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What do you do when your creative people
present you with something you absolutely hate?
If you ever want to see anything you like from the
people you pay to innovate, you need find something to like. Most of us find it difficult not to show our
disappointment when the work we pay for fails to meet our expectations. But
everything from lashing out in anger to sighing from faint disenchantment
diminishes your rapport and chances of success with the creative people who
regularly present creative work to you.
If you don't care whether you ever see your
creative people again, give them hell. But if you want to build a creative
team that consistently delivers stellar creative work, take
the following simple steps every time they stand up
and present their work.
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Look at it. Stop. Let the work get
through to you. Resist your urge to judge it.
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Say you like it. I don't care if it makes you sick to
your stomach. Find something in the presentation to appreciate and
express your appreciation. Assume that your people have just busted their
butts for you and thank them.
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Listen. Allow for the remote
possibility that you may have missed something. And let your people
present their case before you make your first constructive remark.
By the time you do these three things, you will have
established an atmosphere conducive to the most mutually beneficial exchange
of ideas. Your creative people will be much more inclined not only to hear
your evaluation but to appreciate it as well. Then and only then should you
begin to clearly and with as much detail as possible articulate what you
want, what disappoints you, and what you expect from the next effort.
Do it this way and you'll get a whole lot closer to the
solution you're looking for than you could ever get with rejection or disapproval.
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