Creative Gorilla #67 By reducing a process to its fewest steps, keeping it simple, you can reap a number of benefits… “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” Albert Einstein Are your processes simple? Here’s a good news story. My paper shredder broke down. The motor ran but the paper didn’t shred and I delayed calling the manufacturer for a while because I have had some bad experiences with equipment service organisations and didn’t want hassle. I anticipated the usual array of excuses why they couldn’t do anything: I must have pushed a sheet of aluminium through the shredder; the shredder only shreds papyrus made by Ancient Egyptians; the warranty is only valid in the grouse shooting season etc. So I procrastinated and eventually my wife telephoned. So where is the good news? “No problem”, the manufacturer said. “We’ll send you a new one,” which they did. And the old one? “Throw it away.” So we kept the bin and recycled the rest. “That is so unfair,” I thought, “why was I not the recipient of that great piece of customer service? And why do other companies not do this?” That set me thinking about the benefits to them. These include: They have a raving fan who is writing about them (the manufacturer is Fellowes) which should improve sales They probably have low turnover of customer service staff as they deal with delighted customers not grumpy people Repeat calls will be fewer so they need fewer staff Supervisors and senior managers are not dragged in to a dispute They know exactly how much the problem... read more
Creative Gorilla#66 A Haiku is a great way to consider and refine a challenge … “Waterfall roaring – though the sparrow sings unheard, still he keeps singing” James Kirkup ~ English poet Do you need to make a concise statement of a situation to help with challenge definition…? My wife gave me a beautiful a book of meditations called The Bridge of Stars, beautiful because the visual design and photographs are as much part of the book as the poetry. Reading the Haikus in the book reminded me that this Japanese poetry form is not just a great method of writing poetry but also a great creative technique when you want to define a challenge in a succinct way. I first learned about the Haiku on a creative writing class. It is a form of poetry in which you use 17 syllables in three lines, five – seven – five. Strictly speaking it was not invented until the 1890’s, adapted from the Hokku, the starting verse of much longer poems. A hundred years later I thought it would be a great way to have people redefine their challenge definition and so I experimented in my Open University residential courses. It worked very well. So I invited the students to consider their challenge situation (e.g. How can I motivate my team?) and reduce it down to 17 syllables. The power lies in the brevity and in the discipline of achieving the syllable structure. Brevity provides clarity and having to find words to match the number of syllables helps to give a subtly different perspective on your situation. As an example, I... read more
YES! AND… Creative Gorilla # 65 If you quash valid discussion in the workplace, you run the risk of making sub-standard decisions… “A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.” Dale Carnegie, US Philanthropist Are you encouraging full discussion in your organisation? I love a good discussion. Recently, someone started talking to me about global warming and the impact people are having on the climate. I listened quietly to them and when they had finished I mentioned, quite light heartedly, that although I see great merit in recycling and reducing emissions, I am an agnostic on the topic of human affect on the climate, having read a lot of arguments both for and against. I waited for their response, instead their face set quite hard and not wishing to escalate discussion to argument, I quickly changed the subject. It struck me afterwards that in the “debate” about global warming there is a tendency for the opposing sides to try to stifle the debate. They ridicule commentators with opposing viewpoints or focus on their “hidden agendas” rather than the merits of their arguments; supporters of global warming theories are “scientists seeking more research funding” and detractors are “paid lackeys of the oil companies”. The only affect such criticism has is to stifle useful debate. So So what is your team or organisation’s equivalent of “global warming”? Are individual viewpoints stifled because they question the company’s strategy, policies or decisions or because the person has little political influence? Does argument descend into ridicule of the individual? I agree that at some point discussion must stop and action... read more
Creative Gorilla #64 The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. “The most basic and powerful way to connect to another person is to listen. Just listen.” Rachel Naomi Remen, Clinical Professor of Family Medicine, UCSF School of Medicine Have you ever done something really stupid? Last week, I was in Southern Ireland, combining work with a family holiday. Driving through the beautiful scenery of the Wicklow Mountains, I felt my lips drying out and reached for the lip salve. Eyes fixed on the road, I flipped off the lid and applied the salve to my upper lip. I thought it felt drier than usual, but applied it to my lower lip too. When my lips stuck together, I looked at the “lip salve” and realised I had applied a glue stick! The family collapsed in giggles whilst Dad tried to maintain his dignity and work out who had left the glue stick next to the lip salve. “Don’t worry,” said my wife, “at least it should prompt a Gorilla article.” Whilst thanking her for the sympathy, I mused on the metaphor of “my lips are sealed” and thought how powerful it can be in business if we let others talk. Just sit back and think for a moment. When was the last time you were in a meeting where everybody managed to talk without being interrupted? Do senior colleagues speak over junior colleagues in your organisation? When you last had a discussion with a colleague, did you find yourself thinking of your response half way through their sentence? Have you interrupted someone... read more
YES! AND… Creative Gorilla # 63 If you are flexible about meeting outcomes, you can be much more successful.… “I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I’m in a cabinet meeting.” Ronald Reagan, former President of the USA Are you flexible enough in your meetings? Recently, I ran a workshop for a team of engineering managers. The team had a number of issues to discuss and we had designed a very full agenda. At the end of the first day, it became clear that some of the early issues required more discussion than anticipated and needed to be resolved. We could have shelved this discussion in order to achieve the planned outcomes. Instead, I sat down with the senior manager in the evening and we redesigned day two to develop and resolve the issues that really concerned the team. Yes, we had to shelve some of the other issues; however, the workshop ended with lots of energy and had a 96% satisfaction rating, which would have been unlikely if we had pressed on with the original design. So What tips might you gain from this about designing and running workshops? Here are my thoughts: Involve the group in the workshop design. Often the sponsor sets the agenda alone and the group has no ownership. Involving the group can help you avoid changes to the agenda during the workshop Limit agenda items to key issues and leave time for more discussion on these. You can always have a couple of discussion ideas ready if the meeting looks like it will... read more
YES! AND… Creative Gorilla # 62 Encourage people to think they are innovative and there is a good chance they’ll innovate. “If you can put the mind in a healthy place, you can have dramatic physiological consequences.” Ellen Langer, Professor of Psychology, Harvard University Could you improve your business by encouraging a change in mindset? One of the pleasures of travelling is that I get to read the newspaper at breakfast. Reading the South African version of the Sunday Times the other week I came across an article about a piece of research conducted by Harvard University. In essence it said that if you imagine that you are losing weight, you will, as long as you do some exercise. The researchers noticed that housekeepers in hotels were less healthy than expected even though they exceeded the daily recommended exercise limits. To establish if a change in mindset might make a difference, they divided the staff into two groups. They told Group 1 that their work gave them enough exercise to lose weight and keep fit and explained how many calories they should burn a day. They told the Group 2 members nothing. People in Group 1 lost an average of 1kg each in a month with other significant benefits. The Group 2 individuals had no change. What a great result, albeit with the caveat that just changing the mindset is not good enough, you do have to do some exercise as well. (Sorry to all of you dreaming away 10 kilos of surplus energy stores whilst stirring your tea). The cynic may say that by focusing a person’s mind... read more
YES! AND… Creative Gorilla # 61 There’s always a stimulus for creativity, random connection can help find it “For every living creature that succeeds in getting a footing in life there are thousands or millions that perish. There is an enormous random scattering for every seed that comes to life. This does not remind us of intelligent human design. “If a man in order to shoot a hare, were to discharge thousands of guns on a great moor in all possible directions; if in order to get into a locked room, he were to buy ten thousand casual keys, and try them all; if, in order to have a house, he were to build a town, and leave all the other houses to wind and weather – assuredly no one would call such proceedings purposeful and still less would anyone conjecture behind these proceedings a higher wisdom, unrevealed reasons, and superior prudence.” John W.N. Sullivan Science Writer (d 1937) “Just as well you won’t read this article John.” John Brooker Are you stuck for an idea? I sat having a beer and a toasted cheese sandwich in the bar of my hotel in Luanda, Angola, earlier this month. It was a slightly surreal experience as I was eating in the dark, breached only by the dim glow of the myriad oil industry PC screens on battery power. Luanda had suffered another power cut and we waited for the emergency generator to kick in. The pianist played gamely on and I mused that sight reading of music is obviously not the principal qualification for a pianist in Angola. As he... read more
YES! AND… Creative Gorilla # 60 With the right climate in place you can make your workshops outstanding. “Away from home our fans are fantastic, I’d call them the hardcore fans. But at home they have a few drinks and probably the prawn sandwiches and they don’t realise what’s going on out on the pitch. I don’t think some of the people who come to Old Trafford can spell ‘football’ never mind understand it.” Roy Keane, ex Captain of Manchester United. (Type “Prawn sandwich” and “Keane” in to Google for some more Keane rants, if you don’t mind bad language!) Are prawn sandwiches spoiling your workshops? Have you ever walked in to a workshop room and your heart has sunk? Mine hit the bottom of the Atlantic recently. The room I entered had no natural light, barely any space around the tables and a ceiling so low I have a picture of a delegate with his hand through the tiles during an exercise! The temperature fluctuated hot and cold and the artificial lighting was dim enough to make me stand under a bulb to read my notes. I put on my music, put some cheerful posters on the wall and made the best of it for the two days. The most constant complaint I see on feedback forms is about the environment. A bad one tends to make energy slump and demotivate people. The other side of the coin is to pay for a fantastic hotel and pack so much into the schedule that people can’t use the fancy Jacuzzi, spa pool and four poster bed. See the complaints... read more
YES! AND… Creative Gorilla # 59 Sometimes people accept second best solutions because they don’t take the trouble to explore a little more. “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.” Martin Luther King Are you satisfied or satisficed with some of your solutions? In the Netherlands last weekend, I ran an Open University course on creative problem solving (I hope that’s triggered good memories for the many of you who are OU MBA graduates). I had a brilliant group, very friendly and ready for some fun. Our venue was great, however, I found a problem; it was a long way to the rest room. It was en route from the hotel reception to the classroom, but a long return trip from the classroom. If I had to take a quick “comfort break” during an exercise (those of you who facilitate will know you often get no chance for a break at break time), I would exit the classroom, turn right and make a mad dash, sometimes a very mad dash! A most inconvenient convenience. A couple of hours before the end of the course, I sent small teams out in search of space to draft giant maps of their learning. Ten minutes later I went looking for them, turned left, walked through a set of double doors and almost fell in to a rest room, just five metres from the classroom. I burst out laughing and used it, just because I could! OK, going to the rest room is... read more
