Find your company's Great Thinkers

I love the sentiment in this article...

...it's pretty simple but effective stuff!

And it is really about making the most of what you've already got. Which is just essential in the current times.

From Business Week:
http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/apr2008/ca20080424_507645.htm

Two 'beating the crisis' perspectives: 1. Be creative; 2. Stay calm

How to beat the crisis...two perspectives...

1. Be creative

In a challenging business environment, there really has to be a place for thinking differently about how you 'do' things...

The innovation session concept which is the central pillar of what ideas-bg is concerned with, is about lateral thinking, thinking outside the box, and really breaking the mould from the 'everyday 'doing-ness'' of normal working days.

This idea that in the normal 'day to day' world we are so busy doing things, like the hamster on his wheel, to stop and just take in some new perspectives on 'what it is' we are doing.

It is practically guaranteed that with the right facilitation of an innovation 'day'...a day when you just don't do the things you would normally do, and with the right problem selection and the right problem stakeholders participating... you can generate many new ideas and perspectives around a key challenge you face.

So imagine a day when:

- you don't go the office, but 'somewhere else'

- you come in a bit later and dress casual

- you dedicate the day to a single challenge that your team or organisation faces

- you invite the 10-15 people who you believe have the best chance of overcoming the challenge

- you push hard just for ideas and structured perspectives on the challenge

- you prioritise and agree a way forward on the more promising new ideas and perspectives

- you finish early and take a long late lunch, relax and review the day in informal surroundings

- head home with a very different perspective on your challenge than you had that morning

Such days, because they are rare - lets say somewhere between monthly and annually - do return great value. So I believe that if you run just one session on your most challenging 'business issue' during this crisis, with the right facilitation I believe you will get a sound return on your investment.

Find out more:

about ideas-bg blog post:

http://nialljones-ideas-bg.blogspot.com/2009/11/introducing-ideas-bg-and-how-we-use.html

ideas-bg products page:

http://www.ideas-bg.com/2.html

2. Stay calm

According to one book, in life or death survival scenarios the 90% that 'panic' don't make it, the 10% that 'stay calm' make it.

This is a tenuous link to Innovation, but is an interesting perspective on 'survival'. Very simply, I was recently looking for a book as a Christmas gift for my brother - he is keen on books about exploration, adventure, survival stories.

And I came across one which is specifically about what it is that's different about the 10% of people that survive in extreme 'life or death' survival scenarios, and intriguingly there are some common patterns in their outlook and behaviours under those conditions. So could this be relevant for the typical business owner / manager who has to survive the current crisis - reviewers of the book claim so, and I agree - why not?

More or less these are three common traits of the 'survivors':

1. They stay calm

2. They are decisive

3. They don't give up

As the author puts it the 10% that survive: "...are the ones who can perceive their situation clearly; they can plan and take correct action"

I can elaborate on that, but I don't see why I need to...take it or leave it.

This is the book - 'Deep Survival', by Laurence Gonzales. Seems like it is available in Bulgaria from http://www.helikon.bg/:

http://www.helikon.bg/importbooks/0/9780393326154_deep-survival---who-lives,-who-dies-and-why.html

You need snowflakes to make snowballs

I felt this was an appropriately festive blog post analogy to the world of ideas and problem solving, that someone thought up some time ago, certainly not me.

And I'm comfortable plagiarising because a big part of creative problem solving methodology is about just this - the principle that somewhere, someone else has probably already solved a problem that looks or feels just like yours! And if you can somehow stumble across those 'parallel solutions', you may be able to adapt and apply them for your own benefit.

So the snowflakes and snowballs analogy neatly sums up the collaborative idea development environment - the nature and importance of nurturing everyone's little ideas to contribute toward finding the big, breakthrough ideas that can transform the perspective on a problem, challenge or opportunity.

You need a lot of little ideas to have a big one

It also nicely illustrates the concept of 'volume' (of ideas). After all you need a lot of snowflakes to make a snowball. Perhaps this is the single most important aspect of using innovation facilitation techniques to help 'find better ways to do things that save or make more money'.

Lets consider two extreme types of manager / decision-maker - I accept that most managers are somewhere in between :-)

Manager 1. The autocratic manager. He calls the shots. He has a clear top down management style. He sees this is as a sign of true leadership and strength. He always consults the same trusted, close colleagues on big decisions, since he considers these are the only people who can really contribute to decision-making.

Manager 1: Is not too bothered about hearing

ideas from outside his inner circle...

...and is therefore in a permanent state of having
fewer ideas to stimulate his decisions

Manager 2. He is a democratic manager. He devolves decision-making wherever he can, but still ensures he has the final say on the big decisions. He encourages bottom-up feedback, ideas and perspectives on big decisions and the development of the business. He sees this as a sign of true leadership and strength. By consulting widely he gets a very large amount of stimulus to help him take better big decisions.

Manager 2: Is actively encouraging ideas from everyone...

...and is therefore exposed to many more ideas when it comes to taking big decisions

Manager 1 is in a permanent state of fewer ideas and perspectives when he takes big decisions.

Manager 2 also has the perspectives of manager 1, but has many other ideas and perspectives over and above this. And he still decides what to ignore and which ideas to adopt, develop and implement.

Actually he is 'sucking in' all the ideas and using them to make better decisions that make him look great! And how do you think members of his team feel when they see their ideas or some part of their ideas implemented by him?

The Manager 2 position you can see, especially in these times!, is far more virtuous.

And I would bet my house that over the long term, Manager 2 is consistently beating Manager 1 when they are competing head to head in the same market.

Conclusion? Stop ignoring the snowflakes, and start collecting them to make snowballs!