by John Brooker | Aug 9, 2012 | Facilitate meetings, Overcome Challenges, Solution Focus, Tools
Need a creative tool to explore issues? During our holiday last July we spent three days horse riding. After two days I had seen enough of horses and my back ached terribly. I was a “groucho” not a gaucho. I decided that I would sit out the third day, but my son loved riding and really wanted to go. So I said I would go with him. Bad decision. On the way back, the leaders galloped, my back seized up and I was in agony. To cut a long story short, after four months of osteopathy and pills I was better, but still had a chronic pain across the middle of my back. One night in December I went to sleep and had a dream. In the dream I saw a woman appear and slowly walk towards me. She reached out her hand and gently touched a finger to my spine on the centre of the pain; there was a loud click and the pain disappeared. I woke up and the pain had gone. I got up and was pain free for the first time in months. How did that happen? If it were just my spine clicking back in to place, why did I see the woman walking towards me and touching my back before it clicked? The power of the subconscious?. So Recalling that dream recently (please see the closing story) I thought it might be an opportunity to discuss an interesting technique I have tried occasionally, known as Image Manipulation. In this tool you explore an issue with a client without you knowing what the issue...
by John Brooker | Aug 8, 2012 | Develop Opportunities, Facilitate meetings, Free Articles, Innovate, Overcome Challenges, Tools
“What if we: Divide; Reduce; Enlarge; Adapt (use and form); Mix; Exclude; Replace; Switch?” John Brooker DREAMERS create ideas systematically When I was a student on my Masters of Business Administration (MBA) course, I regarded as sacrosanct the theories, tools and techniques we were taught. The gurus of strategy, marketing, innovation et al were demi gods and we should bow to them reverentially. This was easy to do because as a student doing a full time job and a part time MBA, I was often short of time to think. Having gained my qualification, I became a tutor. With time to think, I was able to cast a more appraising eye over the materials and realised the gurus were as human as me. I really started to learn the materials and began to question the theories, tools and techniques. This was a revelation to me and I urge students to challenge the theories and bend the tools and techniques to their own ends. Whether it works or fails, they will have learned something by doing their own thinking. SO This week, I was reviewing Robert Eberle’s classic mnemonic “SCAMPER”: Substitute; Combine; Adapt; Magnify / Minify; Put to other uses; Eliminate / Elaborate; Rearrange / Reverse (please see Yes! And blog 136 for a short review). You can use this tool with “What If” questions to generate ideas by challenging various aspects of a situation, service or product. It makes the process very systematic. This works very well, however, this week I was in a curious mood and thought, “Put to other uses” is not that elegant (the “Put” on its...
by John Brooker | Jun 5, 2012 | Develop Opportunities, Facilitate meetings, Free Articles, Innovate, Tools
How to avoid common mistakes when you innovate to maximise opportunities. “Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin. It is, as far as he knows, the only way of coming downstairs, but sometimes he feels that there really is another way, if only he could stop bumping for a moment and think of it.” A. A. Milne. Do you have any obscure rituals you carry out in secret? I confess I perform one every week, the ceremonial “wheelie bin stomp”. This is not a dark practice overlooked in Harry Potter novels, but a practical solution to the problem that there is too much bulky waste packaging and too little dustbin. So I step on the garden wall, climb in the bin and begin stomping so we can push another week’s worth in the bin. Too much waste and too little bin – when someone has a problem, it means there is an opportunity to exploit with a sound proposition. Having admitted my secret and defined an opportunity, let’s move on to the core of this article. All leaders in organisations have opportunities. They may be in areas requiring new policy, meeting a need in a new market, or dealing with waste packaging, etc. Some people exploit them well and some do not. SO Here are my thoughts on how you can maximise opportunities more effectively at lower cost and with less effort. Use a structured approach to think it through This will ensure that you create a proposition that is acceptable to a wider range of people, meets...
by John Brooker | Jun 4, 2012 | Collaborate, Develop Opportunities, Facilitate meetings, Innovate, Overcome Challenges, Tools
Here’s a simple but powerful tool to identify actions creatively. “To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage.” Ralph Waldo Emerson Today, I sat in the cockpit of a 737 aircraft as the pilot landed very smoothly at Phnom Penh airport in Cambodia. Ten minutes later, I was home in London. No, time travel has not come to London. I was with my son as we observed a crew flying a flight simulator. This is an annual “trip” of flying a full sized Boeing 737 BBJ flight simulator around the world in aid of charity Dreamflight.
They are raising money by flying 24 hours a day for 7 days as part of a team of eight crews, using “air traffic controllers” around the world to guide them in to the airports, a stunning effort. Before you think, “There are plenty of flight simulators around,” you should know that amateurs build all these. Fellow Yes! And blog reader, Ralph Watson built the one I visited, in a garage. His accomplishment is quite astounding and my son thought it “awesome!” Ralph showed me on his web site the progression of his simulator from a desktop computer in 2001 to the full sized version you can see today by going to his web site, http://www.737-800bbj.com. [Take a look at the Kai Tak link too!] As he explained it, I thought how well his journey from 2001 to today might have been mapped out using the creative tool I will explain here. The tool is Action Storyboard that is based on one called Cartoon Storyboard, developed by Jane Henry,...
by John Brooker | May 28, 2012 | Tools
Do you face the challenge of keeping your regular team meetings fresh? Here are twelve tried and tested ways to kick off your meeting, one for each month in the year. To take the burden off you, each month, assign a title to a different person in the group and have them organise and run it for that month’s meeting. For the cynical amongst your team, we give a reason for doing the exercise as well as an explanation of how to run it. Most exercises take no more than five minutes. Month Title Action Reason January Wrecking Crew Split the team in to threes. Have them devise three ways the most senior person in the group could wreck the meeting. Next, have them devise three ways each person could wreck the workshop. Record on a flipchart. Review the outcomes and reverse them. Gain agreement from the group to use these as guidelines for this and future meetings. Establish guidelines for this and future meetings in an entertaining way. February Coincidences Pair up. Run through your life and in two minutes of rapid conversation try to find a coincidence. Some suggestions are: Where born; Where live; Where educated; Where married; Favourite destinations; Interests; Team supported; Companies worked for; How many children; Type of work; Hobbies; Favourite film etc Have people get to know each other better. Even if they don’t find a coincidence, they learn a lot. Month Title Action Reason March Draw a Face Pair up. Each person must remain silent throughout. Each takes turns in drawing a line on a piece of paper to form a face....
by John Brooker | May 24, 2012 | Facilitate meetings, Innovate, Tools
Yes! And… Creative Gorilla # 134 How Might You Make Better Decisions? “The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don’t have to waste your time voting.” Charles Bukowski (1920 – 1994) American Poet and Novelist Would you like to make better choices? Imagine you are facilitating a meeting with a group and you have to choose from a range of options. One way you can do this is to explain each option briefly and take a vote. You count the votes for each item and choose the one with the most votes to move forward. Many people do this because it is quick. Another reason is that people sense “One person, one vote” is fair and democratic. “Taking a vote” happens quite often in organisations… and is quite often an unsatisfactory way of proceeding. In this article I will explain my reason for saying so and will also describe a tool I use a great deal when facilitating. Words have meaning! The term “voting” seems to bring out the competitive spirit in some people, so voting on an option becomes a win or lose scenario for them. To overcome this issue avoid saying, “Let’s take a vote”. Alternatively say, “Let’s choose how to move forward.” (I confess even after many years of facilitating, the word “vote” does pop out of my mouth now and again, so don’t feel despondent if this happens to you!). The “Dot Choice” Tool When making a choice, rather than vote by hand, have the group use sticky...
