Dear Sixth Level,
As the director of a mental health facility, I need my team to generate creative solutions that inspire and motivate employees across our organization. Training content serves as one critical example. Effective training must engage employees so they understand not only the requirements and responsibilities of their roles, but also the attitude and interpersonal skills essential to healing our patients.
Too often, team members either fear being creative or fail to try. They turn to me for answers instead of developing their own. I want their ideas, solutions, and creativity—even when incomplete or imperfect. I need them to develop these capabilities so we can all grow together.
The question is: How do I cultivate this mindset shift? How do I create an environment where my team feels empowered to think independently, take creative risks, and bring forward their own solutions?
Building Bold Thinkers
Dear Building Bold Thinkers,
We appreciate your dedication to developing growth through creativity and innovation. It demonstrates care for your patients, your team, and all employees. The Sixth Level core principles—mutuality, ingenuity, justness, and intrinsic motivation—may help clarify what you are trying to accomplish and can serve as a checklist for your team.
Mutuality means caring for and serving each other. Team member growth happens through challenge, frustration, and developing new ideas and insights, even when half-baked. This growth benefits them individually and strengthens you, as you learn from your team. This process enhances mutual growth.
Ingenuity means inventing novel solutions that serve the interests of many. It requires observation, synthesis of information, and imagination to create new ideas or build on existing practices.
Justness refers to the collective responsibility to propel progress through care and fair treatment of others. It means accountability to oneself and to the group. Justness suggests that team members try their best and struggle independently before bringing problems to you.
Intrinsic Motivation means going beyond narrow self-interest for the benefit of the larger group. A sense of purpose drives this effort. Intrinsic motivation relates to your objectives in several ways. As a leader, you can foster intrinsic motivation by providing opportunities for team members to articulate what their work means to them and how they connect personally. Second, team members can check themselves to see whether they have gone beyond minimum
requirements before seeking your input. Finally, encourage your team to design training materials that appeal to a sense of purpose and speak to diverse learning styles and perspectives.
Provide your team with this checklist to guide their work and help them determine when they genuinely need your help.
Thank you for reaching out. Your approach to leadership demonstrates genuine commitment to your team. Developing bold thinkers is challenging work, and your willingness to examine your own role in that process is admirable.
The Sixth Level Team