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

KIMBERLY DOUGLAS, SPHR, is a nationally recognized expert in building the effectiveness of teams, based on her knowledge of industrial/organizational psychology combined with her real-life consulting and corporate human resources executive experience. As President of FireFly Facilitation, she has collaborated with hundreds of leaders—at organizations such as AT&T, Cisco, United Way, and even the U.S. Marine Corps—to dramatically improve their business performance. She is frequently featured in national publications and is a sought-after speaker at meetings and conferences. To learn more about the author and how to improve your team's performance, visit TheFireFlyEffect.com.

Creative, effective teams often make the difference between stunning success and abject failure in business. But, like catching fireflies on a warm summer night, chasing creativity and bottling it up in your teams is no easy task. The Firefly Effect explores that metaphor to reveal what it takes to build the kind of teams that collaborate and create effectively and profitably.

In this practical yet inspiring guide, human resources consultant and business expert Kimberly Douglas explains how business leaders like you can capture those creative fireflies and build them into teams that produce tangible, long-term results. The Firefly Effect is what happens when you ignite the creative spark in enough of your group to create a blaze of new and innovative thinking. It leads your people and teams into a zone of intense teamwork and dedication, enthusiasm for achievement, unfettered creativity, and contentment with a job well done.

The Firefly Effect leads to much more than just great business results; it also leads to employees who are proud of their jobs and invested in something more meaningful than mere "work." When done right, the Firefly Effect:

• Lets individuals rediscover their unique and creative talents and best apply them within your organization
• Turns business leaders from autocrats into consensus-building role models
• Leverages the talents of individuals into a collective that focuses on critical business challenges rather than petty personal issues

When you roll all those things together, you can achieve virtually anything.

In each chapter of The Firefly Effect, you'll find inspiring stories, practical tools, and real guidance for building teams that truly work together.

Plus, you'll learn:

• What to do when the creativity dries up
• How to know when you need a new approach
• What to do when team leaders start to stifle creativity
• How to synchronize everyone's effort to deliver powerful impact and stunning success

"Insightful, fun, and transformative, Kimberly Douglas weaves practice and analogy into chapters that will spark the creativity of individuals, leaders, teams, and their organizations!" Marshall Goldsmith, NYT and WSJ ^#1 bestselling author of What Got You Here Won't Get You There

Creative, effective teams often make the difference between stunning success and abject failure in business. But, like catching fireflies on a warm summer night, chasing creativity and bottling it up in your teams is no easy task. The Firefly Effect explores that metaphor to reveal what it takes to build the kind of teams that collaborate and create effectively and profitably.

In this practical yet inspiring guide, human resources consultant and business expert Kimberly Douglas explains how business leaders like you can capture those creative fireflies and build them into teams that produce tangible, long-term results. The Firefly Effect is what happens when you ignite the creative spark in enough of your group to create a blaze of new and innovative thinking. It leads your people and teams into a zone of intense teamwork and dedication, enthusiasm for achievement, unfettered creativity, and contentment with a job well done.

The Firefly Effect leads to much more than just great business results; it also leads to employees who are proud of their jobs and invested in something more meaningful than mere "work." When done right, the Firefly Effect:

• Lets individuals rediscover their unique and creative talents and best apply them within your organization
• Turns business leaders from autocrats into consensus-building role models
• Leverages the talents of individuals into a collective that focuses on critical business challenges rather than petty personal issues

When you roll all those things together, you can achieve virtually anything.

In each chapter of The Firefly Effect, you'll find inspiring stories, practical tools, and real guidance for building teams that truly work together.

Plus, you'll learn:

• What to do when the creativity dries up
• How to know when you need a new approach
• What to do when team leaders start to stifle creativity
• How to synchronize everyone's effort to deliver powerful impact and stunning success

Praise for the Firefly Effect

"Insightful, fun, and transformative, Kimberly Douglas weaves practice and analogy into chapters that will spark the creativity of individuals, leaders, teams, and their organizations!" -Marshall Goldsmith NYT and WSJ #1 bestselling author of What Got You Here Won't Get You There

"The Firefly Effect debunks the myth that creativity is an exclusive gift, shared by a select few. It provides real-world tools to unleash and direct the creative spark¿that lives in everyone and make teams more effective by celebrating and leveraging their differences." -Brad Shaw Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications and External Affairs, The Home Depot

"The Firefly Effect brings it all together. For seasoned leaders to emerging leaders, Kimberly Douglas outlines the tools, processes, and methods—along with the rationale to know which to apply and when. The Firefly Effect is the first book that simplifies the complexity of team dynamics and exposes the fun of creating great teams." -Haven Riviere Vice President, Marketing Operations, The Coca-Cola Company