by John Brooker | Jul 30, 2015 | Facilitate meetings, Innovate, Tools
An eBook that shows you how to create ideas in ten to sixty minutes I am busy writing eBooks for my web site and thinking of a topic for a blog at the same time. So I thought “why not combine the two?” It will make a nice change for me and hopefully for you too. So this week, I will summarise the eBook and you can then link to it if you wish to. The eBook combines two older blogs in to one book, with illustrations. I like to think it is user friendly and good to download to your phone, pad or computer. Download it here: ebook Creative Ideas in 10 Minutes final. Summmary of eBook Creative Ideas in Ten Minutes In this eBook you will find how blackberry picking is a great analogy for idea generation. From low hanging fruits, to hidden gems, tangles in the brambles to maggots on steroids, it can all be related. Add to this six tools for idea generation. You can use one in ten minutes or all six in sixty. They include DREAMERS; 5W & H; Get Fired; Where in the World; Yes! And…; Random Connection and a bonus tool. If you need to run or are planning to run an idea generation session and don’t have a lot of time, this article will provide you with some thoughts on how to do it. Download it here. To Close I would love to receive your feedback on the eBook. Please let me know if you like it and how I can improve it! John Brooker I Yes! And. Think Innovatively. To receive regular articles, register at...
by John Brooker | Aug 31, 2014 | Collaborate, Facilitate meetings, Innovate
YES! AND… Collaborate. Innovate. Transform – Creative Gorilla #170 How to Coach People to Be More Creative “The imagination imitates. It is the critical spirit that creates.” Oscar Wilde Recently, someone asked me how I might coach someone to be more creative when they think they are not creative? The question provoked a lot of thinking on my part and I would like to share my response with you as leaders so that you can deal with such a situation. Everyone can be creative In my career as a business leader and as a tutor with the Open University, I met a few people who told me they were not creative and I observed quite a few who were not being creative. You probably have too. However, that does not mean they are not creative, it means we have different ways of approaching it. Dr. M. J. Kirton, creator of the Kirton Adapter Innovator (KAI) style profile, says: “Those who are adaptive in style are characterised by precision, reliability, efficiency; seen as methodical, prudent, disciplined. Those more innovative in style are seen as thinking tangentially, approaching tasks from unsuspected angles; undisciplined, unpredictable.” From this description, do you agree that adaptive people are more likely to say they are uncreative? In my experience it is true, but as Kirton explains, “One must remember that adaptors and innovators can have equal capacity, insight and creativity.” So, if someone tells you they are not creative, reassure them that we can all be creative, though we have different ways of contributing to creative outcomes. Four issues that inhibit creativity Having reassured them they can be...
by John Brooker | May 26, 2012 | Facilitate meetings, Free Articles, Innovate
6 Tools to Create Novel Ideas… “If I had one hour to save the world I would spend fifty-five minutes defining the problem and only five minutes finding the solution.” Albert Einstein 5 Minutes to Save the World? This week I attended a course to help me focus my business and get me on track to write a book in twelve weeks. We spent a day developing a pitch with Mike Harris (who I mentioned in the last blog). At the end he had us develop a twenty second pitch for use only when you have just a few seconds to tell someone what you do. This led me to think that it would be an idea to have some tools you can use in five minutes to help with creativity. Here are some: 5 Ws and H This really is the complete multi purpose tool, courtesy of Rudyard Kipling. Designed to elicit all facts about a situation using “Who?” “What?” “Why?” “Where?” “When?” and “How?” For creativity you can ask questions about a product or service e.g. “Who uses it?” “When do they use it?”etc. Compile a list of answers and then ask, “How might that be different?” SCAMPER You can use 5 Ws and H with another tool; SCAMPER. Eberle designed the mnemonic to aid the creative process: (Substitute; Combine; Adapt; Magnify / Minify; Put to other uses; Eliminate / Elaborate; Rearrange / Reverse). It helps to generate ideas by challenging various aspects of a situation but in a more structured way. To use it, take one of the categories e.g. Substitute. Use the 5Ws and H...
