> A person who is 'High Alternatives' is motivated by the possibility to
> generate alternatives. When they are 'blue sky-ing', they are getting
> 'high' on their own endorphins and this is a 'high' that they want to
> continue. When they do not have this possibility to generate those kinds
> of alternatives (that 'high'), they get a little depressed as part of
> their 'drug withdrawal symptoms'.
> A person who is 'Low Alternatives' is motivated by knowing a procedure
> they can perform and they are motivated to get to the end of the
> procedure. The chemical basis for this behavior is adrenalin. Not the
> surges we get in fright/flight situations, but a slmall steady flow which
> provides an energy that supports the steady operation of the procedure (a
> certain "rightness" about _how_ they are doing the task). They too, feel
> at a loss when their 'drug' is withdrawn; they get _stuck_ when they don't
> have a procedure to follow, or they cannot follow the one they know.
Your comments may possibly be right; however, the idea of "blue-skying" is
not as pleasant as blue-skying itself. :) if I know what that means!
One perspective about these groups of people is that the high alternatives
group may generate alternatives because that's what modern corporations
and improvement efforts involve. The low alternatives group may stay out
of introducing ideas partly because they don't see themselves as welcomed
to bring forth ideas - resulting in confidence to speak and confidence in
thinking.
Another perspective is that blue-skying could easily be said by someone
who doesn't understand someone else's behavior. As usual, my comments are
probably partly unrelated; however, here's an example.
I've been working on a WWW page that describes searching the Internet with
an emphasis on the learning organization listserve. During the development
of the project - you can see the "not yet mastered song" at
http://www.rtis.com/nat/user/jfullerton/search/ - the idea of the shadow
behind "Searching" and using the word "Searching" to group the row of
icons was seemingly a chance impression. The shadow particularly was
something that I literally got the impression of seeing and I gained
confidence from the imagination that it was a neat addition.
To work in an environment where I am not free to add value such as
mentioned here as I have occasion seems very different than looking at the
situation as "there he goes again". It's like saying, "You're not free to
use what you have."
Please note that this is not a personal attack! From ideas such as you've
presented and the "alternative view" itself, you may be a "blue-sky"
person yourself; however, even if you just didn't like the effect of too
many options, I would only have the right to be part of the conversation.
Have a nice day
John Paul Fullerton
jpf@myriad.net
--"John Paul Fullerton" <jpf@mail.myriad.net>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>