Report 103

Your newsletter on applied creativity, imagination, ideas and innovation in business.

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Tuesday, 4 July 2006
Issue 85

Hello and welcome to another issue of Report 103, your fortnightly newsletter on creativity, imagination, ideas and innovation in business.

As always, if you have news about creativity, imagination, ideas, or innovation please feel free to forward it to me for potential inclusion in Report103. Your comments and feedback are also always welcome.

Information on unsubscribing, archives, reprinting articles, etc can be found at the end of this newsletter.

 

BREAKING THE BREAKABLE RULES

Dr. Joy Paul Guilford is probably best known for his theories on “convergent and divergent production”, which is one of the most basic principles of creative thinking. In a nutshell, convergent thinking is working towards a single solution to a problem. Divergent thinking is coming up with numerous diverse solutions to a problem. The latter, of course, is what creative problem solving is all about.

During the Second World War, Dr. Guilford was involved in performing personality tests on bomber aeroplane pilots. The aim was to find a method for selecting the best bomber pilots for missions. His results are interesting to anyone involved in creativity and innovation.

After first trying traditional approaches to personality testing, Dr. Guilford found that the technique of a retired officer, who was also involved in testing, was the best indicator of which pilots were most likely to survive and succeed in their missions. The retired officer asked young pilots what they would do in a specific combat situation. Those who responded according to the rule book were downgraded. Those who took alternative actions were upgraded. In other words, the pilots who broke the rules and were creative under attack were more likely to survive.

The apparent reason for this was that the Germans also had copies of the American Air Force rule book and were able to anticipate the reactions of the American pilots and attack those who followed the rules.

Pilots who devised creative responses, however, fooled the Germans and so were not only more likely to fly back to base, but were also more likely to have succeeded in their missions.

Of course breaking the rules is very easy. However, in the case of fighter pilots, it is critical to know which rules can be broken, which rules cannot be broken and which rules can sometimes be broken. Breaking some rules will endanger you and your crew. Breaking other rules, as we have seen, will save you and your crew. Knowing which rules belong in which category is critical.

The same is true in business, although the consequences of breaking or not breaking rules is usually not so severe. For example, consider a new product launch. The marketing team can follow all the rules they learned in their MBA courses.

The result will be a predictable product launch with predictable results. Moreover, your competitors' marketing people will also have learned the same rules in their MBA courses and, as a result, will be able to predict your new product launch approach. If they are creative, however, they will know to break the rules and counter-attack during your new product launch.

Consider product development. Following the rules in product development results in predictable, uninnovative products. Sure, they will probably sell, but they will not be the big hits you may hope for. Breaking the rules, on the other hand, leads to innovative new products, unpleasantly surprises your competition and pleasantly surprises your customers.

A great example of rule breaking in new product development is Apple's iPod, the highly popular digital music player. Prior to the launch of the iPod, other technology companies followed the two basic rules of digital music player development:

1) Use standard file types for digital music, usually MP3 as there is already a lot of choice in MP3 music on-line.

2) Add as much functionality as possible. Gadget lovers love functionality and more functions than the competition equals a more desirable product.

Apple's iPod, on the other hand, uses a proprietary music file type which can only be downloaded from Apple's web site and can only be played on an iPod. Its dead simple design plays music only and has a single control knob. Nevertheless, the iPod has been a tremendous success. It has transformed Apple, made them a fortune and left the competition – who followed all the rules in music player development - in the dust.

On the other hand, there are rules which need to be followed. A music player that doesn't play music or which is so poorly constructed that it falls apart within days of purchase will almost certainly not sell well.

The lesson to be learned, of course, is that it is important to look at the rules you follow in your operations – and break some of those rules on a regular basis.

Likewise, it is important not to discipline employees who break rules when exploring new ideas. If employees know that breaking rules leads to trouble, they will never experiment with those rules. It goes without saying, of course, that rules relating to safety, staff conduct and laws are a different matter and must be followed.

Lastly, it is important to bear in mind that breaking the rules does not always translate into commercial success. Any innovation is inherently risky. But, breaking the rules wisely substantially increases the likelihood of commercial success.

Note: the story about Dr. Guilford's research in World War II comes from The Idea Book by Fredrik Häréns, a Swedish innovation expert I have had the pleasure to correspond with from time to time. To find out more about the Idea Book and order a copy, visit http://www.theideabook.org

 

ORGANISATIONAL INNOVATION IN THE FAMILY

The focus of this e-journal is organisational innovation, particularly in companies. Nevertheless, a lot of the concepts I have written about in Report 103 can also be applied to a smaller, more intimate organisation: the family.

Consider the summer holiday. Instead of going to the South of France (well, that's a typical Belgian summer holiday) like you do every year, why not turn holiday planning into an innovation challenge? When planning your summer holiday, ask yourselves: “What might we do for our summer holiday this year?” Involve everyone, even the youngest children and make a list of every suggestion, no matter how silly. You'll doubtless not only come up with all kinds of crazy ideas, but also some brilliant new ideas to inspire the family and give you something to talk about with your friends after you come home.

If things are not going so well in your family, or your relationship, be creative instead of argumentative. When, after all, has arguing with your partner solved anything? Rather ask yourselves: “What actions might one or both of us take to resolve this problem/these problems?” and make a list. Be creative, write everything down and as hard as it will be under the circumstances, do not criticise each others' ideas. Force yourselves to come up with at least 50 actions. Then go through the list and decide which actions to take in order to solve the problem or at least reach a mutually tolerable compromise.

Indeed, there all kinds of areas in family life where an innovation challenge can spark new ideas, new things to do and ways of solving ongoing problems. Moreover, responding to an innovation challenge is jolly good fun in itself.

The concept of not criticising ideas, but complimenting and encouraging further thinking is important in the family. If your partner one day says, “let's build an extension to the house.” Don't reply “You must be kidding! We can't afford new carpeting, let alone an extension!” That would at best disillusion your partner and at worst start a fight. Instead, say something like, “Darling, that's a great idea. But you know our budget is tight just now. How might we build an extension with no money?” or “How might we find the money to build an extension?”

If your kids are always begging you for money to buy something, don't say no and don't buy everything they ask for. Instead, say, “I am not going to buy you that toy. But you could buy it yourself. How might you earn the money to do so?”

If your wife/girlfriend comes home in tears because of a bad haircut, don't criticise it and don't deny it looks bad (she knows it does). Instead say, how might we make your hair look better?

And so on.

Lastly, with my own young boys (now four and eight), I use a variation on the concept of an evaluation matrix (what we sometimes call criteria based evaluation) to encourage good behaviour. I call it the “Good Boy List”.

First, the boys and I sat down and I asked them what do good boys do? They suggested criteria and I wrote everything down. I also guided them somewhat to ensure the list had a balance of both boys' behavioural strengths and weaknesses.

Once we were finished, I put all the criteria on a chart. After dinner we often sit down and go through the Good Boy list together. We agree on a score of 0-10 for each boy's performance in each criterion and I enter the score on the list. Generally, the boys' scores are very close unless one was particularly good or bad that day. That prevents disillusionment in either child.

The boys enjoy doing the Good Boy List and competing against each other as well as their own previous scores. The Good Boy List, importantly, is about reinforcing good behaviour rather than punishing bad behaviour. And it does seem to have improved their behaviour.

So, think about your family. How might you apply organisational innovation principles in your family?

 

NEW IN JENNI

We are finishing up an upgrade of Jenni idea management software service that includes a handful of new features designed to increase your innovativeness.

Jenni's open, collaborative idea space now, not only allows those submitting ideas to include images and attached documents, but also allows collaborators building on those ideas to attach images and documents. Thus complex ideas can more readily be developed by ad hoc teams. (Note: Jenni's idea space is transparent and collaborative, this allows everyone to see each others' ideas and build on them.)

Jenni's flexible review process includes new features and a new tool.

The evaluation manager, which allows you to set up a criteria based evaluation and send it to experts, now invites experts not only to critique ideas, but also to improve ideas. It also encourages them to challenge the idea owners to improve their ideas. As a result, evaluation is no longer about idea criticism. It is also about idea building.

Jenni now sports an ISWOT Analysis tool that allows you to send ideas to experts for Innovation Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (ISWOT – see also http://www.creativejeffrey.com/report103/archive.php?issue_no=20060404 and scroll to the article on ISWOT) analysis. Again, experts do not simply analyse and criticise. Instead they are pushed to look at ways of counteracting weaknesses and threats. As a result, weak ideas are built into stronger ideas and the innovation process continues from idea generation on through the review process.

Of course Jenni still provides total ease of use, a highly transparent and collaborate idea development space, the flexibility to modify Jenni's review process to match your innovation processes and the ideas campaign approach of idea management which empowers divisional managers to take charge of their own innovation and focuses idea generation on specific business problems.

To learn more about Jenni, visit http://www.creativejeffrey.com/jenni/. To arrange a demonstration or to discuss how Jenni might be incorporated into your firm's innovation process, contact at http://www.creativejeffrey.com/jenni/contact.php

Note to existing users of Jenni, the latest upgrade will be implemented in your installation of Jenni later this month – just as soon as we complete testing.

 

WORKSHOP 103

Articles in this and other issues of Report 103 can be built up into highly interactive workshops designed to help the people in your firm think more creatively and be more innovative. Our interactive workshops are not boring displays of PowerPoint slides. Rather they incorporate lecture, discussion, role-playing and application in real life situations in your firm.

If you are keen on a Workshop 103 for your firm, let me know. We can organise something education, entertaining and memorable.

 

LATEST IN BUSINESS INNOVATION

If you want to keep up with the latest news in business innovation, I recommend Chuck Frey's INNOVATIONweek (http://www.innovationtools.com/News/subscribe.asp). It's the only e-newsletter that keeps you up-to-date on all of the latest innovation news, research, trends, case histories of leading companies and more. And it's the perfect complement to Report 103!

Happy thinking!

Jeffrey Baumgartner

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Report 103 is a complimentary weekly electronic newsletter from Bwiti bvba of Belgium (a jpb.com company: http://www.creativejeffrey.com). Archives and subscription information can be found at http://www.creativejeffrey.com/report103/

Report 103 is edited by Jeffrey Baumgartner and is published on the first and third Tuesday of every month.

You may forward this copy of Report 103 to anyone, provided you forward it in its entirety and do not edit it in any way. If you wish to reprint only a part of Report 103, please contact Jeffrey Baumgartner.

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Jeffrey Baumgartner
Bwiti bvba

Erps-Kwerps (near Leuven & Brussels) Belgium

 

 


 

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My other web projects

CreativeJeffrey.com: 100s of articles, videos and cartoons on creativity   Jeffosophy.com - possibly useful things I have learned over the years.   Kwerps.com: reflections on international living and travel.   Ungodly.com - paintings, drawings, photographs and cartoons by Jeffrey