THINK INSIDE THE BOX (or what's wring with the box?)

The United States Marine Corps is known for its creativity and flexibility. For example, potential Marine officers at Officer Candidate School must face a grueling and often revealing exercise called the Reaction Course. Officer candidates are split into teams of four and taken to an area which resembles a children’s playground. There is rope, a barrel, a high wall, and two wooden poles present. The instructor presents each team with a scenario- one of the team has been severely wounded and the other team members must take him/her over a gully represented by the wall. The team has 15 minutes to accomplish the task.

The officer candidates are involved in a creative process called “think inside the box.” That is opposite of what we are usually taught by teachers and consultants as we are told to think outside the box to be truly creative. While thinking outside the box is seen as the method to break through the stodgy traditional ways of problem solving and can indeed be very seductive, it is in reality a subversion of the creative process if it is seen as the only method to solve problems or even as the primary method. To think that we can pluck ideas from nothingness is to believe in magic, not creativity. Ideas we need to solve our problems are new combinations of existing ideas already in the box. To gain new insights we need to practice identifying, breaking, and creating patterns among the high quality “stuff” we currently possess.

Thinking inside the box is to make greedy, grateful use of limits (Imagination First). When I was an elementary school principal and needed to solve a problem one of the first questions I asked was, “What are my limits or constraints to solving this problem?” Knowing my limits presented me with what I called my “area of maneuver.” Acknowledging our limitations can be incredible prompts to imagination as limits beget inventiveness.

To think inside the box can be first be a solo enterprise and then individuals can be brought onboard to a team if the nature of the problem requires a collaborative effort and if there is ample time for it to be solved. Ideas for individuals and teams to wander inside their boxes include:

·       Listen to each other’s ideas

·       Do not be so quick to dismiss each other’s ideas

·       Challenge assumptions

·       Learn from the past and adapt as needed

·       Consider what you have learned in similar and not so similar situations

·       Create team norms that improve collaboration

·       Spend more time planning before attempting to solve

·       Read the instructions

·       Ask more questions

·       Ask better questions

·       Draw from each other’s strengths

·       Collaborate with other teams

·       Observe and give feedback

·       Seek counsel from others

An example of a solo time sensitive thinking inside the box effort can be drawn from military history. In 1918 during the final weeks of World War I Colonel George Marshall was serving on the planning staff of the American Expeditionary Force in France. One day Marshall was assigned the task of planning a complex battle plan in which about 600,000 American soldiers with supplies and artillery would be removed from an active front to march to another battle without the German forces discovering the move. And the plan had to be completed as soon as possible.

Marshall began thinking about the massive troop movement as he walked trough a nearby French village asking himself, “Has something like this ever be been accomplished before?” When he concluded it had not, he began thinking about the limitations and constraints imposed upon him. He returned to his office at headquarters and spent the night drafting the plan. Marshall submitted his plan the next morning and it was readily accepted by his superiors. The complex move of soldiers was successful and it helped to end the hostilities in a few weeks. Marshall was appointed Army Chief of Staff 21 years later and he also served as Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense.

In conclusion, we live in an era of limitations and scarcity of time, resources, and people if often our reality. By thinking inside the box first we can get the results we desire. The box is our area of maneuver for success.