Kimberly Douglas 
The Firefly Effect 
Build Teams That Capture Creativity and Catapult Results

How can you tap into your team’s creativity to tackle
today’s toughest business challenges?

In The Firefly Effect, Kimberly Douglas presents
inspiring yet pragmatic insights into getting your entire team
firing on all cylinders and aiming in the right direction.
Comparing the difficult act of harnessing and capturing creativity
to the act of catching fireflies on a summer night, she will
explain:

* What to do when the fireflies don’t show up (or when
creativity dries up)

* How to know when it’s time to find a new meadow (or a new
approach, place or process)

* What to do if the leader is keeping too tight a lid on the jar
(and team innovation is gasping for air)

* How to get inventive when it rains on your firefly hunt (or
parade of ideas)

* What happens when everyone is too busy to join in (and group
problems remain unresolved)

Table of Content

Acknowledgments xi

Part I Rediscover Your Creative Spark 1

Chapter One What is the Firefly Effect? 3

Chapter Two The Individual–Creativity Found Again 9

Part II The Leader’s Role–Creating the Right Environment 17

Chapter Three The New Role of Leadership 19

Chapter Four No Dissing the Red Quadrant 25

Chapter Five Beware the Ferocious Firefly! 37

Chapter Six Conflict as Creative Abrasion . . . a Pearl, a Diamond, or a Mountain? 51

Chapter Seven Was It Something I Said? 63

Part III The Leader’s Role–Targeting Team Energy 75

Chapter Eight One Team–One Picture of Success 77

Chapter Nine How Will You Know When You Get There? 93

Chapter Ten Guiding Principles as Guiding Light 103

Part IV Everyone Firing on All Cylinders 113

Chapter Eleven Team Gatherings–Time to Shine 115

Chapter Twelve Team Decisions: Fact or Fiction? 129

Chapter Thirteen What to Do if the Leader is Keeping Too Tight a Lid on the Jar 147

Chapter Fourteen Shining the Light of Accountability 157

Part V Sparking Creativity 169

Chapter Fifteen The Firefly Chase Begins 171

Chapter Sixteen How Could You Forget the Toys? 185

Chapter Seventeen This Place is a Zoo! 199

Chapter Eighteen When Sparks Collide–Dealing with Interteam Conflict 205

Part VI Sync–The Magic 219

Chapter Nineteen There’s Something Going On in My Backyard! 221

Chapter Twenty Change is Not a Four-Letter Word! 231

Chapter Twenty-One The End of the Day 243

Index 251

About the author

KIMBERLY DOUGLAS, SPHR, is a nationally recognized expert in building the effectiveness of teams, based on her knowledge of industrial/organizational psychology combined with her real-life consulting and corporate human resources executive experience. As President of Fire Fly Facilitation, she has collaborated with hundreds of leaders–at organizations such as AT&T, Cisco, United Way, and even the U.S. Marine Corps–to dramatically improve their business performance. She is frequently featured in national publications and is a sought-after speaker at meetings and conferences. To learn more about the author and how to improve your team’s performance, visit The Fire Fly Effect.com.