Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky, 9 Ways to Engage Community to Realize Your Ideas - Book Review

Generating ideas is easy. It's executing them that presents a challenge. Entrepreneur and creative industry guru, Scott Belsky, studied a variety of creative professionals for six years. Surprisingly the most successful individuals used similar processes to realize their ideas vs. hapardhazardly hoping to achieve their goals.Belsky details his findings in his new book, entitled, Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming The Obstacles To Turn Vision Into Reality. Following is the third in a series of articles highlighting his message. Here, the focus is engaging your community to help advance your developing idea.1. Identify Dreamers/Doers/Incrementalists. Dreamers are fun to be around, but struggle to stay focused. They're more likely than anyone to conceive brilliant ideas but less apt to follow through. Doers obsessively focus on the logistics of execution. Incrementalists are able to play both roles and generate ideas coupled with the necessary Action Steps. Their rare ability to co
nceive and execute too many ideas simultaneously negates the opportunity to make any one project extraordinary. A Dreamer and Doer are best paired together. Incrementalists can work well with either type. Knowing your style is the first step to identify potential collaborations and establishing lasting partnerships in the community.2. Seek Collaboration. Everyone can benefit from a partner who is both foil and a complement. Developing meaningful relationships will make you more effective. "Partnerships must be formed carefully," says Belsky. " But when they work, ideas can flourish on a much bigger scale." Partners needn't be financial or equal partners. They seek to complement your capabilities and rein in your tendencies. After selecting your primary partners, think more broadly about other individuals and groups to engage your ideas.3. Share Ideas Liberally. Sharing ideas defies the instinct to keep your ideas secret. Originating an idea is one small step to make that ide
a happen. Communal forces help us refine raw ideas, build an abundant network and hold us accountable for making our idea happen. Our success rate increases when we readily share ideas and seek out previous discoveries made by others in our industry. Advances in technology make it easier than ever before to rapidly share ideas. Ultimately, most ideas aren't shared and die in isolation. Become more transparent even if it goes against your natural tendencies.4. Capitalize on Feedback. Community engagement can shed new light on the value and potential flaws of your ideas. Ideally, opinions result in a feedback exchange. Feedback is a powerful, sobering force that can refine good ideas, kill bad ones and postpone premature ideas. Few people/teams welcome feedback. But the more enamored we are with our own ideas, the more we need a reality check. One method for consistent feedback exchange involves START/STOP/CONTINUE, here:
Each team member is e-mailed the names of colleagues and key clients.
They suggest a few things each of them should START, STOP, and CONTINUE doing.
They e-mail their thoughts to the team leader. Points under each heading are aggregated to identify the larger trends. Isolated points mentioned by one person are discarded.
Common themes are shared with each team member in a private meeting.
Feedback exchange needs to be simple, action-oriented and quick enough to use periodically.The START/STOP/CONTINUE approach can be adapted for any project. Regardless of where you're at in your career, you should not only accept feedback, but also seek it out. Managers, coworkers and clients have a responsibility to share feedback and you should encourage them to do so.5. Transparency Boosts Communal Forces. Your ability to benefit from your community depends on how transparent you are with your ideas, objectives and progress.
Transparency creates a powerful force of accountability.
Public evolution of ideas helps distribute a sense of ownership, develops refinement and tests viability.
Sharing aspects of your developing project provides real-time feedback and presents questions that reveal unexplained possibilities.
Your community will come to expect continual updates, providing both a source of encouragement and constructive criticism.
You're apt to become more productive as others see your activity and help you make connections you'd otherwise miss.
Although the process can be uncomfortable, you're apt to focus and make incremental progress when an expectant group of colleagues, friends, and fans is watching6. Communal Forces Are Best Channeled in Circles. If you don't normally work within a group, you may want to create your own. Groups can also be considered circles of people. Circles exist to share ideas, exchange candid feedback and foster a sense of accountability. Key success factors for circles, known as "Rules of Circles," are:
Limit circles to fifteen members or less. Large groups make people feel accountable to a collective rather than to each other as individuals, which is less effective. Large groups become too difficult to coordinate and host. Online forums and e-mail chains also become too impersonal and make it difficult for members to speak freely.
Establish clear and consistent meeting schedules.
Meet frequently and stay accountable. It's critical that all participants are held accountable for attendance and timeliness. Members having more than allowable absences should be asked to leave the group, as it effects circle accountability.
Assign a leader. Every circle needs someone to oversee scheduling and confront members with inconsistent attendance. They should facilitate the start/end of conversation while monitoring time.
Extend your Circle Online. Use social networking but also strive for face-to-face meetings. The physical, intimate experience promotes accountability and candidness. The benefits you reap from a circle is directly related to your contributions. Competition may arise in the same industry, as others share their own progress. You'll feel more pressure to further pursue and define your own ideas.7. Seek Competition. Ideas often have the tendency to lie stagnant until jolted into action either by excitement or fear. The prospect of someone else completing and receiving acclaim for an idea you had is painful. Competition, whether a friendly rivalry or outright envy is an extremely powerful motivating force. It serves as a catalyst for taking action and inspires us to improve our overall level of performance. Any leader can easily lose focus without a group of competitors to keep him or her on track. "While it may be against your nature to do so, you should actively seek out compet
ition, and be grateful for it," says Belsky. "By embracing competition, you stay at the top of your game."8. Commit Yourself. When you launch a new project, you want everyone you now to help promote it. When you publicly commit yourself and take on risk to make an idea happen, you engage in what Belsky calls, "Committal Benefits." Committal Benefits represent the increased likelihood of others to take a risk of their own financially or with their reputations, to support your projects. When you commit, your community will be more willing to secure resources to help you.9. Create Accountability Systems. We need help to stay focused and committed to our goals. Various online social networks exist, as does the coworking movement that provides a communal work space that fosters focusTo make your personal and professional ideas happen, first, commit to a relentless bias toward action. Define and prioritize the necessary Action Steps to bring your ideas to fruition. Engage your com
munity and encourage their valuable feedback, while they help to promote your ideas. Next... (Another) 9 Ways To Engage Community To Help Realize Your Ideas.To join the conversation with other creative people and teams, visit the online think tank, The 99 Percent: .

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