Get Deeply In Touch With the Passion to Create!
If you want to CREATE something extraordinary, you're going to need some of the spirit that Dean Schambach exudes. When the true force of creativity is burning bright in every cell of your body, all the rest will follow. Hats off to David McDonald, Woodstock filmmaker, for this pearl of brilliance.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 09:48 AM | Comments (2)
January 28, 2010Want a Brainstorming Breakthrough? Get the Right Question!
There's a simple reason why so many brainstorm sessions are a waste of time. The problem statement being pitched to participants is the wrong one.
This is not surprising -- especially when you consider how little time most facilitators put into preparing for a session.
Here's what happens: The person who calls the session is usually scrambling -- overwhelmed, over-caffeinated, and running from one meeting to the next. Out of breath, they pitch the topic to the group, but the topic is either vague or secondary to a more essential challenge that remains unspoken.
G.K. Chesterton, one of the most influential English writers of the 20th century, distilled the phenomenon down to 13 words. "It's not that they can't see the solution," he said. "They can't see the problem."
Then, of course, there's also the phenomenon of perception bias.
Pitch a challenge to an IT person, and it will be seen as a technology problem. Pitch it to a CFO, and it will be seen as a financial problem. Pitch it to a marketing person and it will be seen as a branding problem.
Or as a wise man once said, "When a pickpocket meets a saint all he sees are pockets."
If you plan on running an ideation session any time soon, don't just stumble into the room and pitch a vague topic to the group. Do your homework. Make the effort to identify the REAL issue before asking for ideas. If it's the WRONG QUESTION you present, no amount of idea generation is going to make a difference.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 04:06 PM | Comments (0)
January 27, 2010Facilitating a Brainstorm Session Is Like Going to a Casino
Facilitating a brainstorm session is like going to a casino.
You show up, find your favorite game, place your bet, and pray for luck. Sometimes you win. Most of the times, you lose. And the odds are always stacked against you.
That's the way it is for most of us -- casual visitors to Vegas or Atlantic City or a neighborhood poker game.
Then, of course, there are the professionals -- people who gamble for a living. They have a different approach. They know how to find an edge.
They count cards. They calculate the odds. They read body language. They know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em. And they know how to trust their instincts -- developed over years of study, practice and experience.
Bottom line, they've learned the art and science of navigating their way through various games of chance to radically increase the odds of success.
And while they understand that luck is a big part of the equation, they also know, that "luck favors the prepared mind."
They prepare. They're ready to play.
If you want your brainstorm sessions to get results, you'll need to remember two things: 1) It's a game of chance and; 2) The tools, techniques, and skills you bring to the table will radically increase your odds of breaking the bank.
All in?
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 09:41 PM | Comments (0)
January 26, 2010If You Want to Spark Bold New Ideas, Facilitate (Don't Lead)
Here's one of the dirty little secrets of corporate brainstorm sessions:
When they are led by upper management, department heads, or project leaders, they usually get manipulated.
Because honchos and honchettes are heavily invested in the topic being brainstormed, it is quite common for them to bend the collective genius of the group to their own particular point of view.
Not a good idea.
Participants -- out of respect for the expertise (or position or parking space) of the facilitator -- will invariably moderate their input. And while this can sometimes lead to good results, the results are usually disappointing.
That's why brainstorm facilitators need to remain neutral.
Not neutral like vague. No. Neutral like free of any pre-determined concept or outcome.
An empty window, not an empty suit.
A facilitator's role is to facilitate (from the latin word meaning "to make easy") the process whereby brilliance manifests -- not use their platform to foist their ideas on others.
In the best of all worlds, brainstorm facilitators wouldn't be the people who care the most about the topic. They wouldn't be the content expert, team leader, department head, senior officer, or anyone whose job is described by a three-letter acronym.
There's a HUGE difference between facilitating and leading a brainstorming session. Leaders get people to follow them. Facilitators get people to follow the yellow brick road of the imagination.
Here are four classic ways that some brainstorm facilitators manipulate the ideation process. Any of them familiar to you?
1. They verbally judge ideas as they are being presented
2. They scribe only the ideas they approve of
3. They spend more time pitching their own ideas than listening to the ideas of others
4. They develop only ideas consistent with their own assumptions
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 11:18 PM | Comments (0)
January 24, 2010Everything Comes Full Circle
Out of work? Looking for a job? Enjoy a few chuckles before you pound the pavement today.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 08:59 AM | Comments (0)
January 23, 2010Go Beyond Your Pet Ideas
If your company runs brainstorming sessions, know this: too many of them have become veiled opportunities for people to trot out their pet ideas and show them off to others.
Because everyone is so busy these days and real listening is in short supply, people use brainstorming sessions as a way to foist their pre-existing ideas on others. And while this sometimes leads to results, it doesn't make optimal use of the "two heads are better than one" chance a brainstorm session provides. The way around this phenomenon?
Give people a chance to express their pre-existing ideas at the beginning. Clear the decks. Then use the rest of the session to explore the unknown.
High Velocity Brainstorming
Conducting Genius
Photo
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 07:48 AM | Comments (2)
January 22, 2010Brainstorming Is More Than Ideation
Most people think brainstorming sessions are all about ideas -- much in the same way that Wall Street bankers think life is all about money.
While ideas are certainly a big part of brainstorming, they are only a part. People who rush into a brainstorming session starving for new ideas will miss the boat (and the train, car, and unicycle) completely unless they tune into the some other mighty important dynamics:
1. INVESTIGATION: If you want your brainstorming sessions to be effective, you'll need to do some investigating before hand. Get curious. Ask questions. Dig deeper. The more you find out what the real issues are, the greater your chances of framing powerful questions to brainstorm and choosing the best techniques to use.
2. IMMERSION: While good ideas can surface at any time, their chances radically increase the more that brainstorm participants are immersed (i.e. focused). Translation? No coming and going during a session. No distractions. No interruptions. And don't forget to put a "do not disturb" sign on the door.
3. INTERACTION: Ideas come to people at all times of day and under all kinds of circumstances. But in a brainstorming session, it's the quality of interaction that makes the difference -- how people connect with each other, how they listen, and build on ideas. Your job, as facilitator, is to increase the quality of interaction.
4. INSPIRATION: Creative output is often a function of mindset. Bored, disengaged people rarely originate good ideas. Inspired people do. This is one of your main tasks, as a brainstorm facilitator -- to do everything in your power to keep participants inspired. The more you do, the less techniques you will need.
5. IDEATION: Look around. Everything you see began as an idea in someone's mind. Simply put, ideas are the seeds of innovation -- the first shape a new possibility takes. As a facilitator of the creative process, your job is to foster the conditions that amplify the odds of new ideas being conceived, developed, and articulated.
6. ILLUMINATION: Ideas are great. Ideas are cool. But they are also a dime a dozen unless they lead to an insight or aha. Until then, ideas are only two dimensional. But when the light goes on inside the minds of the people in your session, the ideas are activated and the odds radically increase of them manifesting.
7. INTEGRATION: Well-run brainstorming sessions have a way of intoxicating people. Doors open. Energy soars. Possibilities emerge. But unless participants have a chance to make sense of what they've conceived, the ideas are less likely to manifest. Opening the doors of the imagination is a good thing, but so is closure.
8. IMPLEMENTATION: Perhaps the biggest reason why most brainstorming sessions fail is what happens after -- or, shall I say, what doesn't happen after. Implementation is the name of the game. Before you let people go, clarify next steps, who's doing what (and by when), and what outside support is needed.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 01:17 AM | Comments (0)
January 17, 2010The Back End of Innovation
Here's a very lucid and well-written article by Rowan Gibson on the importance of getting your company's back end of innovation together.
Rowan's rant is consistent with my own experience. It also provokes you to consider one of the ultimate paradoxes of organizational innovation. On one hand, forward thinking companies need to take care of the unglorious back end of innovation -- all that behind-the-scene stuff that increases the odds of good ideas actually manifesting. On the other hand, most organizations' attempts to establish a robust back end usually devolves to stultifying, over-engineered, inhumane "processes."
What's needed is balance -- the artful blend of ideation, integration, and implementation.
Anyway, read Rowan's article. It's worth the five minutes it will take.
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 03:29 PM | Comments (0)
January 08, 2010The Eight Irresistible Principles of Fun
One reason why "innovation initiatives" don't work all that well is because their well-meaning architects usually take them too seriously. If people aren't having any fun in the workplace, chances are slim they will ever innovate. There is a huge relationship between AHA! and HAHA!
Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at 07:45 AM | Comments (0)
