The Box Backstory Copy
It is not necessary to tell the backstory of the development of the box in a program, but it might be helpful so I include it here.
The Box Backstory
“A journey of one thousand miles begins with the first step.”
Lao Tse
“A journey of one thousand boxes begins with the first box.”
Jimbo Clark
In the past few years I’ve had the opportunity to put boxes on thousands of people’s heads to improve their ability to think and act more creatively. In this book, you’ll hear stories of companies, teams, leaders, managers and people who have benefited from putting a box on their head.
This is the story of the first box I put on anyone’s head. My own.
My company is Innogreat; a consultancy specializing in innovation and creativity in leadership teams and organizations. In 2009, I was talking with the Managing Director for a multinational company. “Jim,” he said, “I have a problem. This business context is changing; we must innovate to survive. If we don’t, we’re in for a hard time.” “The trouble is,” he went on, “we’re using the same thinking that we always have, and it’s just not going to help us in the future; it’s like we are stuck in the box. Can you run a training program on out of the box thinking to help us look beyond our existing perspectives?”
Like any good consultant, I quickly said, “Of course!” and ran back to the office to try figure out how I would deliver on my promise.
As I sat at my desk, staring out the window, the first question that came across my mind mas, “He wants his people to think outside of the box, but what exactly is the box? If I don’t know what the box is, how do I know if I am thinking in it or out of it? And if I did know what the box is, might that help me think out of it better?”
As I sat pondering these questions, my eyes strayed to an empty cardboard box on the floor near my desk. It had contained printer paper and was now waiting to be taken to the recycle bin. I looked at the box and thought, “I wonder what thinking in the box feels like.” I looked to make sure no one else was looking, and I quickly put the box on my head. With the box on my head, I said to myself, “So this is ‘in the box’ thinking.” Then I took it off, “And this is ‘out of the box’ thinking.”
With the box on my head, I felt constrained, limited, and isolated. I thought, “This box is too limiting, no one would think inside a box like this.” So I grabbed pair of scissors and cut out holes for eyes, nose, mouth and ears. I put the box on my head, and ran (carefully) to the bathroom and looked in the mirror.
As I looked at myself, I realized that while the box limited my ability to see and interact with the world around me, I could function inside this box, and it might be a good metaphor for inside the box thinking.
And with that first box on my head came my moment of inspiration. “What would happen,” I thought, “if we took the think out of the box metaphor literally and I asked people to put boxes on their heads? I could tell them; ‘This box represents you’re current thinking.’ Then I’d ask them to take the box off their heads and say, ‘And this is out of the box thinking.’” I laughed a wicked laugh imagining these senior leaders with boxes on their heads and it was decided. I was going to put boxes on their heads.
The first “Box” session
I was a bit nervous getting things started. I had never put boxes on people’s heads before, and I was concerned that they may not be willing to even try. As we went through the process of cutting the cardboard, decorating the outside, writing on the inside of each of the walls of the inside of the box, something amazing happened. The quality of conversation deepened, people started sitting closer to each other as they talked, and there was a warmth and level of connection in the participants that was wonderful to observe. It seemed that decorating the outside of their box and talking about the inside of their box allowed them to speak more authentically with each other.
Since we were taking the metaphor of out of the boxing thinking literally, it made sense to actually have the participants complete a variety of tasks with the physical box on their heads, and then do the same tasks with the box off their heads. In this manner, they could experience the limitations of thinking in the box, and the freedom of thinking out of it.
With the box on their heads, we first asked the participants to play ‘catch’ with plastic balls. In retrospect, this was not my best idea; if there’s anything that’s particularly hard to do with a box on your head it’s playing catch with plastic balls. We also ran some communication exercises, with boxes on heads, and then with boxes off, to give them a sense of how limiting the box can be which was more appreciated by the group.
I expected the debrief to run for ten to fifteen minutes, but it went on for one hour. I was amazed at the quality of output from what I had thought would be a fun warm-up activity. My goal had been to create a simple ‘Aha!’ moment, “I have a box on my head and sometimes need to think out of it.” Instead it brought real issues that were limiting individuals and the team from moving forward, and created a kind of willingness to think outside of the box that had a positive impact on the quality of the decision-making at the end of program.
The training was well received and had a positive impact on the team, changing them for the better by helping them be more creative and cooperative. This had turned out to be a far more powerful process than I had expected; I realized that with a few tweaks I may have stumbled onto a powerful tool to change the way people think about their thinking.
My Box limits MY Thinking
Having decided that I was going to use the box process more often, I added it to the mix as part of my pitch to any client who asked for programs to improve creativity. I would never have to bring it up as you would be surprised how often people say, “We need our people to think more out of the box.” As soon as they uttered those words, I would show them photos of the first group and tell them about this great process where we get people to think out of the box by putting boxes on their heads.
They loved it! Especially senior managers. “Yes! I want my people to put boxes on their heads so they know how I feel managing them!!”
But during the planning process I often had second thoughts. “This is a bit risky,” was my usual reaction, “Do I really want to put boxes on peoples’ heads? This team is senior; they might not like it.” My fears usually got the better of me, and when I presented the final designs to clients, the box was not part of the program. “Hey Jim, you took out the box!” I often made excuses – “Well, it takes time, and there are other more practical activities that we need to do.”
But to be honest, what was holding me back was me thinking inside of my box. I wanted my clients to be happy, and I wanted to drive the results they were looking for, and if the participants responded negatively to putting boxes on their heads, it might put the success of the program at risk. So while I had clients who saw this as a reasonable risk, my box wouldn’t let me do it.
An Out of the Box thought from a colleague
I met Adam in the first Brains on the Beach seminar in Hong Kong (see brainsonthebeach.com for more information). He and I were talking about how we work with clients, and I mentioned the box.
“Wow, that sounds great,” he said. “How many times have you run it?”
“Just once,” I replied sheepishly.
“Why just once?” he asked.
“It takes too much time, and I think giving box cutters to so many participants is dangerous,” were my lame excuses.
“It sounds to me like YOUR box is limiting your own thinking. If you want to help people think outside of their box, you are going to have to think outside of yours. Why not just change the process to speed it up and make it safer?”
And while that may not sound like a wild, out of the box thought, it was out of MY box, and it was all I needed to reinvigorate me on my journey of putting boxes on people’s heads. I began experimenting with different materials for the boxes and personally cut more than 500 boxes to reduce time and increase safety.
To remind myself that I have box on my own head that limits my thinking, I begin every program with the same sentence…