Creativity in Business Certificate

8/22/2019 Creativity in Business Certificate

1/67

Creativity in Business Certificate

Introduction

All too often change is unsuccessful because people or processes become barriers to success.

Force Field Analysis is a popular tool that helps you to look ahead to anticipate problems.

You can use it to:

Analyse forces for and against change Look at the big picture Develop strategies that will enable change to be successful.

It can also be used to help you understand what your team's feelings are towards a possible

change.

When you are ready to go to the next lesson, click on the link below.

Force Field Analysis

Force Field Analysis enables you to identify positive forces for change and obstacles to

change.

Below is the structure you use to complete a force field analysis. Click on the Workbook to

find out how to use it.


2/67


Completing a Force Field Analysis

You can complete a force field analysis by yourself, but it is often useful to do it in a group.

This will help you to understand different perspectives.

1. In the centre of the diagram write the change you want to see e.g. Change thebooking-in process to reduce paperwork.

2. Brainstorm the driving forces - these are the forces that will help change take place(see page 2 for forces you may want to consider).

3. Brainstorm the restraining forces - these are the forces that are obstacles to change.4. Rate each of the forces on a 1 to 5 scale (1 = weak, 5 = strong).5. Devise strategies that will strengthen your driving forces and weaken the restraining

forces. It is often easier to weaken restraining forces than it is to strengthen driving

forces).

Be warned: a force field analysis may reveal that the restraining forces are so strong that the

proposed change is not viable.

You will be shown an example of a completed analysis diagram later in the tutorial.

Forces to Consider

You may want to think about some of the following variables when conducting a force field

analysis:

What resources are available? How do people feel about change? Does the change fit with the company culture? What relationships are affected by the proposed change? Do you need to consider any regulations or legislation? What do people want? Is anything else happening that will have a bearing on the change? What costs are involved? Are there any key stakeholders that you need to get on board?

Case Study


3/67

You are managing a team of people. You want to change the booking-in process to increase

efficiencies. You get your team together and have a brainstorming session.

Decide whether the following factors are driving or restraining forces:

DrivingRestraining

1. The team don't like the IT the new system uses

2. The MD wants every department to cut costs

3. Fewer people would be required to be involved with the booking-in

process

4. The team is unhappy as there will be less overtime paid

5. The new process will increase visibility of the production process

6. Peak season is coming up and work load is increasing

7. The Production Manager thinks the current process does a good job

8. The new process will take 20% less time to complete



4/67

Completed Force Field Analysis

Analysis of Case Study

After the brainstorm you allocate a rating to the factors that resulted from the brainstorm.

Click on the Workbook to see the completed Force Field Analysis and your ratings.

Figure out how to manage this change successfully by answering the questions below.


5/67

The strongest restraining force is the fact that your team doesn't like the IT the new process

requires.

What would be an effective strategy to weaken this restraining force.

Cancel the project - it's obvious that it won't workTell the team that they have to use the new process and they don't have any

say in the matter

Train employees to ensure that they understand how to use the new system

You Answered: Train employees to ensure that they understand how to use the new

system.

Correct - a good training scheme will help staff to become familiar with the IT. Often peopledon't like IT because they don't understand it properly - training will overcome this. It is not

advisable to try to push through the scheme, as your team will just resist change and make it

really difficult for you.

So far you have scored 1 of 4.

The brainstorm has highlighted the fact that peak season is coming up and workload is

increasing.

What should you do with this information?

Cancel the project - it's an obvious no-go

Delay the project until after peak season

Push on with the project without delay

You Answered: Delay the project until after peak season.

This would be a sensible decision. It would eliminate this restraining force! Also after peak

season there will be more time for training and giving time for the team to get used to the

new process.


The loss of overtime is a significant worry for your team.

How could you address this?

Ask the MD to come and talk to your team about how the change in process

will aid business survival

Increase salaries to compensate for loss of income

Tell your team that you have never guaranteed overtime payments


6/67

You Answered: Ask the MD to come and talk to your team about how the change in

process will aid business survival.

If the MD is serious about cutting costs, he could be persuaded to come and emphasise the

importance of this project is to the survival of the business.So far you have scored 3 of 4.

The Production Manager looks like a significant obstacle to successful implementation of the

new inputting process.

What could you do to weaken this retraining force?

Ignore him, you need to focus on your own team

Meet with the Production Manager and outline all the benefits the new

system will bring himTell the Production Manager that the new process is going ahead

You Answered: Meet with the Production Manager and outline all the benefits the new

system will bring him.

Correct - outlining all the benefits may help the production manager to understand why the

new process is so beneficial.


Introduction

Ice breakers are used at the start of a meeting or at the beginning of a training session.

Ice breakers can be used:

o With groups of people who don't know each othero With groups of people who don't normally work togethero To energise meetings (e.g. after lunch)o To get groups of people thinking differently (e.g. before a brain-storming

session).

However, you do need to choose your ice breaker carefully - the wrong ice breaker can

embarrass people and be a waste of time.

Ice Breakers

When you decide to use an ice breaker it is worth thinking about the following questions:


7/67

What do you want to achieve out of the session? e.g. getting toknow each other, working as a team, energising etc

How many people will be involved? How much room do you have? What equipment will you need? What is the business culture? e.g. creative, give-it-a-go,

conservative, traditional

By asking yourself the above questions you will be more likely to choose an ice-breaker that

will be successful.

To discover some ice breakers that have been tried and tested (and that work!) in the

workplace click on the Workbookabove.

Getting to Know You

Getting to Know You

The following ice breakers are good to use with groups of people who have never met each

other before.

Introductions

Get your group of people to pair up. Ask them to talk to each

other for a few minutes and find out three interesting facts. Then

ask them to introduce the partner to the group.

Benefits of this ice breaker: quick, easy, requires no equipment, gets people talking to each

other, can identify things people have in common with each other

Have you.....

Write out a list of twenty questions and give a sheet with the questions on to

each person. Ask the people to go round the room and find someone who can

say "Yes" to questions. The aim is to get a different persons name against

each of the questions. To make this more difficult you can tell your group

they can only use each person's name once. An example can be found here, but youmay want to change the questions depending on your group.

Benefits of this ice breaker: needs very little equipment, gets people up and moving about and

talking to each other, can be fun and relaxes people if they are feeling nervous

Sentence Completions

Have a prepared list on flip chart paper of a few incomplete sentences

e.g. My favourite film is.... Go round the group and ask people to

finish the sentences. There is no need to capture people's answers.

This exercise should be light-hearted and fun.Examples can be foundhere.
http://www.academy10.co.uk/content/skillbox/tutorials/ice_haveyou.dochttp://www.academy10.co.uk/content/skillbox/tutorials/ice_haveyou.dochttp://www.academy10.co.uk/content/skillbox/tutorials/ice_sentencecompletions.dochttp://www.academy10.co.uk/content/skillbox/tutorials/ice_sentencecompletions.dochttp://www.academy10.co.uk/content/skillbox/tutorials/ice_sentencecompletions.dochttp://www.academy10.co.uk/content/skillbox/tutorials/ice_sentencecompletions.dochttp://www.academy10.co.uk/content/skillbox/tutorials/ice_sentencecompletions.dochttp://www.academy10.co.uk/content/skillbox/tutorials/ice_sentencecompletions.dochttp://www.academy10.co.uk/content/skillbox/tutorials/ice_haveyou.doc


8/67

Benefits of this ice breaker: gets people talking about themselves, reveals common ground

between group members, can be fun, should be non-threatening

Team Building

The following ice breakers are good to use with teams that know each other, but you want

them to work more closely with each other. Although you could use these ice breakers with

groups of people who had never met before.

Two truths, one lie

Ask each member of the group in turn to tell the group two truths about

themselves and one lie. The group then needs to decide which is the lie. This

exercise works best if you encourage people to share facts that the group maynot know.

Benefits of this ice breaker: quick, fun, shares new information about group members, may

change the way group members view each other

The big picture

Take a well known image e.g. the Coca-Cola logo. Cut it into as many pieces

as there are members of the group. If you are working with a big group you

may want to use more than one image (although make sure you put people

into groups with each image). Give each person a piece of the "puzzle". Askthem to make a copy of that piece five times bigger in ten minutes. Provide

paper, rulers, pens etc. Do not give any more information. Once the ten

minutes are up get your groups to make a giant copy of the original picture on the table.

De-brief - i t is worth de-br iefi ng the group after th is exercise. Questions you can ask

include: how did you feel about being given minimal information, did you know what you

were going to do wi th your piece of the puzzle, did the puzzle fit together, did people all

produce their piece of the puzzle to the same standard

Benefits of this ice breaker - gets group members to think about communication, team work,

how they contribute to the "big picture"

Egg rescue

Split your people into groups. Groups should be between 4-6 people. Give

them the task of building a structure that will catch an egg from a six foot

drop and deliver it into an egg box. Give the teams materials to build the

structure. Give them 30 minutes to build the structure. Suspend eggs from

the ceiling. Then ask groups to bring out their structure and let the eggs drop.A full

description of this exercise can be found here.

De-br ief - th is classic exercise can get your group to think about many aspects. Questions
http://www.academy10.co.uk/content/skillbox/tutorials/ice_eggrescue.dochttp://www.academy10.co.uk/content/skillbox/tutorials/ice_eggrescue.dochttp://www.academy10.co.uk/content/skillbox/tutorials/ice_eggrescue.dochttp://www.academy10.co.uk/content/skillbox/tutorials/ice_eggrescue.dochttp://www.academy10.co.uk/content/skillbox/tutorials/ice_eggrescue.dochttp://www.academy10.co.uk/content/skillbox/tutorials/ice_eggrescue.doc


9/67

you might want to ask include: how did they plan the exercise; how did they work as a

team; how did they communicate; did everyone get involved; and how would they do things

differently?

Benefits of this ice breaker - fun, gets the groups working together, gets people to think about

lots of different issues that relate to the workplace

Energising

Energising

Energising ice breakers can be used:

To get people energised at the beginning of a session To get people's energy levels back up if they look like they are flagging To break up a day To get people to start thinking in a different way.

Left and right

Get your group to stand in a circle. Give one member a blue ball and a red

ball. Tell the group that the blue ball should only be held in the left hand

and the red ball should only be held in the right hand. Get the person to

throw the two balls they are holding to different people. Keep on passing

the balls as quickly as possible - (remembering that blue=left and red=right). You canadd in extra balls for fun!

Benefits of this ice breaker: Quick, easy, fun, gets people moving, gets them using their left

and right side of their brains - great for creativity!

Catch my finger

Group remain seated in their chairs. Everyone holds both their arms out sideways. The left hand has its palm open towards the roof. The right hand has

its index finger pointing to the floor.

Now, everyone put the down pointing index finger of their right hand,into the open left hand palm of the person sitting on their right.

On the count of three, everyone must try to catch the other persons finger intheir left hand palm. At the same time they need to try to get their finger away

from the person on their right, who will try to catch their finger

Benefits of this ice breaker: fun, silly, creates lots of laughter

Line up

Get you group member to stand up. Tell them that they are not


10/67

allowed to talk to each other. Get them to line up from the person whose birthday is

earliest in the year to the person whose birthday is the latest in the year.

Benefits of this ice breaker: Gets people up and moving, gets people to interact without

talking, clears peoples' minds

Words of Warning!

Words of Warning!

Ice breakers can be fun and bring a different dimension to your day.

However you need to use them carefully!

The ice breakers we have outlined are tried and tested and unlikely

to offend. However there are hundreds of other ice breakers that

you could use - some of which may cause offense!

When you use an ice breaker you should always ensure that:

People won't be offended You don't probe people's feelings You don't ask people to reveal anything that they don't want

to

People's personal space isn't invaded.

Take Action

Think about events that are happening over the next few weeks in your company

that you could use ice breakers at. These include:

Meetings (try using an energiser at your weekly team meeting) Induction - if a number of people are joining your team, ice breakers are

good at relaxing people In the office - when you notice energy levels flagging, suggest a quick

energiser!

Training days - use ice breakers to reinforce learningIn the box below, write down situations when you could use ice breakers and what

type of ice breaker you could use.


11/67

Introduction

Mind maps are a useful tool that help you to:

Please note that in order to complete this tutorial, you will need to be able to view video

files.


12/67

Why Be Innovative and Creative?

The need for innovation

There are three reasons why any organisation (or individual, for that matter) needs to be more

innovative today:

The pace of change continues to accelerate. New technologies give rise to productswith ever shorter life cycles.

The scale of change continues to increase. Multinational mergers resultin redundancies measured in tens of thousands of employees.

Change arrives from increasingly unexpected directions. Who, a few years ago,would have expected to ride on a Virgin train or buy a book from a company that

doesn't have any shops?

For all businesses the threats are clear. Darwin's observations about the natural world apply

equally well to the world of business: adapt or die out.

The difference is that evolutionary change in nature takes place over millions of years while

in business today the timescale is counted in months or weeks.

Andy Grove, one of the founders ofIntel, talks about The Paranoia Principle: if he's not

constantly glancing over his shoulder and upping the pace, someone will overtake him.

If you want your business or team to survive and thrive you need to make sure it is adaptable,

flexible, and nimble. Not just reacting to change, but creating the changes that will keep it

ahead.

Your technology can be so rapidly copied that the only sustainable way to forge ahead is to

constantly tap into your people's ideas and reap the benefits.

You need to be constantly finding newer and better ways to do everything you do.

Peter Drucker has suggested three Disciplines of Innovation. They are:

Having a clear mission. Being crystal clear what is meant by results. Having the nerve to abandon an experiment that is not delivering the required results.

You and your team can be more innovative, given an encouraging climate and the right tools.

Exercise

We have suggested that whatever your role in your organisation you need to be

constantly finding new and better ways to do whatever it is that your unit does. Thatmeans you need ideas to build on but where do you get your best ideas? Most people say


13/67

in the bath or driving to work ... almost anywhere, in fact, except at work.

In this exercise we will ask you to think through how you could change your work space,

at work or at home, so that it is more stimulating. It will almost certainly pose some

questions you've not thought about before.

Write your answers to the following questions, then see if our suggestions prompt even

better ideas. Think in terms of creating the ideal creative environment.

1. What kind of seating do you prefer?

2. What would you have on the walls?

3. What else would you have around you?

4. What drinks or snacks would be to hand?

5. What sounds would be audible?

6. What materials would you have to hand?

Enter your reply here...

Exercise with Model Answers

In this exercise we will ask you to think through how you could change your work space,at work or at home, so that it is more stimulating. It will almost certainly pose some

questions you've not thought about before.

Write your answers to the following questions, then see if our suggestions prompt even

better ideas. Think in terms of creating the ideal creative environment.

1. What kind of seating do you prefer?

2. What would you have on the walls?

3. What else would you have around you?

4. What drinks or snacks would be to hand?

5. What sounds would be audible?6. What materials would you have to hand?

Your Answer:

My ideal creative environment 1 The kind of seating I prefer will have a comfortable

soft seat, with material that stops me sliding down and a very straight back. 2 A pastel

yellow paint should be on the wall. 3 and pictures of tranquil places such as woodlands

or beaches. Maybe a vase of flowers. 4 Cheese and biscuits or/and chocolate snacks. 5

Any natural sounds such as the traffic or rain outside. 6 Pen, paper and computer.

Model Answer:

Did you consider:


14/67

1. Seating - swivel chair, armchair, stool, floor or no seating?

2. Walls - pictures, checklists, charts, murals, whiteboard, blackboard, window, TV,

newspaper cuttings, flipchart?

3. Around you - plants, photos, toys, stress balls, other people, clutter, tidy space?

4. Drinks & snacks - coffee, tea, water, crisps, peanuts, fruit, biscuits, coke, fruit juice?

5. Sounds - music (classical, ambient, rock, pop...), street noise, silence, people moving

about, conversation, telephone?

6. Materials - note book, pad, flipchart, coloured pens, pencils, marker pens, crayons,

coloured paper, laptop, hand-held device, PC/Mac?

Barriers to creativity

For many people, being creative is something they stopped doing at some stage in their

youth.

The experiences of getting through school and college, then making a start on a career, exert

great pressure to conform. These experiences leave many people with a set ofmental blocks

that you will need to deal with if your team is going to be one where it's OK to be creative.

What are some of the main blocks you need to overcome?

Thinking there is only one right answer - Most of our school, college andprofessional exam experiences are based on a single right answer.

Fear of failure - Trying anything new involves risks. If the climate punishes failure,people won't take risks.

False assumptions - We have to constantly make assumptions to get through the day.Query the assumptions you are making in your creative work to decide whether they

are valid.

Discomfort with ambiguity - We all feel more comfortable if we know where westand and there is comfort in sticking with the tried-and-tested rather than striking out

on a new course.

Fear of ridicule - Many innovations have emerged from crazy-sounding initial ideasbut the fear of being laughed at is a strong inhibitor of ideas. This is perhaps the most

powerful inhibitor of creativity.

Habit - We tend to apply the solution that seemed to solve the problem last timearound.

Bureaucracy - If a proposal has to be agreed by layers of managers or committeeswho require lengthy reports etc ... it can be just too much effort.

Premature judgement - If a new idea is likely to be strangled at birth by a killerphrase like: It wouldn't work here, then suggestions won't be made.


15/67

...and there are many more...

The good news is that by employing effective techniques you can overcome these

powerful forces.

Exercise

The bite outlined 8 common barriers to creativity. Some of them will be more important

influences of your behaviour than others. Others you will notice having an impact on the

team around you. In this exercise you are asked to rank the barriers and then consider

how to begin to overcome them. You can write your notes in notepad by clicking on the

link shown below this exercise.

1. Consider the 8 barriers i.e.* Thinking there is only one "right" answer.

* Fear of failure.

* False assumptions.

* Discomfort with ambiguity.

* Fear of ridicule.

* Habit.

* Bureaucracy.

* Premature judgement.

2. Select the one which most inhibits your creativity and rank it No 1.

3. Select the next ... and so on down to No 8.

Now you have the barriers ranked, take just the first two (take more and the task will be

too daunting) and think of two actions you could take to reduce the effect of the barrier.

Consider how and when you could bring these changes into play.

If it is important that your team also improve their creativity, either;

- re-work the ranking for the team as a whole,

or

- ask the team members to do it for themselves. If you take this option you could then

involve them in thinking through how, as a team, you could all begin to reduce barriers

to creativity.

Fostering a creative climate


16/67

"Part of every manager's and every team member's job is to create an environment in which

creativity is appreciated and new ideas are brought out of those who may have almost

forgotten their creativity." Gifford Pinchot, 1865-1946. First Chief of the United States

Forest Service.

Too many people hang up their brains along with their hat and coat when they arrive at work.

Yet each of them has a unique perspective and set of experiences that they can bring to the

party if only you let them.

What can you do to encourage them and ensure their brain stays engaged at work?

You can create a climate that welcomes ideas by:

Listening to suggestions when they are made. Never let it be said that you wereunwilling to listen.

Encouraging others to offer ideas, suggestions and advice. Acknowledging that others may have better ideas, especially if they are closer to the

detail of the work than you. As far as possible, let people figure out the best way to

do their own jobs.

Encouraging a systematic approach which first diagnoses problems, then seekspotential solutions and finally selects the best for implementation.

Supporting your people's ideas when they affect a larger area than just your team. Recognising the merits and positive aspects of a suggestion before exploring any

shortcomings.

Varying the problem solving and creative thinking techniques used within a meetingor project, so that your people are exposed to a range of devices for effectively

dealing with challenges.

Building your team's problem solving and creative thinking expertise so that theycome up with thought-through proposals rather than off-the-top-of-the-head ideas.

Banning negative responses such as: That will never workorwe tried that before,and it didn't work.

Discussing ideas that are raised, developing them, building them. Allowing your people to try things out; you can always build on a failed experiment. Insisting that your people constantly seek better ways to achieve results. Requiring your people to question the way things are done. Focusing on the challenges that will lead to the greatest benefits.

Role-modelling the behaviours you would like to see all the team display.

And finally, something which you do at your peril:

Never pinch your people's ideas. Instead, become known as the guy with the

creative team.

Exercise

Fostering a Creative Climate
http://www.skillgate.com/content/skillgate/exercises/innov3.htmhttp://www.skillgate.com/content/skillgate/exercises/innov3.htmhttp://www.skillgate.com/content/skillgate/exercises/innov3.htm


17/67

You read in the bite about 15 ways you can foster (or hinder) the creative climate in your

team. You are probably good at some of them already. There is probably room to

improve on others.

Use this exercise as an opportunity to take stock and then find ways to makeimprovements.

Take a look at the 'Fostering a Creative Climate' link shown above and print off the table

displayed. Then fill out the table as follows:

In the Score column write a number between 0 and 10 to reflect how consistently good

you are at displaying the behaviour.

Select the 3 (or 4 or 5) actions with the lowest scores. In their "Action" column write a

couple of things you will begin to do differently to improve your scores.

Make a note in your diary for one month from now to remind you to re-score yourself

against the behaviours you are trying to improve.

(You can use the 'Notepad' link back on the eBrief page to record your answers.)

Mind maps

Since it was first popularised by British psychologist Tony Buzan (1942 - ), mind mapping

has become one of the most widely used tools in creativity.

A mind map encourages you to organise your thoughts on paper in a pattern that matches the

way you think. As a tool it offers far greater flexibility than the traditional list or notes taken

from a lecture.

Mind mapping is a technique for representing on

paper the way that we see a situation - it is our own

mental picture of something, summed up in key

words and images.

The main features of a mind map are:

The topic/problem/objective is written in capitals in the centre of a large sheet ofpaper.

The main ideas concerning the situation are added, linked to the centre andunderlined.

Subsidiary ideas are then added, where they seem to best fit. Arrows are used to show links between the ideas.

When producing a mind map:


18/67

Don't worry about neatness / common-sense / spelling - you can always tidy it uplater.

Keep going till no more ideas come.Mind maps can be prepared by a group of people but essentially they are personal, summing

up one particular person's knowledge and ideas about the topic.

Producing a mind map is like brainstorming but it is superior to a simple list because of the

way the ideas are organised on the page. Mind maps are creative in that they:

May reveal patterns and connections between ideas which did not at first occur toyou.

May stimulate further ideas by arranging all your thoughts about the topic on a singlepage.

Pull your ideas into order e.g. for planning a report, presentation or project. Can highlight the aspects of the topic that you know little about, do not understand, or

need to research further.

Exercise

This exercise provides you with a framework for trying out and reflecting on mind maps.

Using the guidance in the bite and the further reading articles if you have explored them,

prepare a mind map on a blank piece of paper. It does not matter at all what it is for. It

could be;

- preparation for a talk or a meeting,

- notes taken from a talk or presentation,

- revision notes for something you are studying,

- or even a resume of a TV programme.

The point is to try out this type of patterned note taking.

When you have your mind map prepared, continue to the next screen (by clicking on the

'Click here to view model answer' button) and review it against the criteria for a mind

map as described by Tony Buzan.



Using the guidance in the bite and the further reading articles if you have explored them,

prepare a mind map on a blank piece of paper. It does not matter at all what it is for. It

could be;

- preparation for a talk or a meeting,

- notes taken from a talk or presentation,- revision notes for something you are studying,


19/67

- or even a resume of a TV programme.

The point is to try out this type of patterned note taking.

When you have your mind map prepared, continue to the next screen (by clicking on the

'Click here to view model answer' button) and review it against the criteria for a mind

map as described by Tony Buzan.

Your Answer:

Model Answer:

Buzan suggests an effective mind map employs the following (rather strict) "laws":

1. At the centre of the mind map use an image rather than words.

2. Use images in preference to words throughout the mind map.

3. Use upper and lower case letter, printed rather than joined.

4. Write on lines that connect to the other lines that make up the mind map.

5. Use arrows to show connections.6. Keep to single words rather than phrases.

7. Use colour to the maximum.

It is unlikely your mind map will live up to this idea so consider Buzan's advice and try

it out at the next mind mapping opportunity.

You might also like to try out the idea of using symbols, especially if you are working

with your team who will have a common understanding of the work you do and the

symbols that could be employed. What symbols would be useful abbreviations for your

team as well as lending the mind map an extra visual impact?

Journaling

Many well-known business people have found a notebook to be their most powerful creative

aid.

Ideas that come Richard Branson's way get noted in a standard-sized school note book

because "the discipline of writing them down ensures that I have to listen to people

carefully."

When John Patterson was president ofNational Cash Register he insisted that his board

members keep a little red book to record daily thoughts and ideas. Any who did not use their

little red book were fired.

Both men have recognised that the act of writing the note signals to the brain that this

information is important.

Anne Johnson describes the benefits she gains from journaling - her daily morning discipline

of recording her hopes, fears, problems and insights. She finds that once she has written the

idea down, her mind is free and focused for getting on with the day's business.

She finds that writing the journal:


20/67

Helps the brain sort out priorities. Clarifies where the day's focus should lie. Helps park unresolved problems. Acts as a tool for gathering insights. Aids project planning. Puts irritations into perspective.

Normally, her tool is a notebook; sometimes a computer screen. Normally she writes in the

morning but occasionally the evening. She stresses that a serious trial of journaling as a

technique needs to run for a number of weeks or even months before it becomes a helpful

habit.

You can use your journal in other ways to foster creativity:

Use it to rehearse difficult conversations. Try experiencing someone else's point of view by writing about an argument you

might experience. Write down a problem and list any solutions that come into mind.

We all have bright ideas but many of them get lost. It would be unwise to fully follow John

Patterson's example but the idea of a little red book is excellent.

Use one yourself and encourage your colleagues to do the same. It is surprising how

often an idea noted months or even years ago can suddenly click into place.

Your notebook need not only contain words. How about including newspaper cuttings,

cartoons, adverts, designs that impress you, riddles, jokes, pictures, quotations...?

"I don't mind where the ideas come from as long as they make a difference."- Richard

Branson

Exercise

As leaders as diverse as John Patterson and Richard Branson have gained immense value

from keeping a notebook, the suggestion in this exercise is to try an experiment with

your team. You will find out just how much more creative they can be just by capturing

some of the ideas they perhaps lose because they are not normally written down.

1. Buy a "little red book" for each team member. A small one has the advantage of fitting

easily into pocket or handbag.

2. Talk the team through the benefits of journaling/noting as described in the bite.

3. Ask them to use the book to capture all their ideas - by writing, drawing, pasting in

cuttings ... or whatever they choose.

4. Decide how long to run the experiment for and agree when to meet to review it.

When you review the use of the notebooks, do it in three stages:


21/67

1. Exchange ideas that have been recorded. Bear in mind that the notebooks are private

so the team will only discuss those items that they want to share.

2. Decide what to do about any promising ideas that have been suggested.

3. Ask the team members to share HOW they used the book e.g. did they:- carry it with them,

- keep it by the bed,

- add cuttings, cartoons...

- use colour.

You can then encourage them to adopt any "best practices" they have heard from their

colleagues.

(You can use the 'Notepad' link back on the eBrief page to record your answers.)

Ask Questions

Whatever the challenge you are dealing with, you probably need to collect data in order to be

confident that you fully understand the situation. The simplest approach is to use Kiplings

six honest serving men:

What? Why? When? How? Where? Who?

Examples of the kinds of questions to ask are:

What?

What is the scope of the problem?

What is not part of the problem? (outside its scope)

Why?

Why did the problem occur? Why was it not identified sooner? Why must it be solved?

When?


22/67

When was the problem first identified? When must it be solved by? When did something change that may have caused the problem?

How?

How did the problem manifest itself (what were the symptoms)? How has it been dealt with in the past?

Where?

Where is the problem occurring? Where is it not occurring?

Who?

Who was responsible for the problem occurring? Who has tackled the problem before?

Treat this list as suggestions only and devise your own checklist of questions to fit yourparticular situation. Write them down, otherwise you will forget to ask some of them at the

appropriate timethe brain can only remember about seven items at a time.

You can even turn to the basic list of six questions in an emergency: If you ask questions

based on all six you can be sure that you are covering the ground pretty thoroughly.

Policemen are said to use the six W's in interview training as a reminder to prompt / cover allthe aspects of an event or an alibi provided by a person interviewed.

Exercise

You've been called in as a consultant to a restaurant that has recently opened servingMediterranean style meals.

Since opening, three months ago, customer numbers have been disappointing and have

continued to drop.

You are asked to investigate and recommend a course of action to the management and

decide to use Kipling's six questions as your framework.

Devise three questions under each of the six headings:

- What?

- Why?- When?


23/67

- How?

- Where?

- Who?

so that you gain as thorough an understanding of what is going wrong as possible.

Then compare your questions with the ones we've devised.Enter your reply here...


Devise three questions under each of the six headings:

- What?

- Why?- When?

- How?

- Where?

- Who?

so that you gain as thorough an understanding of what is going wrong as possible.

Then compare your questions with the ones we've devised.

Your Answer:

What? What training and experience do the staff have? What advertising has takenplace? What food do customers want? Why? Why are people not returning? Why are

they not recommending others? Why has no one changed where we advertise to find

new custom? When? When did numbers start to drop? When can we use a good selling

point? When can we expect improvement? How? How can we gain customer feedback?

How can we improve customer service? How can we get repeat custom? Where? Where

should we advertise? Where can we make improvements? Where are the incentives to

try our new style meals? Who? Who needs training and/or motivating? Who can help to

advertise and spread the word? Who can ensure feedback is gained?

Model Answer:

Possible suggestions:

What items on the menu are most popular?

What is the price range across the menu?

What have you done to try to boost custom?

Why have you chosen Mediterranean food?

Why can't the situation continue?

Why have you not called me in before?

When must the problem be solved by?

When did you have a restaurant reviewer in for a meal and what did they write?

When did the customer numbers start dropping?

How have you priced the menu?How do you source your ingredients?


24/67

How many more customers do you need to attract?

Where do your customers come from?

Where don't your customers come from?

Where have you advertised?

Who is the chef and what is his/her background?

Who are your customers - what backgrounds do they have?Who could write a review which might attract business?

You should now have enough information to make your recommendations!

Brainstorm variations

Brainstorming is a technique for developing creative solutions. It begins with a clearly

stated problem or challenge and then deliberately aims to come up with as many possiblesolutions as possible. Traditionally this is done by a group in front of a flip chart.

However, there are many variations on this basic idea:

The 6-3-5 Technique

This variation is well suited to a group ofsix people. Each participant generates three ideas,

five times in succession. The way it works is:

Stage 1: Each participant receives three blank cards and is asked to think of three ideas and

write them down, one on each card.

Stage 2 Each participant then passes on his/her cards, say clockwise.

The recipient adds an idea to each card received, stimulated by what has already been written

there. There will be five exchanges of cards in all.

Benefits: This could be appealing to someone who is reluctant to speak up in front of the

team and it strongly encourages building on others' ideas.

Idea Supplementing

Experience has shown that after brainstormers have slept on a problem they often generate

ideas more valuable than those suggested at the session itself. Often the original list of ideas

can be increased by 20%.

Useful ways to capture these supplementary ideas are:

A short follow-up meeting later in the day or next morning. A mechanism to send supplementary ideas in writing to a central point.

Benefits: It ensures that no ideas are lost so it could be valuable when working on aparticularly big or important problem.


25/67

Seeding Ideas

If participants feel they cannot come up with any more ideas, try selecting a word at random

from a dictionary and proposing it as a spark for further ideas. You might be surprised how

many more trains of thought will be stimulated.

Ideas Grid

It is often said that creative thinking means bringing together things that previously were not

associated.

For example, the invention of the printing press

did just this, combining the technology for

stamping metal coins with that used by vineyards

to press grapes.

In some work situations you can use an ideas grid to help make fruitful new associations.

Let's say you are a publisher of entertainment materials for children. You are keen to expand

your product range and want some ideas of new lines that you might move into.

You could expand your range by extending any of the following:

Product - currently you sell books and cassettes.

Function - currently your titles are fiction, humour and information.

Markets - currently book shops and mail order.

Technologies - printed page and audio cassettes.

You could now explore new possibilities in several ways. Start by brainstorming each of

these lists. For example, the products list could include DVDs, CDs, posters, multi-media.

You might extend the markets to include work-place marketing, toy shops, children's clothes

shops, or the internet. Any of these ideas might by itself suggest a new way to move forward.

More powerful, though, is the range of associations you could make by arranging your

brainstormed lists in a grid. Arrange the products along the top of the grid; put the marketsdown the side. You now have 25 cells to consider.

This now gives you 25 possibilities to consider, only a few of which you are currently

exploiting. From so many new combinations there ought to be some worth exploring. Some

will immediately seem unlikely to succeed, others may appear more promising.

Trying to produce and sell multimedia by mail order might sound daunting; the possibilities

for selling posters in clothes shops may appear more attractive.

You can consider all four dimensions of your business simultaneously if you arrange their

lists in columns. You could then pick and combine items from each column producingintriguing possibilities such as selling humorous cassettes on the internet.


26/67

An ideas grid can highlight vast numbers of untapped possibilities. In some literature you will

often see these grids referred to more formally as Morphological Analysis. Whatever the

name, the aim is to rapidly generate a new set of associations so that they can be tested or

used as triggers for further exploration.

Exercise

If you worked on the exercise from the previous bite about questioning, you'll recall that

you investigated a restaurant which was suffering a tailing-off in business. Your

questioning has led you to present some ideas to the management which you choose to

do in the form of an Ideas Grid.

To get the management thinking, you decide to ask them what to put on the grid so for

the first of its dimensions you ask them:

"Although dinner in the evening is the most obvious example, what different 'meal

experiences' could be served at the restaurant?"

Make yourself a list of the different experiences the restaurant could offer.Enter your reply here...


To get the management thinking, you decide to ask them what to put on the grid so forthe first of its dimensions you ask them:

"Although dinner in the evening is the most obvious example, what different 'meal

experiences' could be served at the restaurant?"

Make yourself a list of the different experiences the restaurant could offer.

Your Answer:

Lunch time lite snacks Teatime treats Cream tea Take-away menu Entertainment nights

Model Answer:

We thought of breakfasts, lunches, dinners, morning coffee, afternoon tea, "pre-theatre"

supper, "post-theatre" supper, wedding receptions, birthdays, take-away food.

In your consultant role you could write these down one dimension of the ideas grid. Now

you can move on to the next stage - to do this click on the button below 'Click here for

Next Question'.


27/67

Exercise

You could now ask the management the next question, which is:

"What would be effective ways to promote the restaurant?"

Make yourself a list of possible ways to promote the restaurant.



Make yourself a list of possible ways to promote the restaurant.

Your Answer:

Website Newspaper article Review/critique Special return offers for regulars Radio

interview Leaflet drop Business cards for take-away menus

Model Answer:

You probably came up with some straightforward ideas like the local paper, Yellow

Pages, and the local radio, but maybe there are more unusual possibilities like sandwich

boards, flyers for car windscreens, advertising on the backs of parking tickets and so on.

These you would write across the other dimension of the grid.

Now you could invite your clients to consider all the combinations. With our 10 types ofexperience and 6 types of advert there are 60 combinations to consider. This should

enable the management to decide on some very focused promotion.

Force Field Analysis

To step from being creative to being innovative, you actually have to introduce your

brainchild to its audience.

The Force Field diagram, developed by German psychologist Kurt Lewin (1890-

1947), helps you think through the reactions you are likely to get to the change you're

introducing. It helps you consider the forces such as habits, customs and attitudes which both

drive and restrain change.

This could help you in one of two ways:

It could help you decidebetween two or more possible courses of action. It could help you think through actions you need to take to implement your chosen

solution as smoothly as possible.


28/67

The technique requires a flipchart/whiteboard on which to work. The steps to follow are:

1. Define the desired change as precisely as possible.2. Draw a horizontal line on the board.3. List and discuss the group's perception of all the relevant driving and restraining

forces by putting yourselves in the shoes of those affected.4. Place each driving force as an arrow above the line.5. Place each restraining force as an arrow below the line.6. Determine the relative strength of each force by reaching a consensus.7. Show these on the chart by the relative lengths of the arrows.

If the analysis is being used to help decide between two possible solutions, examine the

balance of forces on the charts. If one shows overwhelming restraining forces then it is likely

to be difficult to implement. The chart may show that the other solution would be easier to

implement.

If the analysis is being done to help think through the implementation plan, then two more

steps need to be taken:

Consider ways to enhance the driving forces. Consider ways to remove/reduce the restraining forces.This second step is particularly important. It you try to force through the change

by just focusing on the driving forces, you will probably just increase the strength

of the resistance.

Why Be Innovative & Creative? - Results

Below we list any questions you answered incorrectly (and included the correct

answer).

Question Number

1.

What is the first thing to remember when producing a

mind map?

Don't worry too much about spelling

Keep going till no more ideas come

Don't worry too much about common senseDon't worry too much about neatness

Question Number

2.Which of these is a strong inhibitor of ideas?

Habit

Bureaucracy

Premature judgement

Fear of ridicule

Question Number Which of these is a barrier to creativity?


29/67

6.

Valid assumptions

Thinking there is more than one "right" answer

Comfort with ambiguity

Fear of failure

Question Number

7.Which is a main feature of a mind map?

Subsidiary ideas are rejected

Lines are drawn to show links between the ideas

The main ideas concerning the situation are added, linked to the centre and

underlined

The topic/problem/objective is written in capitals at the top right of a large

sheet of paper

You are free to retake this quiz as often as you wish.


30/67

Creative Problem Solving

The sequence

What ever problem you need to tackle, you can apply a sequence of steps to get you to thebest solution. Without the discipline of the sequence we tend to try to find solutions before

we're really clear what the problem is!

The sequence we will use is:

Fact finding Challenge statement Idea generation Idea screening Prototyping Implementation Problem/Opportunity finding

The last step in the sequence might seem strange and maybe out of place but you'll appreciate

its importance when we get there.

Being creative

We are not talking about creativity in the sense of writing a play or designing a block of flats.

Creativity in that sense calls for specialist knowledge, skills and sensitivity. What we mean

by creativity is the ability to produce a solution that is both:

novel, i.e. original or unexpected,and

appropriate to the challenge.As you work through the course you'll find yourself using two kinds of thinking:

Divergent thinking - generating many possible ideas or options in response to a question or

challenge.

Convergent thinking - choosing among many options to select the best.

At some stages in the sequence you'll be seeking plenty of options to choose from. At others

you'll be focusing down to select the best available solution. The crucial point is that the steps

in the sequence must be worked through in sequence.

Fact finding

Whatever challenge you are tackling, you will have started with some sort of statement of the


31/67

challenge. However, it is often the case that the challenge presented to you (maybe by your

boss) is the wrong challenge!

What frequently happens is that someone comes up with what we might call the initial

challenge statement. They might say "Find a way to fit an extra printer into the office to keep

up with the requests for brochures".

If you took the challenge at face value you could easily go to the expense of buying or leasing

a new printer and creating a good deal of disturbance to the office layout. You might discover

that some sort of re-organisation of the work would solve the problem without the expense of

a new printer.

So you need tools to help you delve into the challenge and quite possibly come up with a

better statement of what the problem really is.

Tools you can use include:

The Why/Why approach: you pose a "Why?" question, receive a reply andpose the next "Why?" question. For example, "Why are the sales figures so

poor?" "Because the salesmen don't really understand how the new model

works". "Why don't they understand?" "Because the training got cancelled."

"Why ... " You get the idea. Keep asking "Why?" till you're back to the real

problem.

The 5WH method: you can always try the 6 basic questions, Who? What?Where? When Why? and How?

The Phoenix Checklist: developed by the American police in Phoenix,Arizona, this list is said to be carried by policemen as a trusty reminder for

helpful lines of questioning. (You may look at this checklist if you wish by

clicking on the link below this bite).

The exact approach you take, and the exact questions to use, will vary with the particular

challenge but any of these approaches will help you identify the real problem you need to

solve.

Exercise

The following statement sums up a problem faced annually in the Finance Department of

a major insurance company. Use it as a start point for trying out Why/Why.

The accounts team have to work late and work weekends to complete the company's

Year-End figures (which have to be completed by a legally imposed deadline).

Tackle the problem by asking "Why?" this is the case and write down three possible

reasons.Enter your reply here...


32/67


Tackle the problem by asking "Why?" this is the case and write down three possible

reasons.

Your Answer:1 accurate records were not kept. 2 No system was used to keep everything up to date. 3

No one checked.

Model Answer:

You may have written something like:

1. The staff are inexperienced.

2. Some of the data has to be checked for accuracy.

3. Some of the data is not available till a late stage in the year.

Exercise

Use the reasons you gave in answer to the last question for the next part of the exercise.

(In my example:

1. The staff are inexperienced.

2. Some of the data has to be checked for accuracy.

3. Some of the data is not available till a late stage in the year.)

For each of these reasons, repeat the question "Why?" and write down your answers.



For each of these reasons, repeat the question "Why?" and write down your answers.

Your Answer:

1 Staff need training to understand how to keep accurate records. 2 A software system

could be introduced to check accuracy. 3 A senior member of staff should have checked

or be able to explain why data is not available yet.Model Answer:

You may have written something like:

1a. Some staff have not worked through a "Year End" before.

1b. Some staff are not familiar with some of the processes/systems in use.

1c. Most of the staff know their own job but lack an overview of "Year End" procedures.

2a. The people responsible for the data do not work sufficiently accurately.

2b. Some data is switched between systems that are not fully compatible.

3a. Other departments do not start assembling data till late in the year.


33/67

3b. Some departments have backlogs and do not meet their deadlines for supplying data.

It is unlikely you will have an identical set of answers to these, but you can see the value

of exploring each answer to the question "Why?".

If you really had to tackle this challenge you could ask "Why?" for a third time and evena fourth. As you do this you gradually get closer to the real causes of the problem - and,

incidentally, begin to have ideas about which causes to tackle to improve the situation.

The Challenge statement

A problem well stated is a problem half solved.

Your fact finding may well have led you to change the initial statement of the challenge. This

is frequently the case because the problem you start out tackling is often the symptom of

something else. Until you have done some digging around and asked some questions you are

not really clear what the problem actually is. This is probably the most important step in the

problem-solving process because without it you may finish up solving the wrong problem!

If you get this wrong you will be spending time solving the wrong problem! You very often

have to penetrate behind the symptoms presented to you to understand what is the actual

problem that has to be solved. So, oddly, you need to put work in before you can come up

with an accurate statement of the problem or challenge.

The challenge statement should be written. Without the discipline of writing it down the mind

will very readily wander off course and waste effort that should be concentrated on the

problem in hand. The act of writing it down may even trigger a solution.

Call it by the positive-sounding term "challenge statement" rather than the negative-sounding

"problem statement". Most people will rise to a challenge but they may not tackle a problem

in such a constructive frame of mind.

Ideally, the challenge statement should be:

Phrased in simple language. Precise and unambiguous. Stated in a way that allows eventual success can be measured.

Example:

In what ways could we reduce manufacturing costs by 5% by the end of the year?

This is a simple example but it matches up well to the criteria: this particular

challenge lends itself to financial measurement and includes a timeframe. You can

use the opening words of this statement in any situation so you could always start

your challenge statements with "In what ways could we...?"


34/67

Some challenges are more open-ended and you will find it more difficult to attach measures

to them.

If you don't get the challenge statement right you may end up with solutions to a different

problem like the person who invented the inflatable dartboard and cycle clips for people who

wear shorts.

If you don't know where you're going, you're likely to end up somewhere else.

Exercise

A work colleague tells you that she can't afford to go on holiday this year. You would

like to help her with this problem and ask her why not. She replies that she will not have

enough spare cash to go on the fairly expensive type of foreign holiday she has enjoyed

in the past.

Your friend is expressing the situation in a negative way which is hindering any

constructive ideas. Without trying to come up with any suggestions or ideas, reframe her

problem as a challenge which would encourage her to think positively about a solution.

Try to phrase it in simple, unambiguous language and, as far as possible, make the

challenge measurable.

Write your suggested rewording and then compare it with ours.



Your friend is expressing the situation in a negative way which is hindering any

constructive ideas. Without trying to come up with any suggestions or ideas, reframe her

problem as a challenge which would encourage her to think positively about a solution.

Try to phrase it in simple, unambiguous language and, as far as possible, make the

challenge measurable.

Write your suggested rewording and then compare it with ours.

Your Answer:

I need to find a way to budget for a holiday.

Model Answer:

What kind of 7/14 day break could I take that would leave me feeling I'd had:

- a complete change of routine

- a new experience- a lengthy rest


35/67

- a break from colleagues and family

- some sun!

- or whatever is my idea of a good holiday.

Notice how we are delving behind the initial statement of the problem and exploring

what it is your friend wants from her holiday. Once she's agreed on one of these phrases,you could help her find a holiday break within her budget that would satisfy the newly-

phrased requirement.

If it sounds as if we are falling a little short on the "measurement" criterion, consider

these two points:

- you could add her budget figure to the challenge

- if she decides she wants a lengthy rest, for example, you could ask her on her return

whether she succeeded. This would be a reasonable equivalent to a measure.

Idea generation

Once you're happy that you're solving the right problem you can begin your search for the

ideal solution. The best way to find the best solution is to generate a lot of possibilities so that

you have plenty to choose from.

Hundreds of different techniques have been developed for generating ideas but the grand-

daddy of them all is brainstorming. Brainstorming has rules which help participantsovercome any reluctance they might have about making novel suggestions. None of us like

being thought a fool so the key rule in a brainstorm is NO Judging. This stops people

squashing suggestions with comments like "We tried that before and it didn't work".

There are 4 rules for an effective brainstorm:

No judging - during the brainstorm all ideas are equally welcome and all should berecorded.

Go for quantity - stress the sheer number of suggestions wanted; issues about theirquality can come later

Build on others' ideas - encourage people to make suggestions sparked by one they'vejust heard.

Think in a playful way - allow the mind to wander. Humorous, even tongue-in-cheekideas might eventually prove valuable.


36/67

Of course, once this stage of divergent thinking is complete and you have a big list of

suggestions, you need to switch to divergent thinking to pick out the most promising.

The key to a successful brainstorm is this total separation of the two stages.

Many variations have been developed around brainstorming such as:

Trigger SessionsThis name is given to an approach which mixes together group and individual problem

solving. The first stage is for team members to work independently on the problem,

producing a list of ideas.

Then the lists are shared by reading them out so that further ideas are stimulated amongst

others in the problem-solving team. Alternatively the lists can be on flipchart paper. Thebenefits are that the first stage is conducted in private so it could be less threatening than

interactive brainstorming and it encourages building on each other's ideas.

Exercise

You live in a small market town which suffers a severe problem with heavy traffic. This

is making the town unpleasant for shoppers and everyone else going about their

business. You and the rest of the Town Council decide to brainstorm possible solutions

to this problem and decide to start with a trigger session, each of you writing down ideas

independently. You will then share your ideas and see what further ideas are stimulated

by working together.

The first step involves writing down at least 10 possible solutions to the problem. There

are two rules you can apply to a lone brainstorm - go for quantity and think in a playful

way.

One of your colleagues has written:

- ban lorries between certain hours

- introduce park-and-ride

- pedestrianise certain streets- severely increase parking charges

- reward for parking out of town

- impose traffic-free hours

- introduce free buses

- ban cars with only one occupant

- allow householders on the edge of town to charge for parking on their property

- provide free bicycles

- provide mopeds for a modest hire charge

- provide free umbrellas to encourage walking in all weathers

- allow only locals to drive in town during the day

- introduce frequent mini-bus services.


37/67

Examine each of your colleague's ideas and see what further ideas you come up with,

taking his ideas as a start point. This brings into play the other two brainstorm rules -

build on others' ideas and no judging (even if you don't like it, try to build on it).

You will probably not be able to build on every one but you should find that your

colleague's ideas stimulate some more from you. This illustrates the power ofbrainstorming in a group.

Idea screening

If your idea generating has produced a large number of ideas then you need a method for

sifting through them so that you can identify the very best.

Some ideas might immediately appear promising while others might seem impracticable. You

need a means to select the idea that is both attractive and practical.

It is helpful to think in terms of hurdles: the winner of a steeplechase has to clear a number of

hurdles; your winning idea has to clear a number of hurdles too.

The first hurdle is Will it achieve the objective? If not, there is no point considering it.

Secondly, what does your gut reaction tell you as indicated by your level of energy and

enthusiasm for the idea.

After that, there is no simple list because you will need to take account of your particular

situation. However you can think of them in two broad groups: resource hurdles and cultural

hurdles.

Resource hurdles, such as:

Can we afford it? Have we got the people to do it? Do we have the know-how? Do we have the necessary systems?

Cultural hurdles, such as:

Will it fit the company values and beliefs? Will it match the desired image for the company? Will it support the company's environmental and other policies?

You will need to develop your own hurdles but these examples are typical of the questions

you need to consider. The ideal solution is the one that clears every hurdle. If you don't have

an idea which successfully clears them all, you either need to find more ideas or agree on

priorities amongst the hurdles and go with the best available idea.

Exercise


38/67

As a reminder, or in case you did not do the exercise, the challenge in the last exercise

was to think as a member of the Town Council to find ways to reduce the traffic in a

small market town.The list of ideas that we suggested in order to prompt further ideas

was:

- ban lorries between certain hours- introduce park-and-ride

- pedestrianise certain streets

- severely increase parking charges

- reward for parking out of town

- impose traffic-free hours

- introduce free buses

- ban cars with only one occupant

- allow householders on the edge of town to charge for parking on their property

- provide free bicycles

- provide mopeds for a modest hire charge

- provide free umbrellas to encourage walking in all weathers- allow only locals to drive in town during the day

- introduce frequent mini-bus services

The key hurdle, of course, is "Will it achieve the objective of reducing traffic?"

After that, it is helpful think through the other hurdles the Town Council should use, in

two lists:

- Resource hurdles

- Cultural hurdles.

What hurdles would you consider for sifting the ideas generated above. Write down your

ideas and then compare them with our suggestions.



What hurdles would you consider for sifting the ideas generated above. Write down your

ideas and then compare them with our suggestions.

Your Answer:

Model Answer:

We suggest the resource hurdles might be:

- Can we afford it?

- Can it be self-financing?

- Can we introduce the measure(s)quickly?- Have we got sufficient staff/experience to introduce it successfully?


39/67

- How easy will the measure be to introduce?

The cultural hurdles might be:

- Will it be acceptable to local residents?

- Will it be acceptable to local businesses?

- Will it be not too discouraging to tourists and business visitors?- Does it support the Council's environmental (and other) policies?

Prototyping

If the challenge you are tackling is a big one, the scale of the effort required to make your

proposals succeed can be daunting. It may even be difficult to focus on the overall challenge

because it seems too big a nut to crack.

A way to side-step this problem is to borrow from the world of engineering the idea of rapid

prototyping - planning your implementation as a series of quick trials or pilots or experiments

... whatever term fits the situation you are working in.

You can easily get stuck studying research and debating alternatives. A quick prototype, on

the other hand, gives you some evidence. It either works, works to an extent or doesn't work.

Whichever the result, you have some firm data to build on to set in motion your Mark II

prototype.

You don't need to wait until the "implementation stage" begins, to carry out a rapid prototype.

Find some willing colleagues and quietly try it out.

You can save money by quick prototyping. Take the pre-school approach and cobble together

something just effective enough for your trial. Adapt the forms, borrow the software, re-write

the process. This also minimises the risk, providing data for a better-informed decision for the

challenge as a whole.

If your prototype proves even a partial success then you have scored an important win and

you will feel you have achieved something concrete on the way to your overall goal. The

experience of a success will also boost your motivation.

The results from your prototype will add enormously to the credibility of your eventual

recommendations. You won't just be presenting what you believe to be true but what you

know to be the case. This evidence can be worth its weight in gold when you are trying to

convince a busy MD.

If your eventual proposals are likely to stir up opposition, a successful prototype will go a

long way to reducing people's resistance. They will find it hard to argue against your

successful results.

Exercise


40/67

A small Charitable Trust with 1000 members has for some years been restoring a rural

canal and now has 3 of its 34 miles completed. The main constraint on further progress

is the lack of money to buy the land on which the canal ran.

A fundraising committee has come up with several ideas for raising significant sums of

money, one of which is to introduce a Restoration Fund inviting members and othergroups to contribute a small monthly payment to the charity especially for land purchase.

What steps could be taken to try out this idea without great expense to discover:

- whether the idea is worthwhile

- which sources of money are most productive?

Write down your ideas for a prototype scheme and then compare your answers with

ours.



What steps could be taken to try out this idea without great expense to discover:

- whether the idea is worthwhile

- which sources of money are most productive?

Write down your ideas for a prototype scheme and then compare your answers with

ours.

Your Answer:

Model Answer:

An approach to the prototype might be:

- design a promotional leaflet and application form using desktop publishing

- photocopy 1000 leaflets on standard copy paper

- include leaflets in the next newsletter to 250 of the members- insert leaflets in 250 newsletters to another nearby canal society

- include leaflets in 250 copies of the local parish newsletter

- include 250 leaflets in the brochure of a local canal-boat hire company

- mark the leaflets so that it is clear which distribution channel(s) have been successful

- study the relative success of the four channels.

Your list of steps is unlikely to be identical to this and may be an even better prototype!


41/67

Implementation

Once the most appropriate solution has been selected you move into the phase of

implementation i.e. putting your plan into action.

Because this is likely to bring about change it may not be supported by everyone involved so

it may encounter resistance. You can do a lot to head off any resistance by anticipating it.

Force field analysis is an established method for listing, discussing, and dealing with the

forces that:

on the one hand, promote the change - help move toward the goal; and on the other, resist the change.Steps for Conducting a Force Field Analysis:

1. Brainstorm the "driving" forces.2. Rank them from the most powerful down to the least powerful.3. Brainstorm the "restraining" forces.4. Rank them from the potentially most damaging to the least damaging.5. Brainstorm ways to further support the powerful driving forces.6. Brainstorm how to limit the most dangerous restraining forces.

Both groups of forces are then arranged on a chart to highlight the ones needing most

attention. The chart is essentially a giant arrow. For each force, draw an arrow to the right if

this is a force that will work in favour of the desired future state, and to the left if this is a

force that will work to maintain the status quo.

Another simple way to anticipate obstacles to introducing your change is to conduct a

Reverse Brainstorm. This starts by posing the question "In what ways could the introduction

of (the chosen solution) fail?"

This will produce a list which could be prioritised and used as the basis for planning actions

necessary to help the successful change come into play.

Exercise

You are invited to try out a Force Field Analysis on the following case study.

A health centre in a large town has experienced a drop-off in the number of patients

using its services. The management team have reviewed the possible causes and decided

that a key one is that patients have to wait too long to receive medical attention. Many of

them are choosing to use an alternative health centre.

Think in terms of:

- Driving Forces which could help and


42/67

- Restraining Forces which could hinder the centre in re-building its user numbers.

Write two lists and then compare them with our lists. Without knowing lots of

background detail, your lists will not exactly match ours but they will probably contain

similar ideas.Enter your reply here...


Write two lists and then compare them with our lists. Without knowing lots of

background detail, your lists will not exactly match ours but they will probably contain

similar ideas.

Your Answer:

Model Answer:

Driving Forces

- willingness of most staff to improve waiting time

- location of the health centre in a densely populated area

- support from the Health Authority to improve the situation

- high local demand for quality health services

- no nearby health centre offering as wide a range of provision

- many users have come to accept long waits.

Restraining Forces

- lack of motivation of some staff

- lack of economic resources to fund major change

- the building appears cramped and crowded

- some staff not open to new ideas or methods of treatment

- increasing burden of paperwork and official returns

- staff mainly white in an area with a diverse cultural mix

- difficulties car parking near the centre.

If this was a real case you would probably now pick out:

- the most potentially powerful Driving Forces and think of ways to ensure they have a

strong impact

and

- the most potentially damaging Restraining Forces and think of ways to minimise their

effect.

Exercise

Let's pick out three Restraining Forces and explore them further. We'll select:- lack of motivation of some staff


43/67

- the building appears cramped and crowded

- staff mainly white in an area with a diverse cultural mix

For each of these three, think of three ways to lessen their impact then compare yourideas with ours.



For each of these three, think of three ways to lessen their impact then compare your

ideas with ours.

Your Answer:

Model Answer:

1. Lack of motivation of some staff:

- find out why

- consider whether to continue employing them

- involve them in planning improvements

2. The building appears cramped and crowded:

- find ways to re-organise the layout- improve conditions in the waiting area

- investigate spilling out into nearby premises

3. Staff mainly white in an area with a diverse cultural mix:

- as staff turnover occurs, ensure future staffing is more diverse

- educate the staff in health issues affecting different cultural groups

- make an effort to learn the rudiments of users' languages.

Problem/Opportunity finding

Remember Thomas Edison's motto: "There is a better way. Find it!"

The idea behind problem and opportunity finding is to stay ahead of the game - to be

proactive in finding "baby" problems before they grow into giant problems that you are

forced to react to, or failing to spot "baby" opportunities.

This has been described as Mess Finding: identifying problems in amongst the general mess!It is an actual process with three stages:


44/67

Prepare a written list of problems. Arrange this list in order of importance so that agreement can be reached on priorities. Place a value against each unsolved problem - an estimate of the value to be gained by

solving it.

Many companies have more formal devices in place for doing this such as Quality Circles.These developed in Japan after the last war and have been defined as:

Small groups of company personnel who do the same or similar work, voluntarily meeting

together at regular intervals, usually under the leadership of their own supervisor, to identify,

analyse and solve problems, present solutions to management and, where possible, implement

those solutions.

Quality Circles have become closely associated with improving manufacturing processes by

improving quality and increasing quantity. Some firms have taken a broader approach with

groups who can explore the whole business with the aim of either solving current problems

or, even more broadly, identifying areas of opportunity for the company. They might havetitles such as Innovation Teams.

Whatever the nature of the problem identifying group, it needs ways to decide which

problem(s) to focus on. A simple but sound approach would be to ask a series of questions of

each problem presented to the group, such as:-

Is the problem:

significant enough to spend time on? causing costs to the company? likely to persist? damaging the company's image? depressing motivation within the company? solution capable of delivering benefits to customers?

A points system of 0-10 could be used to score each problem presented in order to establish

those with the greatest potential pay-back. The actual questions to ask will depend on the

company and situation concerned. For example, if the problem is one that has been caused by

a previous decision of top management which it would be impossible to reverse, it is

probably a waste of time identifying solutions which are doomed to rejection for politicalreasons.

Quality Circles is a technique which has played an important role in the success of Japanese

manufacturing companies. They are currently being adopted by many European and

American organisations.


45/67

Advanced Creativity

Not the direct route!

Once you are comfortable working with, and maybe leading others to work with, some

creativity techniques, you will want to start trying variations. The techniques presented in the

e-Briefing, Innovation and Creativity, could be described as Linear or Logical or Left-Brain:

you set out the problem or challenge and seek the best possible solution. These linear

methods work with the conscious mind.

Another group of techniques could be called Indirect or Intuitive or Right-Brain: you begin to

tackle the challenge by deliberately distancing yourself from it. Only later do you return tothe original problem. These intuitive methods work with the unconscious mind.

While the "Left Brain" is sometimes characterised as being good at:

Working things out step-by-step and part-by-part. Drawing conclusions based on facts. Thinking in terms of linked ideas.

The "Right Brain" is better at:

Non-verbal awareness - understanding without using words. Making intuitive leaps of insight, often based on incomplete patterns or feelings. Seeing things as a whole - and perhaps leading to multiple conclusions.In this eBriefing we look at:

Looking from a different perspective. Employing lateral thinking and taking excursions. Appealing to our visual sense and our sense of fun. Working through metaphors and our subconscious. Visualising future scenarios.

And to round things off:

A technique used by the musician, Brian Eno.

The outcome from these approaches is chancy but it's also likely to be more creative!

Try these techniques when:

you are working with an experienced group, or you have a particularly tough challenge, or


46/67

you simply want to try something different.A different perspective

We can get so locked in to viewing things from our own perspective that we fail to "see thewood for the trees". So, it can be valuable to see things from others' points of view.

When we think about anything, we set it in a frame - of associations, memories and beliefs.

We do this automatically which is what makes the frame hard to break out of. The breaking

out is what a psychologist might call re-framing - deliberately changing the perspective from

which we view a problem/challenge.

Michael Hall uses the Swiss watch-making industry as an example: watches were things

which worked with cogs and springs THEREFORE the electronic quartz "watch", (which

was actually invented in Switzerland!) could be of no interest to watch makers.

Here are two simple ways to help break out of frames:

ROLE PLAY IT

Choose a famous (or infamous) person you know something about.

How would they view the challenge? What questions would they ask? What would they say? What would be their next step?

If you are working with a group of people, each take a different famous person, ask the

questions and then compare notes.

DO IT FOR REAL

Another way to gain the different perspective is to invite someone from outside the area

affected by the problem/challenge to join you. If you work in Finance, try inviting a line

manager; if your group is mainly in sales try someone from IT.

They will probably ask questions which would not occur to you - and just might lead you

towards a breakthrough.

Take some trouble considering who might be helpful. I once made thi

Creativity in Business Certificate

Documents

Transcript of Creativity in Business Certificate