Inside the box

I was having a G chat conversation with a friend today when she said (or, rather, wrote) something that that caught my attention. She was getting frustrated with a PowerPoint presentation she was working on because it was consuming her life. She said: “I feel like my life has come down to deciding whether things should be in boxes or arrows.”

Now, I have my own frustrations with PowerPoint as a communication tool, but I think there is a greater point here. As a young, entry level employee in a big company, my friend (and many like her, including myself) get brainwashed in templates, style, protocol, procedures and everything else that makes up a corporate psyche. Sure, those standards are necessary to make things run smoothly and ensure consistency. But we get so consumed with *literally* thinking inside the box that we forget how to be creative. When the boss turns to you and wants to see innovation, creativity or something new, it’s such a disarming feeling. And trying to propose any new innovation is almost impossible to do while still observing the litany of rules.

I think this goes way back, before our first jobs. I saw this post by David Armano a while ago, and it has stuck with me. We (millennials) are used to guidelines and rules like coloring within the lines. Playing by them guaranteed excelling on standardized tests, getting good recommendations, going to good colleges, yet were never did anything exceptionally well. By simply following the rules, doing what we were supposed to do, we progressed right along.

So how do we, as Armano said, let imaginations grow while still enforcing some basic ground rules? I’m not exactly sure, but as I’m contemplating a new internship program at work, I’m trying to keep that in mind. I think there should be opportunities to take on a pet project and devote time — an hour a day or five hours a week — to it. And I think fresh interns have a real opportunity to hear a problem and make some imaginative suggestions. Those of us with the ground rules can handle making it conform, if necessary. I’m just starting to brainstorm so other ideas are very, very welcome!