by John Brooker | Aug 13, 2019 | Facilitate meetings, Tools
YES! AND… # 94 By placing yourself in the future and visualising why something has gone wrong, you can help ensure it goes right… “One does not have to be a mad scientist to travel in time” – Authors of research paper: “Back to the future. Temporal Perspective in the Explanation of Events”</ How might you help ensure that a project does not go wrong? Curious? As many of you know, I like to try different techniques that I encounter. Researching material for an article last year, I stumbled across one such technique from Gary Klein of Applied Research Associates (you can find a copy of his article here). In the article, Gary talks about using a technique called the Premortem at the beginning of a project. Instead of asking project members, “What might go wrong with this project?”, Gary has people think themselves into the future when the project has gone wrong and asks, “What went wrong?” In Gary’s version, individuals write down as many reasons as they can, the project leader records these on a flipchart and then uses the data to strengthen the project plan. This technique is based on a concept known as Prospective Hindsight. Research on this concept has shown that people are able to come up with richer and more numerous explanations of why an event might happen when they are told to imagine that the event has actually happened. So Having read Gary’s article, I decided to use his technique with a client’s project team. In their case, they were working on a pilot of a major project that had to deliver...
by John Brooker | Mar 29, 2016 | Collaborate, Develop Opportunities, Facilitate meetings, Free Articles, Innovate, Overcome Challenges, Tools
To innovate in an organisation requires people to collaborate and think, logically and creatively. To enable this, you need to use a structured approach and tools to innovate, plus you need to foster an innovative climate. I consider that there are two types of innovative climate. One is the microclimate that you create in a workshop situation. The other is the macroclimate that you develop in the organisation. Recently, we worked with the leadership team in a commercial organisation to develop innovative propositions, using our Inn8® Workshop Programme. As part of the first workshop, we used many of the “action dimensions” below to develop a microclimate for people to innovate in. Having experienced this microclimate as a team, we asked them to use the Action Dimensions Table (see below) to assess the macro climate in their departments. So enthused were they by this simple assessment, the managers took it upon themselves to carry out assessments with their teams after the workshop. They each chose three dimensions to address to begin enhancing their macro climate. To understand more about climate and how to rate this, read on. To understand more about climate and how to rate this, read on. About Climate Goran Ekvall carried out a well-known study (Google, “Goran Ekvall study reference” for a range of articles) on organisational climate for creativity. He identified dimensions on which to measure creative or non-creative climates in organisations and other researchers have extended and amended his original dimensions. James L. Adams also identified blockages to creativity in his book, “Conceptual Blockbusting”. Later studies on climate use different words but identify much the...
by John Brooker | Sep 6, 2015 | Develop Opportunities, Innovate
“As the earlier vintages matured in bottle and progressively became less aggressive and more refined, people generally began to take notice, and whereas previously it had been all condemnation, I was now at least receiving some praise for the wine.” Max Schubert – Viniculturist I have fond memories of making and drinking my own wine when I was younger and short of cash. My ’84 vintage, produced from a strawberry jam that never set, was a classic. This increased my interest in wines and I like to take the opportunity to visit wine growing districts when I can. Being in Magill, Adelaide recently and just a short walk from the Penfolds winery where they make their premium Grange wines, it was a great chance to see how they do things in Australia and perhaps give them some tips! To move away from a tradition of drinking fortified wines like port and sherry in Australia, winemaker Max Schubert experimented with making the first vintage of Penfolds Grange wine in 1951. In 1950, Schubert had toured Europe and observed wine-making techniques in Bordeaux. Back in Adelaide he implemented these techniques with the aim to create a red wine of the same quality and ageing ability of the finest Bordeaux wines. In 1952, he released his first commercial vintage, having given away most of the 1951 vintage, however, wine critics gave it negative reviews and it sold poorly. Later vintages received a similar response until in 1957, the management team of Penfolds in Sydney told Schubert to stop producing it. Schubert ignored their instructions (as you do) and continued making the wine...
by John Brooker | Sep 6, 2015 | Collaborate, Develop Opportunities, Facilitate meetings, Free Articles, Innovate
“As innovation becomes a management discipline, there is a risk that it is seen as the end rather than the means.” John Brooker How can you start to innovate? A while ago I was travelling quite a lot, delivering training courses for a client in Asia. One Saturday, I arrived at Beijing airport and went to the ATM to withdraw cash on my UK debit card. I entered the PIN, a few seconds later the cash appeared and I got a little kick of satisfaction. Every time I use a cash dispenser abroad I get the same kick because I led the original team that made it possible for people to get cash from machines throughout Europe, Middle East and Africa using a Visa Card. No matter that it was almost thirty years ago when we started, that feeling returns. It is this feeling that I want to pass on to others when I facilitate workshops; to get that great kick when something you have put a lot of creativity and effort in to achieves successful fruition. So here are six tips to help you innovate: Don’t talk about innovation. Innovate! Don’t learn to innovate. Innovate to learn. Don’t leave it up to a few. Have everyone innovate. If THEY won’t innovate, innovate yourself. Don’t boil the ocean. Start small and scale up. Commit to move the proposition forward. Tip 1 – Don’t Talk About Innovation. Innovate! As innovation becomes a management discipline, there is a risk that it is seen as the end rather than the means. Many organisations talk too much about innovation but don’t innovate. In...
by John Brooker | Sep 4, 2015 | Facilitate meetings, Tools
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