The Firefly Effect

How can you tap into your team’s creativity to tackle today’s toughest business challenges? In The Firefly Effect, Kimberly Douglas presents inspiring yet pragmatic insights into getting your entire team firing on all cylinders and aiming in the right direction. Comparing the difficult act of harnessing and capturing creativity to the act of catching fireflies on a summer night, she will explain: What to do when the fireflies don’t show up (or when creativity dries up) How to know when it’s time to find a new meadow (or a new approach, place or process) What to do if the leader is keeping too tight a lid on the jar (and team innovation is gasping for air) How to get inventive when it rains on your firefly hunt (or parade of ideas) What happens when everyone is too busy to join in (and group problems remain unresolved)

Acknowledgments xi Part I Rediscover Your Creative Spark 1 Chapter One What is the Firefly Effect? 3 Chapter Two The Individual—Creativity Found Again 9 Part II The Leader’s Role—Creating the Right Environment 17 Chapter Three The New Role of Leadership 19 Chapter Four No Dissing the Red Quadrant 25 Chapter Five Beware the Ferocious Firefly! 37 Chapter Six Conflict as Creative Abrasion . . . a Pearl, a Diamond, or a Mountain? 51 Chapter Seven Was It Something I Said? 63 Part III The Leader’s Role—Targeting Team Energy 75 Chapter Eight One Team—One Picture of Success 77 Chapter Nine How Will You Know When You Get There? 93 Chapter Ten Guiding Principles as Guiding Light 103 Part IV Everyone Firing on All Cylinders 113 Chapter Eleven Team Gatherings—Time to Shine 115 Chapter Twelve Team Decisions: Fact or Fiction? 129 Chapter Thirteen What to Do if the Leader is Keeping Too Tight a Lid on the Jar 147 Chapter Fourteen Shining the Light of Accountability 157 Part V Sparking Creativity 169 Chapter Fifteen The Firefly Chase Begins 171 Chapter Sixteen How Could You Forget the Toys? 185 Chapter Seventeen This Place is a Zoo! 199 Chapter Eighteen When Sparks Collide—Dealing with Interteam Conflict 205 Part VI Sync—The Magic 219 Chapter Nineteen There’s Something Going On in My Backyard! 221 Chapter Twenty Change is Not a Four-Letter Word! 231 Chapter Twenty-One The End of the Day 243 Index 251