find it "inside the box"

Maxine Shapiro is not shy, as you can see in her video http://maxineshapiro.com/video.html

Maxine engaged 200 PMI members in Denver with fun icebreakers and role-playing to drive lessons home. She facilitates with a flair for improvisation and directs team members to act out typical scenarios, then teaches us how we can change the outcome to become more INNOVATIVE, ENGAGED, and ACCEPTING. She taught us to say,

Yes and ... (instead of "yes, but ...")

I have found myself consciously using this technique a week later; I hope it becomes a habit!

New ideas are NEW! Yes, you are going to want to poke it and test it, but don't ask people to put it in a memo. Separate the 'ideas' process from the 'evaluation' process.

Reasons that people say 'no:'

• habit


• yes means they have to take action


• our ideas are better


• reject because we don't understand

The telephone game has left an impression in my mind and a fun story to share sometime. I think that Maxine has many facilitation techniques to share with your team or manager training.