by John Brooker | May 16, 2012 | Facilitate meetings, Innovate, Tools
Yes! And… Creative Gorilla # 126 How can you sell your proposition if people don’t understand it…? “ Sometimes we can’t see the wood for the trees” Proverb Need to sell an idea? Define your proposition? This month, the British public has been in uproar over a government plan to sell off the forests in England. At its heart, there were some good ideas in this proposal that people didn’t understand. Often, a good idea fails because people do not understand it properly, as the idea owner does not explain it effectively, e.g. they do not clarify the benefits or they have not considered all the risks. So One way to overcome this issue is to develop a proposition statement. How do you do this? Here is a structured approach that you should find useful. 1. Develop an Initial Proposition Statement (IPS) for your idea. Use “Who? What? Why? Where? When? and How?” questions to build it. As a rule of thumb, your IPS should include the following points: The problem the proposition solves Whom it will impact / who wants or needs it A description of the solution, explaining how it solves the problem (benefits) and how much of the problem it solves How it differs from competing products As an example, let’s take a real situation from the payments’ business (I will steer clear of the trees!) in which I have much experience. This idea arose a few years ago and has now been implemented, however, as I do not know the original proposition statement, I have created one: “Acquirers of card transactions currently earn no revenue from...
by John Brooker | Apr 30, 2012 | Facilitate meetings, Innovate
YES! AND… Collaborate. Innovate. Transform – Creative Gorilla #110 You must ensure everybody involved in tackling a situation understands it. This is essential if you wish to find a long lasting solution… “It was some relief for Morse to recognise the fair countenance of reason once more, and she greeted him serenely when he woke, clear headed, on Monday morning and told him that it would be no bad idea to have a quiet look at the problem itself before galloping off towards a solution.” Colin Dexter, author in “Service of all the Dead” Chapter 12 Are you tackling the right problem? In an Internet chat room recently I noticed an elderly lady had posted a problem she wanted help with. Essentially, she wondered what she could do next in her life to give it some more challenge. (Which I agree is more of an opportunity than a problem). Very soon, up popped a response from a contributor advising her to take up painting “because that’s what my grandmother did”. All credit to this respondent for contributing and I am sure they had a positive intent but… already someone had come up with a solution and we knew little about the situation, other than the lady was elderly. Yes, it may well have been exactly the right answer, but equally it may have been completely wrong. This reminded me so much of what often happens in organisations, “Here are some symptoms of a problem;” “Aha, here’s a solution we used before on a similar issue”; put it in to action and voila! The problem reappears a few weeks later...
by John Brooker | Mar 17, 2012 | Facilitate meetings, Innovate
YES! AND… Creative Gorilla # 77 You need to check your facts if you want to overcome challenges… “You can’t make progress in a bear hunt if you follow the tracks of a deer.” Dean Koontz – Author in “The Good Guy” “You can’t make progress in a beer hunt if you follow a bad steer.” John Brooker – Author in “The Cross Keys” Have you checked the facts…? Sometimes, I have to do something stupid to remember the basics of Creative Thinking. Recently, I co-hosted an informal gathering in a pub in London for students who had recently passed their Open University MBA exams. It was a “drop in evening” when we would meet anyone who turned up at 6.00 p.m. in “The Counting House” pub in London. Regrettably, Elvin Box, my co-host, was stuck on a train at that time. I followed my map and found myself outside “The Cross Keys” pub where a man directed me to turn left down an alleyway, walk some distance and then I would find “The Counting House”. Following his instructions, I arrived at the end of the alley where a number of people stood outside a pub door. As there was no pub sign, I inquired if it were “The Counting House” and a lady assured me it was. Finding a seat in the very crowded bar, I put up a “Beer Mat Night” sign (to the amusement of fellow drinkers) and proceeded to wait… and wait. Elvin called at 7.00 p.m. to say he was half an hour away. Still...
