by John Brooker | Sep 7, 2015 | Collaborate, Facilitate meetings, Free Articles, Overcome Challenges, Tools
“Fools ignore complexity. Pragmatists suffer it. Some can avoid it. Geniuses remove it” Alan Perlis – Computer Scientist How might you have a team explore complex situations? I was facilitating a workshop in August in which people had to explore a situation. I decided I would use Rich Pictures. Rich Pictures are used in the method known as “Soft Systems Methodology”. This is a method used to structure thinking about complex organisational systems. I first came across the Rich Pictures technique in the Open University course on Creativity, Innovation and Change and have used it for many years with groups. The example shows a Rich Picture. It represents just one perspective of the situation and would need to be brought together with other pictures to discuss and create an overall picture. This is a technique that people sometimes misunderstand, so I put together an explanation and some guidelines for the attendees. I thought you might find this useful, though you might want to adapt the guidelines to suit your style. People use Rich Pictures to portray complicated situations in a snapshot. A Rich Picture can help you summarise the situation using cartoons, sketches, line drawings, stick people, symbols and key words. I have also used photographs that people cut from magazines. In it you represent as much of the situation as possible e.g. its structure, how things connect and relate, what is important, what influences different aspects etc. This is all fairly objective, so it is also useful to include some more subjective aspects as well. Principles To help interpret a situation, choose symbols, scenes or images that represent...
by John Brooker | Aug 17, 2015 | Develop Opportunities, Facilitate meetings, Free Articles, Overcome Challenges
“The client workshops have been a real success.” Director of Global Strategic Marketing How to improve client relationships The Director of Global Strategic Marketing in a large multinational company asked me if I could help them enhance a number of information gathering workshops during their annual corporate customer meeting? They told me that the intent of this day of the meeting is to: Provide customers with an overview of the product roadmaps and gain their feedback and input Explain the potential enhancements to products and gain a sense of customer priorities The workshops are run by Product and Relationship Managers more used to presenting and gathering information in smaller meetings. When running workshops in previous years, they had found it difficult to obtain the quantity and quality of advice they need and involve and interest all of the customers. Consequently, they wanted guidance on how to design and facilitate the workshops. To meet this need I ran a one day development workshop to highlight the importance of creating the right climate, show the value of a participative and interesting approach and develop facilitator confidence. So It was a very successful workshop and I thought it would be useful to share the learning with fellow Gorillas should you need to run multiple client (or staff) workshops. Due to space limitations I have limited this article to key points. If you would like to read the full case study with full learning points, please click here and download “Obtain Better Advice From Clients” from the articles page. Create the Right Climate If you are running a workshop that lasts one...
by John Brooker | Jul 30, 2015 | Collaborate, Facilitate meetings, Free Articles, Innovate, Overcome Challenges, Solution Focus
“Where a minute before a handful of tech guys could agree on almost nothing, it took us only five minutes to identify the future perfect on which we all agreed.” Niklas Tiger. Managing Director of Hi5, Sweden. Want to solve challenges more effectively? How many meetings have you been in where you have tried to tackle a challenge in a team and it just kept going round in circles? The following is a true story related by Niklas Tiger, Managing Director of Hi5, an IT organisation in Sweden that provides outsourced IT services to customers over the Internet. Hi5 is not a client of ours but Niklas has given us permission to create an article as an example of how the Solution Focus approach to tackling challenges and change can work. (Please click on the link to read an article on Solutions Focus). I have adapted the wording for clarity slightly; otherwise this is his story, which, as it is from an organisation, I thought would be valuable for you. If you would rather read this article in an illustrated short ebook, please click here ebook A tale of two meetings. “Implementing Solutions Focus (SF) as a way of managing change in our organisation and also in collaboration with customers, really has transformed our company. A very low tech down to earth example of this happened as recently as this...
by John Brooker | Mar 16, 2012 | Uncategorised
YES! AND… Creative Gorilla # 76 You can influence your life by applying leverage in a way that works for you… “Mind is the great lever of all things.” Daniel Webster – American statesman Could you lever some basic strategies to make you more effective? I’m usually a fairly positive person but towards the end of last year, I found myself a bit rudderless and less than motivated. Does that ever happen to you? I could have attributed it [my lack of motivation] to the plumbers (a referral from our bathroom suppliers) who installed our new bathroom, tradesmen so bad we in Britain call them cowboys. They came in, spanners blazing and certainly made me miserable with their lies and bodges. On reflection though, I realised that I was not paying attention to the levers that influence my life, those key factors that give me direction, motivation and a sunnier outlook. “Levers” are a metaphor for those key things in our life that we influence to achieve a certain outcome. These levers will be different for everyone but in my case they are: The amount of exercise I do The time I spend meditating Mapping what I have to do regularly The amount I snack You may wonder why I include the last one. Surely, if I snack more, that’s a bad thing? True. Essentially, if I increase the first three and reduce the last, I feel better and act more effectively; you don’t have to move levers the same way! I moved mine appropriately and feel more motivated and positive as a result. So You can apply this...
by John Brooker | Feb 11, 2012 | Innovate
YES! AND… Facilitate. Innovate. Transform – Creative Gorilla # 42 New technology can help you to expand how you gain information to spot opportunities or issues. “For a list of all the ways technology has failed to improve the quality of life, please press three.” Alice Kahn Are you making the most of new technology? Yesterday, I ran with my friend, Elvin Box, a study day for Open University MBA students preparing for their Creativity and Innovation exam. Elvin was explaining about companies who innovate because they are pushed (e.g. by falling profits or increased competition) or because they are pulled (i.e they are attracted to innovation because they see it as a way to drive more profit or stay ahead of the competition or because it makes life more interesting). It arose that one way to be a “pulled” company is to have a structured programme of searching for new ideas. That set me thinking. An easy method to obtain new ideas is to receive a regular e-mail from Springwise (www.springwise.com), which keeps you in touch with new business innovations around the world. A recent story was about Lewisham Council in London who have set up a web site (please click here) where local residents can upload photographs of graffiti, dumped litter and other anti social incidents they spot in the town. They upload photographs using software they download from the site and can identify the location. The Council staff then arrange for the removal of the offending item from the streets of Lewisham. This is great for the upstanding citizens of Lewisham (although you wonder if graffiti artists see it as an opportunity to get their...
