“The art of the possible” is a phrase often used to describe the practice of achieving the best possible outcome in a given situation – especially in the context of politics. It’s about creating achievable goals and being pragmatic rather than idealistic. Candidates (or elected representatives) who toss out this bon mot on the campaign trail desire to be thought of as intelligent (ha!), endowed with common sense (ha ha!), and agile enough to work within and amongst the existing government machinations.
Boiled down to its essence, “the art of the possible” emphasizes the elements of practicality, feasibility, and realistic planning. It’s safe. It’s comforting. It’s designed to placate. Its’ the sort of thing that just SCREAMS to be turned into a concurrent session topic for a SHRM conference with titles like:
- Sitting at the Table: Strategizing Practical Results
- HR Difference Makers: Mastering Attainable Goals
- Navigating Feasible Solutions to your HR Challenges
It’s also uninspiring and boring. B-O-R-I-N-G.
What’s wrong with dreaming BIG? Why can’t we yearn for idealized outcomes? Why is it bad to fantasize about impractical solutions and unconventional concepts?
Listen…there are about as many folks giving advice on how to brainstorm as there are folks who “recruited” for 6 months giving career advice on TikTok. But here’s what I’ve long believed about brainstorming when I need to solve a problem or devise solutions and plans:
Call out/write down the IDEAL state…no matter how unrealistic it sounds.
What’s wrong with that after all? Brainstorming is nothing more than creating. You’re not tattooing an idea onto a bodily appendage or cementing it in performance goals that determine your increase and bonus.
Then after this first step in this brainstorming exercise, once you’ve defined this WILD future (this utopia!) you envision, it’s time to capture every single possible way you can make it happen. You’re not thinking budget or resources or practicalities yet; your goal now is to capture even those items that seem impractical and unattainable. Because then, once you’ve developed this list, you can begin to explore those out-there “fixes” and consider the possibilities of scaling them down to be realistic and attainable.
The beauty here is you’re giving yourself the freedom to contemplate – if even for a few minutes – the most ludicrous, eccentric, and occasionally-downright-freaky solutions to tackle a problem and accomplish a goal.
We don’t often go this route in HR (oh heck; true for just about any corporate function) though. We rely on other organizations’ HR best practices (ugh) gathered via a Facebook group or we scope out what some professional organization deems to be cutting-edge (ha ha ha!) human resources/talent practices in the year 2023. We also – and this is deeply embedded in the psyche of most HR practitioners – often start with a “solution” before fully exploring and even understanding the problem. Thus, inevitably, we end up creating even more complex, byzantine processes that do little to alleviate the pain we (or our employees) are feeling. We add steps to steps. We put it into some shiny new technology we’ve purchased. And we call it “innovation.”
Nope.
Truly want to practice “Innovative HR?” it’s time to be BOLD and CREATIVE and ruminate on “if.” It’s time to ask not only “why” but to also speculate “why not?” In fact, it’s far past time.
Then, in the wise words of En Vogue, “Free your mind, and the rest will follow.”
