by John Brooker | Apr 8, 2012 | Facilitate meetings, Innovate, Tools
YES! AND… Creative Gorilla # 98 Sometimes it is difficult to judge if a group understand the challenge you have, this technique will help you do that… “Yes! And…Explore World With…Suppose that…Associate…Next idea…Do it now” Cyriel Kortleven, Crew – New Shoes Today How might you confirm that everyone in a group has understood a challenge? Have you ever been to a really entertaining evening where you learned something (and the beer was cheap)? Last week, I attended my first workshop of the London group of the Applied Improvisation Network (AIN). The facilitator was Cyriel Kortlevel, who hails from Belgium and works with a creativity company in the Netherlands. Cyriel treated us to a really enjoyable evening, taking us through an improvised creativity session i.e. using impro to create some ideas for making the AIN successful. I knew most of the impro exercises, but Cyriel has a neat way of turning them in to creative techniques, especially through using random connections and provocations. One technique I had not used before was “The Problem Walk” (I don’t much like using the word “problem” due to its negative associations, hence my title). So How does the technique work? After the challenge has been explored, the group stand at one end of an imaginary line. The facilitator stands at the other end of the line and summarises the challenge. He / she asks people to stand somewhere on the line, depending on their understanding of the challenge (you might do a scale where the facilitator stands at ten and the group members stand at a number on the line). If the group steps up...
by John Brooker | Apr 5, 2012 | Facilitate meetings, Innovate
YES! AND… Creative Gorilla # 95 The metaphors you use can influence how you approach a situation… “The metaphors you use to describe a situation can influence how you approach it.” – John Brooker How might you influence the way people approach a situation? My colleague and I were running an interactive focus group to gauge people’s reaction to a proposed training course on Flexible Thinking for Innovation. We had received a positive reaction but I was not convinced we were hearing all opinion. I asked if anyone had any concerns. One of the group, an experienced manager, emitted an exasperated sigh and exclaimed, “Personally I think this course is a waste of **###** time.” That perked the group up a bit! “What’s your reason for stating that?” we asked. “Well, there’s no money to do anything, even if we do come up with innovative ideas.” He then used his hands to describe an obstacle in front of him. “The budget is a huge wall around us, it stops us doing anything.” We nodded, thanked him and noted his reaction; we weren’t there to argue the case. Driving home afterwards, I mused on what he had said. It was a great example of how people use metaphors to simplify and describe complex situations. It was also an example of how the metaphors people use can influence how they approach a situation. From his point of view, it was not worth doing anything because the budget was finite, an “insurmountable obstacle” or at least one he seemed no longer willing to overcome. So If metaphors can influence how people approach...
by John Brooker | Apr 3, 2012 | Facilitate meetings, Innovate
YES! AND… Creative Gorilla # 93 If you encounter highly judgemental people when using creative thinking techniques, how might you help them to be more flexible in their thinking? “The map is not the territory!” Alfred Korzybski Philosopher How might you deal with highly judgemental people when running a creative workshop? Imagine sitting at lunch in a European capital with a large group of colleagues and clients. At your side is your host, a senior manager who proudly tells you that the main course is the national dish of salted cod. Next, imagine the waiter places the dish in front of you. The smell of fish and garlic hits your nostrils and your stomach heaves as a wave of nausea engulfs you. You know you can’t eat this food, even if the country’s President were your host. As you sit inert, you notice several colleagues grimacing as they eat and you hear your host ask quietly if everything is all right. Hideously embarrassed, you mumble that you feel unwell and with true hospitality, you are offered an omelette. As the fish dish is taken away, you recover faster than a Premier League footballer awarded a penalty shot after diving. I found myself in this situation many years ago and recalled the incident last week, when facilitating a creativity and innovation course for the Open University in the UK. I was running an elective on the use of the “Story Spine” technique for strategic thinking. Whilst others engaged themselves in the technique, I noticed one student flicking through his course book. He looked uncomfortable and I enquired if he...
by John Brooker | Apr 2, 2012 | Facilitate meetings, Innovate
YES! AND… Creative Gorilla # 92 Process is a great tool, but have a way around it to avoid getting stuck… “Nowadays, we have become so obsessed with process, we go to restaurants and eat the menu!” Unknown Are your processes a burden? Many of you will enjoy listening to music and will use or be aware of iTunes, the Apple media download service, which allows you to purchase and listen to music on your PC. Recently, I have been enthused by a new service on iTunes called “Genius”. With this service, you click on a track you like, click the Genius button and it instantly provides a playlist of up to 99 songs to complement your selection. In addition, it lists similar tracks you might like to listen to and buy. I now use the Genius process regularly and this led me to think about my old “process” of music selection. Essentially, a song would pop in to my head and I would pull out a CD and play the album. The problem was that out of my large collection of CDs I probably only played ten, as I tended to play my favoured albums. Playing single tracks from others was a chore. When I bought an iPod, I transferred lots of albums on to it and I made up a few playlists. But again I found myself listening to the same ones. In other words, the process limited my exposure to new stimulation and so my music listening became somewhat stale. This thinking led me on to a recent conversation with a friend. He had mentioned that...
by John Brooker | Mar 30, 2012 | Facilitate meetings, Innovate
YES! AND… Creative Gorilla # 90 When you need to meet a customer’s need quickly, there’s a lot to be said for a prototype… “I love these emails. I would really love them if you did podcasts” A Creative Gorilla reader, in an e-mail. Are you prototyping yet? The above quotation popped in to my e-mail box at the beginning of the month. Should I do a Podcast? I mulled over it for a week or so. “Nobody would want to listen,” “My voice sounds terrible on recordings,” “I haven’t got a clue how to do a podcast.” Oh yes, I had a fine list of excuses not to do it, but one day, with an hour to spare, I took the plunge, just because someone had asked for it. I researched software programmes for recording podcasts which took just fifteen minutes on the web, thanks to a handy review. I selected Propaganda because it was rated as simple, functional and good value. Downloading it direct from the US took ten minutes, a Visa Card and a willingness to invest USD 49. I have a microphone so plugged it in, looked at the tutorial (highly unusual for a man, that) and set to work recording. I was in need of silence. Cue calls from my wife, questions from my children and a loud presenter on kids TV. I ended up in the bedroom. Peace! I began recording and a neighbour set off loud fireworks. Not the best creative climate, but all creativity has its obstacles. Eventually, I completed recording and played it back. “Er, umm, ahh,” smacking of the...
by John Brooker | Mar 28, 2012 | Facilitate meetings, Innovate
YES! AND… Creative Gorilla # 88 If you set up too many rules and measures, people start to focus more on the rules and measures and less on what is really important … “We started off trying to set up a small anarchist community, but people wouldn’t obey the rules.” Alan Bennett, Playwright in “Getting On” Do more rules and laws really help? Do you know that scientists predicted that high mounted brake lights would reduce rear end car collisions by 50% and that studies reveal it is in reality 4.3%? Are you aware that anti lock braking systems have had a negligible effect on accident reduction because drivers with ABS drive faster and closer to other cars? I found these facts in an extract from Tom Vanderbilt’s book “Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do”. I noticed the article because he mentioned that in Kensington High Street, London, where I (and several Gorilla readers) used to work, fatal, serious and minor traffic injuries dropped by 60% in one year. “Wow,” you might think, “What miraculous road safety improvements did they install?” In fact, they removed the bulk of the previously installed road safety improvements, including 95% of the traffic signs and the guardrails along the pavement (sidewalk). Drivers are less distracted and so pay more attention to other road users whilst pedestrians are more cautious. How can we relate this to business? In 2002 the US Government introduced the Sarbanes Oxley Act, improving financial reporting to protect investors from the actions of a few criminals who had falsely reported company revenues and profits. Speaking with someone who...
