by John Brooker | May 17, 2012 | Facilitate meetings, Tools
Yes! And… Creative Gorilla # 127 Need to influence transformation? Look for what’s working… “If some stupid fans don’t understand and appreciate such a gift they can go to hell.” Mohammed Al Fayed, ex -Fulham FC Owner on erecting the Michael Jackson statue What would you do next in this situation? You are facilitating a meeting with a team that is transforming how it provides its services. You ask the people to describe their preferred future when everything is working well. What will be happening? What will people be doing, saying, thinking, feeling etc? How will the processes and systems be operating? They do it. What happens next? Typically, the next step in organisations is to describe what is stopping the team from achieving the preferred future. They list what is wrong, things they have been discussing for ever that never seem to get resolved. People become dispirited and defensive as they sense people are blaming them or their department for what is wrong. The positive energy drains away and resistance to change develops. Friction occurs, or worse, apathy. Actions aren’t followed up. Is this recognisable to you? It’s noticeable in transformation programmes, especially when the initial euphoria has ebbed away. An alternative approach for creative leaders is to identify what is working. Where can we see clues that the preferred future is happening already, examples of good practice? The purpose is to encourage people to sense that much is going well and they can build on it. In the book, “Solutions Focus”, by Mark McKergow and Paul Z Jackson they refer to these clues / examples as “Counters”....
by John Brooker | May 5, 2012 | Facilitate meetings, Innovate
The Creative Gorilla #115 Continually using the same approach is very efficient, but it can lead to stale thinking … “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got …” JB (after Anthony Robbins, motivation guru) Need a new approach to problem solving? Last week, I gave a talk to a company in Bristol. Having had my diary changed at the last minute, I decided to stay the night in a hotel and so immediately followed my usual approach for booking a hotel; go online and book through my regular hotel chain. Alas, all their hotels in Bristol were booked as were all the other chain hotels. So I Googled “Bed and Breakfast Bristol” and instead of staying in a prefabricated block just off the motorway, I stayed at a lovely Edwardian hotel overlooking the Downs. In the morning I went for a long walk across said Downs, found a fabulous view of the Avon Gorge and had time to rehearse my talk in my mind. Having been forced to take a fresh approach to booking my hotel I was delighted it had paid off so well. It also gave me an opening story for my talk, which challenged the use of only one approach to tackling problems. Like many companies, the one I talked to uses a structured approach to problem solving, in this case, “Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control”. Essentially, this type of approach senses a problem, identifies the symptoms, finds the root cause and looks for solutions. Companies have been using these types of problem centred approaches for many...
