, folding laundry, and taking a shower work best. These are activities where I don’t have to think about what I am doing, and I am rooted at that spot until the activity is finished. Like the play-doh, this shuts off the rest of the world and engages the creative part of my brain.
At work next year, I have a couple of projects that require extreme creative thinking. These are projects that if we start building too soon or too fast, it will fail. I need to artificially slow things down, and get people to collaborate in a creative way.
So here’s my idea. I’m going to bring a jigsaw puzzle to work with a plywood surface so I can move it easily. And I’m going to have “meetings” without any agenda whatsoever. You’ve probably heard of unschooling - this is unworking. Lately, we have driven the work process to elicit extreme productivity. We do getting-things-done to the extreme, so much so that there is no room for the creative process. This idea is designed to slow things down, and to engage that creative conversation.
I got a jigsaw puzzle for Christmas. It’s been sitting on the kitchen table, and when people need a break they sit there an do some work for a few minutes (or hours). In the evenings, the adults sit around the puzzle and talk.
Sitting at the puzzle has the same effect as showering, without the nudity and the ability for others to also participate (don’t go there, this is family blog). It roots the person in one place. It disengages the brain and allows the person to think freely. Multiple people can work on the puzzle independently and converse without requiring conversation. If something needs to be attended to, anyone can leave the puzzle at any time.
Contrast this to traditional meetings. To start, a meeting has a purpose - at the end of the meeting, that purpose must be met. Meetings have a duration and I’ve never been to a meeting that ended early. During the meeting, someone is ALWAYS talking - there is no space for thinking. Meetings have agendas, to do lists, action items, powerpoint presentations, whiteboards, etc. Don’t get me wrong, these things are important and have their place, but you cannot plan and schedule creativity - there isn’t a 7 step process that guarentees results.
Back to the puzzle. A puzzle meetings get people in the same room. The meeting doesn’t even need to be planned - if a hallway conversation or drop-by conversation needs more discussion, the conversation can be moved to the puzzle. It can even start at the puzzle to reset the mind. At the puzzle, nobody is in-charge. There isn’t an agenda except for what started the conversation, and if it evolves into something else or dissolves, so be it. At any time, any one person can leave to take action on something that was discussed without disruption. No one is critical, yet everyone is contributing. Conversation is not forced. Eye contact is unnecessary and naturally discouraged. Because of this lack of eye contact, body language and people who are uncomfortable with eye contact are not adversely effected by it. Silence is acceptable and encouraged - someone doesn’t have to be talking continuously. People won’t go to their blackberries and iphones because they are bored.
People will laugh at me for this. Some will roll their eyes when I bring in a giant puzzle. But I bet it will work. I’m not being manipulative. I’ll come right out and explain what I am doing and why I am doing it. If you want a different result, you have to do something different. I’m doing something different.
My friend Jamey wrote an article about the story that is making its way around the intertubes. The general complaint is that people are paying off bills of other people who over extended themselves to corporations who are getting larger and larger. In our opinion, this isn’t the best application of philanthropy.
I wanted to write about something I do on occasion to make someone else’s day. This doesn’t make a huge difference in the world, but it is the pay-it-forward approach.
I take a moderate number of business trips each year. While I am traveling, my entire existence is paid for. From the moment I step out the door, my airfare, car rental, hotel, meals, and expenses are paid for by the company. Sure I’m on-the-clock for the company, but on a normal day many of these expenses would be my out-of-pocket responsibility.
As an example, I recently traveled to the east coast. I arranged to visit a local dojo to train. In these situations, one would generally pay a small “mat fee”. I had a fantastic time, and they asked me to not pay any mat fee this time. For this discussion, let’s say the mat fee is $20.
When I decided to go, I had already committed $20 in my mind. The experience was worth $20 to me. When I walked out of the dojo with that $20 in my pocket, I had $20 I didn’t need - right?
That evening, I went to dinner. I sat at the bar, and had an interesting discussion with some guys from the local army base. Again, this meal was paid for by the company, so my steak dinner was, to me, free. This puts me into a strange moral dilemma with lots of variables in play. These guys had the same meal I had, but they paid with their own money. There’s a very good chance I earn more money than they do, and my meal was paid for by a faceless company.
I was going to steer this entry down the debate of entitlement and sensible spending, but I’m not interested in that discussion. The point is, this is a very odd place to be in. It’s almost a reverse entitlement. It makes me uncomfortable. I’m not better than anyone else.
I’m also not interested in flaunting what I did to attempt to right this imbalance. All I’ll say is that when I’m in these sorts of situations, I try to do something that is unexpected. I’m not changing the world, but the pay-it-forward effect is in play. Maybe it makes a difference, maybe someone just smiled or gave a sign of relief. I don’t know, but it’s worth a try.
So I’ve spent an extraordinary long amount of time in airports the past couple of days. For each of my destinations, I would have arrived hours earlier if I had driven. Since I have time, I spend most of it watching people and observing.
The first observation is the computer interface that airline gate agents use to issue boarding passes. Why is this so complicated? I had one of the most common transactions – issue a boarding pass for this flight. They typed in my name, my record locator, and then hundreds upon hundreds of keystrokes. For what could they possibly need to type that much? Here’s how it should work: Type the name and the computer says, “Hay, this guy missed his connecting flight and show the options to his destination.” Choose from one of the available options. Boarding pass prints. This transaction was so complicated that the agent had to call someone to help, and then type hundreds of more keystrokes to finally get the ticket printed. WTF?
Second is women’s attire. I appreciate a well dressed woman and admire one who has taken a little effort to look nice. But come on women, the airport is not the place to wear tight skirts, low cut tops, and high heels. If ever there is a place where you should be practical it is the airport. Jeans, a comfortable blouse, and good walking shoes are what you should wear. Now I know sometimes you’re traveling to or from a business meeting and need to be dressed for that meeting. But couldn’t you wear a decent pair of shoes? Maybe slacks instead of skirts. Pull out your sneakers and wear those – many women do this at lunch to exercise.
Third. This is a longer one with multiple concerns and a back story. Here we go…
I was flying through Chicago ORD. My incoming flight was delayed due to weather and I was booked on the next flight leaving in 3 hours. No big deal. I hear over the PA system that, “Catholic mass is being held in the chapel in 15 minutes at jfeiof k fjeo kfowijf jioergf jow kfowei qwwe (unintelligible)”. Hmmm, I think. I’ve never gone to church in an airport before. I have plenty of time to kill. Let’s give this a try for fun.
So I try to find the chapel. Can’t be too hard can it? I find one sign that says “Chapel” with an arrow pointing down the hall. Awesome! I go down the hall and see one more chapel sign with an arrow pointing straight ahead. I continue walking for what seems like miles down the hall and find nothing. I go back and retrace my steps without luck. I look a third time, nothing. I could ask someone, but this is, in part, a usability experiment. Now this is a challenge. Can I find the chapel on my own?
I’ve clearly missed mass so I grab lunch. After lunch, undeterred, I venture off looking for the elusive airport chapel. During lunch I hear over the PA another announcement about the chapel, mezzanine level, and Terminal 2. Ah ha! Clues!
Terminal 2. Terminal 2. What terminal am I in now? The airport people know what terminal they are in because that is how they locate things from the outside. But once you are on the inside, there is no indication of what terminal you are in now. I had to leave terminal I was in, and go to that security void between terminals, that can best be described as purgatory, and look at signs behind me to both find my own terminal and where terminal 2 is. The sign with the arrow that had failed me in the past indicated the direction of terminal 2. I begin my walk.
Using the Terminal 2 clue I took the fork that is completely devoid of any chapel sign. This is clearly the point where there must be a chapel directional sign if they want anyone to actually locate the chapel. I find another fork pointing to Terminal 2 with a set of revolving doors that say Exit. If I exit here, I’m going to have to go through security again, but it doesn’t actually indicate that fact. My only indication is the out-of-shape TSA agent sitting in a chair. Because my mission is for the greater good I hold my breath and exit the area.
My ninja training tells me I am now in the infamous terminal 2. What was that second clue? Mezzanine level. Mezzanine level. What’a a mezzanine? Airports have only a couple of levels – the lower baggage claim level, the main level where all the gates are, and the upper level where the airport overlords live. The upper level is where those offices are with people that must look down on us and laugh in a diabolical way. These offices hold the computer terminals with the smite buttons that can be pressed to lose luggage and cause minor mechanical problems. Could this holy level be the mezzanine level?
Signs now exist directing pilgrims like me to the chapel. The overhead sign points down the security checkpoint and a final sign points to a mysterious door that mere mortals should not enter. The TSA agent eyes me wearily and I sense the overloards above watching me. The mysterious door is an unfinished stairwell that I clearly should not be in. I go up the stairs to what I now know as the mezzanine level, look down on the travelers below. A maintenance worker passes me as I go down the narrow hall.
And there in front of me is the chapel. It is beautiful. There is no one in there but a priest muttering to himself about how no one comes to mass anymore. How can that be? With all the clearly marked signs and being easily accessible, how could there be no one here? Ok, I’m being a bit sarcastic.
