I've been noticing an interesting phenomenon lately. I'm Co-Chair of the Southlake Chamber of Commerce Oktoberfest. It's a very large event that takes, basically, year-round planning.* We employ an event management company, and we used the same very good, very efficient company for years. This year we have a new planner, The Dallas Directory. In the few months we've been working together, they've had some really great ideas, have all kinds of good suggestions, and have us all excited about this year's event. My co-chair and I comment regularly on what a good choice they are, and what a big difference they're making.
Another important part of Oktoberfest planning is the smart and helpful Jill Lind, Tourism Marketing Manager from the City of Southlake. She's a real asset for Oktoberfest, and is also just about to have a baby. Since she'll be out for a few months, she's sending someone new, Southlake's Communication and Website Manager, Pilar Schank. Pilar came to our most recent Oktoberfest committee meeting, had some great ideas, and brought up several things we just hadn't thought about. She's making a real contribution, after only one meeting.
I'm also on the Chamber's Board of Directors. Southlake's excellent longtime Director of Economic Development and Board ex-officio member, Greg Last, recently left his position with the city. (He's going to be consulting on ED, and if you have occasion to hire him, DO.) Greg has faithfully attended Board meetings for years, contributing valuable insight. When he left, Southlake's amazing City Manager, Shana Yelverton, stepped up and offered to attend the meetings. She came to our most recent one, where she asked questions that seemed to illuminate the room. She asked a few questions and made a few points, and brought such innovative thinking to the discussion that it felt like the meeting attained a whole new level of productivity.
So what's the deal? It's not like the people who were involved before weren't great. They were. They are, and they're just as smart and hard-working and helpful as the new people. But it seems like every time we have someone new listening with new ears and chiming in, we get value that's way out of proportion to just having someone new there.
What's been happening wasn't exactly group think. That isn't the right term. It's not that we all agree, or even "agree to disagree" to maintain harmony. We don't care that much about harmony. And it's certainly not that we're married to the status quo—most of the people in these groups don't hesitate for a second to shake things up—but it could be that meeting with the same people, following the same agenda time after time, naturally leads us to walk the same path, time after time. I suppose we just kind of get stuck in patterns of thought, or ways to look at problems, and having fresh ideas added to the usual mix startles us out of the…well, I guess rut is the word.
The fact is, developing ideas is easier when you have a lot of different minds adding something to the pot. Larry Hardesty of MIT wrote a great article for the Product Design & Development website that goes into detail about it. He notes that when the population of a city doubles (and the people have the opportunity to interact with each other), economic productivity goes up by 130%. New people, new ideas, new improvements. Yeah, that kind of fits what I've been seeing in my own little world lately.
I suppose the lesson here, and someone help me remember this, is that you (I) have to go out of the way to make sure there's fresh input. How? I guess add people to a committee, or invite guests to a meeting or…what? Any other suggestions? Face-to-face interaction is apparently the name of the game. We just have to find a way to make it happen.
*You should volunteer for this. Contact me; we'll talk.
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