by John Brooker | Apr 24, 2012 | Innovate
Yes! And… Creative Gorilla # 104 Controls need to take in to account the behaviour they provoke… “Police said crashes happened because motorists slowed down ahead of the camera and then speeded up once they were clear of it.” Report in Daily Mail (England) 7 Jan 2009 How can you ensure controls achieve what you want? Have you noticed when many motorists see a “fixed speed” camera, which measures an excess speed at a fixed point, they slow down until past the measuring lines and then accelerate madly – like the camera has some weird acceleration beam? However, when driving through sections of motorway with “average speed cameras” that measure your speed over a fixed distance, most people keep to the limit, although some slow down and speed up to meet the average. Passing through an “average speed” control area recently, I wondered how we might relate these behaviour patterns to organisations. Finding no instant answers, I placed a question on the Giants, Wizards and Goblins forum on Linked In. Here is a summary of the responses. What questions might they raise for your organisation? Speed cameras are a control to stop people taking risk. They should be sited only where there is most risk if they are not to have an adverse effect on traffic Speed cameras form part of an overall system to reduce fatalities. There is little evidence to show they have this effect [Source] Speed cameras, both types, measure speed. They do not tell us if the driver is incompetent, the tyres bald or the car uninsured Speed cameras are viewed as revenue earning systems...
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 | Apr 1, 2012 | Facilitate meetings
YES! AND… Creative Gorilla # 91 It’s probably not too late to do the right thing … “Sometimes our best intentions do not go amiss; sometimes we do as we meant to,” Sheenagh Pugh, poet in the poem, “Sometimes” Is it ever too late to do the right thing? This year, our family, along with many others, has suffered from a poor decision by a Government appointed official, one that applies regulation retrospectively, despite Government promises to the contrary. Although we have sympathy and support from Members of Parliament, we are told that the only way to overturn this unjust ruling is to seek a judicial review at great expense. I have many feelings about this; annoyance, resignation, frustration. But my strongest feeling is one of sadness. I’m sad because the easiest and right course of action would be for the official to change their decision, but they won’t. One lesson I learned in management is that it is almost never too late to change direction, correct a poor decision, do the right thing. Some will argue that it is a sign of weakness. A creative leader would argue that it is a sign of strength to be able to admit that you are wrong and to make an appropriate change. So Most of us will make the wrong decision or take the wrong course of action at some point in our personal or working life. We may make the decision / take the action for the wrong reason e.g. for personal advantage. Or we may go awry because we misread or misunderstand factors in the situation. And it...
