Each week, I’ve been sharing one of the six ways you can use your Sage brain and activate your highest level of creativity, focus, and happiness. So far, you’ve learned about…
The Empathy Power (foundational power of 5 Sage Powers)
The Explore Power (a powerful tool to counter the nasty Judge saboteur)
And this week, I share two ways you can utilize the INNOVATE power – the 3rd of the five Sage powers. Why spend a few minutes learning about this power? It helps you get un-stuck, expand possibilities, generate new and innovative solutions, and look at people & situations through new Sage eyes.
WHAT IS THE INNOVATE POWER?*
The Sage Innovate power is one of five Sage powers that can be used to activate and channel positive emotions in service to your greatest possible creativity. When your Innovate power is online, you will happily surprise yourself with the insights and ideas that emerge. When working together with others, using the Innovate power game (see below for ways to activate the innovate power), the possibilities are positively magnified.
WHEN TO USE THE INNOVATE POWER
A fitting time to use the Innovate power is when you (or others) know you can benefit from generating a huge number of diverse ideas to consider before settling on a best course forward. This can be particularly useful with problem solving, but also for creating something new: a new service or product, a new process, a new way of managing time, a new parenting strategy, a new cash flow management approach, anything at all.
Another suitable application for the Innovate power is when you (others) want to expand your view of what is possible: when you are feeling stuck in a position or point of view; when you cannot see any other way forward; or when someone else is telling you that you are being too close-minded.
2 WAYS TO ACTIVATE THE INNOVATE POWER*
There is one official “power game” to be used with the Innovate power, as offered by Shirzad Chamine in the Positive Intelligence mental fitness approach. The power game, called the “Yes… And…” game will be familiar to you if you have participated in any creative brainstorming or design thinking exercises. The second way to activate the Innovate power is borrowed from this power game, but used in a slightly different way. I find it helpful for seeing possibilities when I and another person have quite different points of view. I invite you to read about both and use whichever calls to you for each situation.
THE “YES…. AND…” GAME*
The “Yes… And…” game is the official power game used in Positive Intelligence to channel the Innovate power. It is best employed with one or more people, in the following way.
First, define the challenge or problem or opportunity you want to develop more options to address. This first clarification step is important to ensure you all are talking about the same thing.
Next, remind yourself, and the others, that no idea is a bad idea. Everything goes. In the time period you define (e.g., 5 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, however long) that you play this game, there will be no criticizing or classifying or removing of ideas.
To play the game, the first person states any idea that pops into mind that could be employed to address the defined challenge or problem or opportunity. Then, the next person states one aspect of that idea that they like in the following format “Yes, what I like about that is…” then follows that statement by another idea that is inspired by the first idea, as follows “… and what that brings to mind is…”. Then this format continues, with each person stating what they like about the prior person’s like with the preceding words “Yes, what I like about that is…” and following with another new idea “… and that makes me think of…” and so on.
EXAMPLE:
A way to take a vacation without spending any money
IDEA #1:
Become adopted by a famous billionaire who then pays for our vacation
RESPONSE #1 and IDEA #2:
Yes, what I like about that idea is we’ll have a new family member soon, and that makes me think that Uncle Joe did actually offer for us to stay in his cabin in the Ozarks anytime he is not using it.
RESPONSE #2 and IDEA #3:
Yes, what I like about that is I’ve always wanted to visit the middle of the US, and that reminds me that I saw an online content to enter to win a week-long vacation to Nashville.
And so on, continuing for 5 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, or for however long you determined.
How to wrap-up this power game?
At the close of the “Yes… And…” brainstorming, ask each person what their favorite ideas are, then work together to determine next steps, which might include further research, or taking action to execute on the chosen idea.
LOOKING FOR WHAT IS 10% RIGHT
This power game can be slightly adapted to help two people with opposing views to better understand one another and create common ground for moving forward together. To learn about this (or refresh your memory), read the original post about 10% right here.
THE BENEFITS
Once you’re in the positive Sage state of mind (experiencing positive emotions only), you can use the Innovate power to generate lots of ideas to feed into anything you’re working on – at home, with friends or family, at work, with colleagues, or even on your own as a verbal or writing brainstorming approach.
When you utilize the Sage Innovate power, you may experience one or more of these benefits:
- Having fun with everyday work or life challenges or opportunities
- Getting un-stuck when you can’t think of another way forward
- Expanding your mind with many new and different possibilities you would otherwise not consider when moving forward in your normal way
- Generating new and innovative solutions for how you work with others and how you get work done
- Looking at people & situations through new Sage eyes
- Winning an award for the most innovative solution!
In the next two weeks, I’ll share about the remaining two Sage Powers to round out your understanding of what’s possible with using the Positive Intelligence mental fitness model and activating the full array of benefits that come from shifting to and staying in Sage throughout each day of your life.
Learn More To read about the overall Positive Intelligence model and foundational mental fitness training program, I’ve included an overview of the model on my website. To read past blog posts about the Sage Perspective and the 10 Saboteurs, start here.
*Source: Shirzad Chamine and his Positive Intelligence mental fitness model. Erin completed her certification with Shirzad and Positive Intelligence, Inc. in the spring of 2021 and is now a Certified Positive Intelligence mental fitness coach (CPQC).