About 10 years ago a colleague in the planning field and I shared lunch and ended up discussing work. He used the word "commodity" to describe the planning industry. I struggled to understand why he felt our work was being converted into a generic product. Didn't we approach each jurisdiction as unique? Didn't we try to find new solutions? Didn't we listen and adapt our solution to the individual context? How could anyone suggest that our services, so diligent and professional, were produced on an assembly line?

A decade later, I think I understand what he meant. He was saying that most planners were selling the "status quo" solution, and that was what most jurisdictions were buying.

How Experience Can Actually Trap Us

The truth is, experience in any creative field can be a double-edged sword.

Experience gives us confidence, because it means chances are good we have dealt with a particular challenge before. To the extent that an industry demands repetition, experience can help you do the same thing in less time with lower costs.

On the flip-side, experience through repetition can take what is supposed to be a customized, creative, inspired process and turn it into a "commodity."

This commodity paradigm can make those of us in the court and correctional planning industries ill-prepared for the changes happening before our eyes throughout the criminal justice system. New initiatives are being tried in almost every jurisdiction, from alternatives to incarceration to re-entry/anti-recidivism programs. Change has rendered this the "anti-commodity" era for planning.

For anyone who was comfortable with the "commodity" context a decade ago, this new era can be disconcerting. For those who relish change, new ideas are like fresh air. Either way, everyone is looking toward an uncertain future. Here are three things we as planning professionals can do to keep an open mind and not fall into the "experience trap."

1. To Really Understand a Problem, Use the "Zoom Out, Zoom In" Method

One of my favorite quotes is, from the Dalai Lama XIV, is: "When you talk, you are only repeating what you know. But if you listen, you may learn something new."

When any of us is in a conversation, it's easy to listen without really hearing. When problem-solving in corrections, we often follow an actual script or survey, always with the same questions and set of assumptions. Further, "project fatigue" can lead even the most engaged planner to tune out and not really listen for new ideas.

But in an industry that is in disruption, deeper listening can lead to new solutions with broader benefits.

One trick to help keep a fresh mind while listening is something I call "Zoom out, zoom in." This technique can help frame a seemingly simple problem to gain an understanding of the issues behind it.

"Zooming out" means looking at a problem from a broader viewpoint -- from the perspective of other stakeholders, the facility, or jurisdictional leadership, for example. How will they perceive this person's concerns and goals? -- What will they think is worthwhile? "Zooming in" means looking at the problem purely from the perspective of an individual stakeholder. What does this individual know? Is there knowledge they lack?

When someone tells me about a problem, even if I think I know the answer, a quick "zoom out, zoom in" anchors that viewpoint in context. My follow-up questions become more meaningful and usually lead to a dialog that lends location-specific authenticity to our solutions.

"Zooming" can help in any situation where interaction is required. Listen from your perspective, but zoom to see things from other viewpoints. Try to understand. Then validate your assumptions. "Are you suggesting that...?" or "So...if I understand you, this is related to..." are ways to deepen the conversation and verify what you have learned.

2. Embrace Conflict by Using "Creative Abrasion"

One of my favorite TED Talks, by anthropologist and researcher Linda Hill, focuses on innovation.

Hill does a wonderful job, in just over 17 minutes, of explaining what common qualities exist in some of the most innovative organizations and projects around the world. Her team found three capabilities that exist in all truly innovative communities: creative abrasion, creative agility, and creative resolution.

Creative agility and creative resolution skills include brainstorming, testing ideas, and deciding what is worth pursuing and what is not.

Fostering creative abrasion, though, is a rarer skill. Creative abrasion as Hill explains it is about allowing disagreement, encouraging dissent, and challenging the status quo, without feeling threatened.

At Pixar, a firm renowned for its creativity, it became an overt goal to "make sure that all the disruptors, all the minority voices in this organization, speak up and are heard." According to Hill, it is the scratchy discourse surrounding differing ideas that is the key to creating something new.

How can planners use creative abrasion to drive innovation in their practices? First, we should accept that the status quo is already our past. Second, allow ourselves to let the process of decision-making be messy. Third, remember to include a wider group of individuals in situations where new ideas are needed. Allowing dissenting approaches to live and breathe opens the door for those ideas to be developed and for concepts to be tested that might not have ever been tried before.

3. Take More Time to Create Efficiency

Taking time to think is critical to generating new ideas. The concept is important enough that a British leadership development company took "Time to Think" as its name. Their website describes ten components of the ideal creative environment. The list includes attention, equality, ease, appreciation, encouragement, feelings, information, diversity, incisive question, and place. While it may seem counterintuitive, taking "time to think" is efficient. One case study found that employing these concepts made a group's management meetings 62 percent more efficient, rendering them less top-heavy and more creative. Even better, those engaged in the meetings had improved working relationships.

When engaged creatively, consider that slowing down and taking time to think will actually maximize value. The website www.timetothink.com has an online assessment that can help you and your team get started.

There's no way to stop change, and it can be unsettling, but these three tools are a few suggestions to help anyone with an experience paradigm to maintain an agile mind and be open to innovation.