"Breaking Creativity Blocks"

"Breaking Creativity Blocks"
________________________

Oh no! I'm blocked again. No ideas. I just sit and sit and no ideas come.

Where is my muse when I need him or her?

I have to have ideas and a basic proposal in 90 minutes and I feel stale, blank, and dry, like a void in space. No ideas are coming, especially creative ones.

This blocked, frustrated feeling often happens when we are under pressure. One process I find that is helpful is to Alphabetize Virtual Sources.

Simply take a sheet of paper and write down the left side of the page the letters a, b, c,...to z. Then think of the name of a famous/ infamous person whose name fits [i.e.: Abe Lincoln for A, Benjamin Franklin for B, and Donald Trump for T]. You can use first names or last names or a mix, It is up to you.

Then proceed to randomly pick a series of letters from a - z and write them down on separate cards or pieces of paper. Now look up the names that match on your list.

You may have chosen D, X, M, T, U and the names from your list were:

D - Walt Disney
X - Xavier Cougat
M - Mickey Mantle
T - Teddy Roosevelt
U - Ulysses. S. Grant

The next step is to imagine how each of these people might approach your challenge. Walt Disney might focus on amusement or entertainment while Xavier Cougat would orchestrate the problem using a large group of players and Mickey Mantle might swing for the homerun.
Often the ideas will appear far fetched at first. That is when you need to use your always available logically creative thinking skills. Take the "wild idea" and ask yourself: How might I alter this to make it more workable (using any appropriate criteria or limitation).

This process helps "break mindset," "shift paradigms," and forces me to explore approaches I might never consider otherwise, especially under the pressure of a time restraint. This method can be used in many different ways. Instead of famous people's names you could use: a) cartoon characters; b) characters from literature; c) Super Heroes (Steve Grossman developed this version); d) occupations; and e) animals.

The possibilities are endless. The key is to force your thoughts into a new pattern, to "Think out of the BOX", to "Break Your Crayons," change your mindset quickly, and effectively find creative directions even when your muse is off on vacation in Barbados. By breaking your mindset you will open your mind to many more potentially creative ideas.

Offered by "Alan" (Robert Alan Black, Ph.D., CSP) a practitioner and author in the field of creativity.

All the best,
Harry, Alan, Frank and Mary Ann

"Meetings That Work"

"Meetings That Work"

Beginning in the year 2000 organizations have faced unsettling economic times. Staffs are asked to "do more with less" on a daily basis. Sometimes the less is less people or it can be fewer resources such as lower budgets, fewer supplies or smaller physical office or production space.

With all of this increased pressure on the people to improve their performance the common space to communicate goals, vision, challenges and opportunities is when employees gather for a meeting either in-person or by long distance communication.

During my LeadershipAcademy course the attendee leaders learn that all meetings serve two main purposes:

1. To collect information from the team about challenges and opportunities to performance and
2. To deliver new information and coaching to reduce obstacles and increase performance back on the job.

If the above premise is accepted, that is all meetings need to be both speaking to and listening, from your employees then here are a few suggestions that can improve the amount of honest communication between you and your team.
Suggestion #1- Stop Talking and Start Listening

Ask the employees to write on a post-it note the three main challenges they have in doing their job. Have them write their responses in silence before discussing what they wrote to each other and then to you. You could also ask them to come up with the top three solutions to the problems they just described. Make them put their responses in rank order "what is your number one problem, your number two.

In this way everyone in your meeting will participate because you are not talking and they are writing in silence. By the way, you are also increasing the accountability of your employees because this is their list and not yours. You can then agree or agree to disagree with what they wrote down to each question. Here are a few What questions that have been effective for my clients:

1. What are the 3 top duties or functions of your job?
2. What are the 3 greatest obstacles in performing your job at 100% efficiency?
3. What are the 3 top solutions that would overcome your greatest challenges to performance?
4. What are the 3 top objections/problems that our customers are having with us in the field?
5. What are the top 3 reasons to buy from our company?
6. What are the top 3 reasons to buy from our competition?

The What Question technique will invite increased participation and dialog (not monolog) at future meetings. But beware, you will have created an active and involved team on your hands so be prepared to respond to increased communication and opinions at your future meetings.

Good luck!
Jack is an independent contract trainer and speaker and can be reached at jackwolf@ij.net

Harry, Alan, Frank and Mary Ann

"Iron Chef Competition Mixes It UP"

"Iron Chef Competition Mixes It UP"
Buironchefsiness Planning Retreats: Get them out of their Bored Rooms!

It's time for your End of Year Business Planning Session! In a 3 day retreat, you will lock the best minds of your organization into a Conference Center, in which you envision them developing an absolutely killer 2009 Business Plan! Here are a few "Wild Ideas" for bring business planning sessions from Now to WOW! ™

Take Them Outdoors/Recess---Not only does playing in the outdoors produce more creative and playful children---It works especially well with Adults. Get your team out of the "Bored Room" and see the results physical environment plays on mental output.
Stimulate All of Their Senses: From Wine Tasting Events, to Artistic Interpretation and Dance, consider multi-sensory activities to stimulate both left and right braining thinking and team cooperation. We recently conducted an "Iron Chef" Competition for an Executive Team. The team was broken down into smaller cooking groups where they created the "afternoon break" and used a "Secret Ingredient". The groups were measured on quality, creative presentation, use of shared resources and cooperation--- all while moving to the music of "I heard it through the grapevine". If team members can cook it up together in the kitchen, they can cook up that business plan.

You're Fired.... well not really, but do take a lesson from the Donald.... Give Team members' specific missions, deliverables and tasks and throw in just a little bit of competition. "It doesn't hurt to give them a "Mission Impossible" envelope that builds suspense and excitement for their assignment.

Get a Theme: Themes Build Teams. Don't forget to Merchandise and Brand your Retreat as you would a product. From this one retreat your company could achieve that breakthrough, new product marketing strategy and team synchronicity critical to your success.

Hire a "Hit" Man/Woman: You're an Executive, not an Event Planner or Facilitator. Calculate the salary of every staff member going to the retreat in addition to hotel/travel costs. Why risk the investment? Hire a professional facilitator who will assure your event is a Hit and is responsible for producing the final team work product.

The TISP Factor: Finally, Make each retreat participant and member of your team feel Trusted, Important, Special and Pleased. I once heard a certain hospitality diva say, when "You're hosting a party, make sure everyone at the party feels like they were the most important guest at the party".

Apply that rule to your Team Retreat and you're on your way to WOW!

Rosemary Rein, Ph.D
Author "Go Wild! Survival Skills for Business and Life"
For more information and articles on creativity and leadership retreats, go to www.gowildgogreat.com or www.businessmeetingscostarica.com

Harry, Alan, Frank and Mary Ann

"Preparing for Change"

"Preparing for Change"
_____________________________________________________

Another year of change, roller coaster ups and downs, uncertainty, significant highs and accelerated lows in a variety of situations. It is no longer a question of, "Will there be changes? It is "How many changes, where will they be and how much time do we have."

The best way to prepare for changes, both expected and unexpected, is to establish an environment that encourages creativity. A creative climate allows individuals to be free to go beyond - to act differently and be non-conventional - in short, to react creatively to change.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit www.atlantacreativity.org and submit your
presenter proposal. Also, register early and save!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

There are five ways you can establish an environment that boosts creativity and maximizes both your potential and that of the people around you.

1. Encouragement leads to more ideas. If we encourage those around us to offer their suggestions - and remember to praise them whenever they do so - we'll have more ideas and happier people. The most important and meaningful praise is from parents to their children and from bosses to their employees.

2. Self-discouragement slows creativity. All too often we censor ourselves to avoid looking foolish. Think of this quote from an unknown source next time you hesitate to present an unusual, strange, or different idea: "Behold the turtle. He makes progress only when his neck is out."

3. Leave timidity at the door. "If I thought of it, it can't be that great." Sound familiar? Learn to express your ideas and take the chance of being laughed at - you may also have your ideas accepted and prized.

4. Negativity is a minus. The first step in creative thinking is to be open to any idea, deferring negative comments until all ideas have been presented. Judgments are more useful later, when it's time to narrow the field of possibilities and prioritize.

5. Evict established habits. We all have patterns of thoughts or ways of perceiving what we habitually hold on to. Learn to change and be open to new ways of thinking. Next time your routine makes you want to say, "No way," step back and say, " I'll consider it."

How to implement these techniques?

At work:

* Allow employees to try new ways to get the job done.
* Provide challenging yet realistic work goals.
* Delegate responsibility.
* Encourage participation in decision-making and goal-setting.
* Provide timely feedback on task performance
* Don't forget the importance of praise!

At home:

* Appreciate curiosity and imagination.
* Encourage independence and humor.
* Defer judgment.
* Nurture self-confidence and self-awareness.
* Don't be afraid to take risks!

The next time you feel the mind-altering effect of change, don't panic. Instead, embrace change as an opportunity for creative thinking. If you use these techniques to foster a climate that encourages creativity, you can have a smooth ride to new and exciting discoveries.

Harry, Alan, Frank and Mary Ann

"To Access Your Creativity, See the End First"

"To Access Your Creativity, See the End First"

_____________________________________________________



I (Hedria Lunken) recently attended an awe-inspiring exhibit of Ansel Adams'
black-and-white photographs. One of the reasons I was so moved was the
intriguing way the display was arranged. Adams' black and whites were
shown alongside the colorful works of other nature photographers, and
complemented by Adams' own poems and explanations of the various pieces.
There were also letters, descriptions, interactive computer programs,
and a video about the photographer.

This video was a piece of art in itself. It was a conversation between
Adams and his friend and fellow artist, Georgia O'Keefe. As a teacher of
creativity, it was quite a thrill for me to eavesdrop on these two
creative giants discussing art, kidding each other and talking about how
they worked their special magic. It was obvious from hearing them that
looking at things a different way was second nature. At one point Adams
said, "It's not that I see it differently than anyone else. It's that I
respond differently. I take my knowledge of lenses and photography and
I'm able to visualize the scene using a red lens, thus seeing the
finished picture before I even take it."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Visit www.atlantacreativity.org
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Pure geniuses in one simple idea - to access your creativity visualize
visualize the end before you begin. Here are three ways you can apply
this basic principle to your own creative endeavors:

1.
Visualize the end. In business, it's important to fully describe
and flesh out the outcomes you want to achieve. In our personal lives,
we need to be able to articulate where we're going if we really want to
get there.
2.
Use your accumulated knowledge base. Apply what you've learned
in other areas of your life to the current situation. That way you can
look at the problem in a whole new light and respond in a different,
creative way. You'll discover solutions you never thought possible!
3.
Respond to stimuli in your special manner. We all see life
through different lenses. That's great! Use your individuality to put
your personal touch on everything you do and allow yourself the freedom
to accept your insights.

Leadership and success require looking to the future. Learn how to
visualize what you want to accomplish, then use your knowledge and your
personal flair to achieve those goals. There's no telling what kind
picture-perfect creative solutions you can come up with!

Hedria Lunken's blog:

http://www.hedria.com/2007/08/in-our-journey-.html



Harry, Alan, Frank and Mary Ann

"TRIZ: ALGEBRA FOR CREATIVITY"

"TRIZ: ALGEBRA FOR CREATIVITY"
_____________________________________________________

Put your self in a time machine and transport back to the Middle Ages and then pretend that you're in your high school math class and your teacher asks you to solve this problem:

3X2 + 5X + 2 = 0

Remember, you're in the Middle Ages and algebra doesn't exist. What's "X"? How would you figure it out? Trial and error, right? Why don't you do that any more? Well, because mathematicians figured out that if you generalized the problem to:

AX2 + BX + C = 0

that an equation (-b +/-, etc.-you do remember it don't you?) would give the exact answers (note there are two-would you stop after one if you were guessing?). Around 1950, a brilliant patent examiner in Russia did the same thing for inventive/creative problem solving. He recognized that, after reviewing thousands of patents, there were a limited number of inventive principles (40 to be exact) that were constantly reused to solve any problem. He captured this knowledge in a number of forms, including lists of these principles, a contradiction table (most significant inventions resolve contradictions as opposed to compromising around them), a general problem solving algorithm, lines of evolution used to forecast technology development, and an algorithm for failure prediction. It's interesting to note that, even after 60 years, no additional basic inventive principles have been discovered! Knowledge and use of TRIZ eliminates the inefficiency of generating hundreds of non-useful ideas which have to be sorted through. The effort is spent upfront in the problem definition stage to map a problem against known solutions.

These tools have been used by major corporations such as Boeing, Siemens, Dow Chemical, and General Electric to solve problems they couldn't solve with psychologically based approaches such as brainstorming, CPS, and DeBono tools. TRIZ is comparable to a brainstorming session where you have all of the world's inventors in the room with you as opposed to stimulating the brains in the room. It is now also being used for failure analysis and prediction and in the intellectual property area to improve patent filings and to circumvent existing patents.

The big barriers to the use of TRIZ are:

1. Ego. It is hard for people to believe that their difficult problem may have already been solved.

2. Problem definition time. It is "fun", but not productive, to generate hundreds, maybe thousands of ideas or to solve the wrong problem many times. The time spent in TRIZ in modeling and generalizing a problem is a barrier to many people, despite its documented effectiveness.

A simple way to get started with TRIZ is to eliminate all the jargon and special words used only in your company or industry and rephrased your problem as if you were describing it to a ten year old. Then ask yourself, "who else has this kind of general problem? How do they solve it?"

Websites for TRIZ materials:

http://www.innovation-triz.com http://www.triz-journal.com
http://www.triz40.com http://www.aitriz.org http://www.etria.net

Jack Hipple
Innovation-TRIZ
Tampa, FL
813-994-9999