Angel's advocate

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In contrast to the Devil's Advocate (which in common language has come to mean a person who takes a position for the sake of argument), the Angel's Advocate is someone who sees what's good about an idea. The Angel's Advocate's behaviours serve to acknowledge the idea giver, to make improvements on the idea, and to design a plan to make use of the idea in a modified form that will overcome obstacles identified in its raw state, whereas the Devil's Advocate criticizes ideas without support for the idea giver.

People are encouraged to behave like an Angel's Advocate when they want to encourage new ideas from others as well as for themselves. It is a useful approach for fostering innovation and creative thinking.

The Angel's Advocate process involves giving at least 3 reasons to support the idea whatever it is, inventing ways to overcome any concerns regarding the idea's implementation, and finally coming up with a plan to implement one of the suggestions made.

To become an Angel's Advocate one follows the pattern below upon hearing or coming up with an idea

1. Ask, "What's good about it?"
2. Ask, "In what ways might we overcome the obstacles?"
3. Announce, "Here's what we can do..."

[edit] References

• Segal, Marci (2001). Creativity and Personality Type: tools for understanding and inspiring the many voices of creativity. Telos, 20. ISBN 0-96646240-8.