Sharing ideas is not easy

CONVERSATIONS

Exchange of thought with a Creativity Engineering Summer School participant at the Vienna University of Technology

Participant from China:

I think it’s something about personal style. Everyone has different talking and thinking style. There is nothing wrong, but you may be uncomfortable when you feel that someone says almost everything against you.
But at last we reached the common point by fully communication.
I just don’t like that, when I raise a creative idea, someone always put the black hat and try to deny it. If I can choose, I would like to work with someone who is more positive and optimistic.

Course coach:

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
I can fully understand what you mean.
I also prefer to work with positive people rather than people who are negative and try to stop everything new from happening.
I have similar experiences in some of my projects as you.

Then I received the recommendation to see negative comments as a constructive input improving my idea.
Usually negative comments are not negative comment against you as a person.
To understand this it is always recommended to look at the cultural setting a discussion happens in:
In Western culture a discussion is focused on the idea and not the person. They comment on your idea. Actually it is quite good if an idea is commented a lot, in a positive or negative way. It means that it created thought in other people.

If this is different in your own culture, it would be worth trying to convince yourself that a negative comment for an idea you raised is not about you but only about the idea. Then you don’t feel hurt and you can argue easily for your idea and proof that the comment raised is not applicable or taken into account.

I hope that my explanation was understandable and meaningful to you. Let me know if you have questions or more thoughts about this.

Thanks again – it is nice to share experiences and thoughts.

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