ReThinking, Innovation, ReInvention

Using negativity, especially within the workplace, is something you should try to do. We all have a few people around us, in our businesses or our circles of friends who are a little bit negative, don't we? I like to call them the Mood Hoovers. Some of them are so bad that they do actually suck the goodness out of you. But they can actually help you without realising it. Reverse or negative brainstorming is absolutely ideal for this. It can be slotted into short periods of time, such as coffee breaks, train journeys, or whilst you're waiting for somebody. And if you're bored, you can always let your mind wander a little and venture off into springboards to. Anyway, if you want to use this technique, then simply select an issue or a topic about which you need to generate some ideas. The fact that some of you will be more familiar with the topic than others in the in a group, doesn't really matter at all for this exercise. Everybody will get benefit from trying out this technique and swapping notes afterwards. The topic you select should be positive and present a possibility.

Who are the successful innovators? In this episode, I talk to the entertaining Samuel West, founder of the Museum of Failure. Apart from having tales of who has failed spectacularly, Samuel West answers the question about who is actually good at innovating.

Some believe that you cannot plan creative activities. Simon Raybould and I take the wonderful topics of chaos and planning and weave them into a conversation. Obviously there's a bit more to it than that, but to get the whole story you will need to listen in.

The very nature of Innovation means that things will look different. Here I discuss the future of work with Scott McArthur. Listen to discover how our businesses might be organised, what skills we might need and which technologies will become dominant. There's more but you need to listen in!

Innovation is great and solves many business issues like surviving and beating the competition. It gets overlooked though because some CEOs see too much pain in the way. What if I could highlight some of the potential issues and then we could solve them together? Wouldn't that be great?

Are you frustrated by traditional methods of planning or creating 'to do' lists? Maybe you find them too restrictive? Its nice to know what you have to do but sometimes the methods of capturing this information seems a little too rigid. Virtual gardening might be the answer you are looking for!

People often refer to the fact that Science Fiction becomes reality. It is not that strange as most Science Fiction is not created as a result of a wetted finger held in the breeze or gazing at tea leaves in the bottom of a cup. It is perfectly possible to predict the future by looking out for 'weak signals'. These are signals, bits of information that are missed by most people who are not experts or who are not able to see patterns.

It is now the time to bid farewell to 2021 and look forward to 2022, a year that we hope will be much better for us all. But what do we  need to keep in mind regarding Innovation and/or reinvention for next year? Scope and intensity will be key with a leaning towards innovation. The changes made in 2021 will gather pace, there is no going back.

The secret to innovation is …. that there is no secret! There are a few things to consider but these are definitely not secret.   Also, please do not believe that Innovation is the preserve of a select few, the Innovation Gurus that have sprung up everywhere. As the great Charles Handy once said ‘guru is just an American word for charlatan’. Once you have worked out what works for you, simply practise and repeat. There are however a couple of things to remember.

No I am not pretending to be the Grim Reaper and I am not referring to you, simply your business. How long do you think your business can carry on without some sort of change? With business lifecycles getting shorter you may not have as much time as you think!

Looking at the title you might be forgiven for thinking that I have gone mad. Please bear with me for a few minutes. Recently I attended an online lecture all about Smart Cities which also touched on technologies such as IoT (Internet of Things just in case you missed this acronym). We have a tendency to fixate on technology because it apparently gives us something such as speed, connectivity, big data or simply control. The main learning point for me was not the technology, although it can help. The main point was about the systemic nature of smart cities.

Calling all business people, scholars and all round nice people I have something for you - The Anti Plan. Despite the title, I am not proposing complete anarchy. Please keep listening. Many who know me will be familiar with my dislike of plans and planning. I realise the need for it and do create them but often they are created because someone has decreed that a plan shall be made. There is a way forward though!

If you live in the UK you will be more than aware of the COP26 conference but did you watch Panorama this week? If not you should catch it on the BBC iPlayer. For those outside the UK, the program was entitled Coca-Cola’s 100 billion bottle problem. It is a huge problem, there are billions of single use plastic bottles created by the Coca-Cola company that are littering the world. But what can be done about it?

How do you keep in touch with reality? Recently I went to the National Mining Museum at the old Caphouse colliery near Wakefield. The highlight was of course going down the pit itself. Whilst in an enclosed gallery we were invited to experience working as some of the miners had done years ago, that is, in the dark.

As CEO, if you want people to be creative, you must be prepared to implement their viable ideas. You must encourage creativity. Employees will soon work out that your support of creativity is a sham and will hold back on the creativity. After all, what's the point in making the effort to develop and promote ideas if they just get ignored?

If you embrace the idea of creativity then as an employer you can get something else. And it is entirely for free, increased intrinsic motivation. Create the right conditions for yourself and others to be creative (at the appropriate time of course), and put in place the mechanisms to allow such behaviour. Consequently, employees and colleagues will automatically be given a greater degree of freedom and trust. In turn, this will be rewarded by increased effort or output. Now you have a better business and employees who will ‘go the extra mile’ for you without being coerced! If you want to know a little more then why not read this article What Is Creativity?

Exploring the givens is something we need to do in order to challenge those things that sit in the background and quietly undermine us. Whether at home or at work, we tend to focus on things around us that are changing, or that are connected to our own actions, because that is where much of the information that matters to us tends to be located. Life is much simpler if we filter out things that appear to be unchanging or irrelevant. Occasionally we must explore the givens. But when the 'stable, irrelevant background' contains important information, this simplification breaks down. Many 'problems' become 'problematic' because the background contained potentially important information we did not notice until it was too late.

Creativity is there already. This is about valuing the creative potential in all of us, and trying to create room for it to flourish. Each of us has the ability to be creative, even if this only exists in small amounts. Such skills can be enhanced and amplified by employing the relevant tools and techniques.

As young children we play without thinking about what we are doing. Sticks become spears and swords and cardboard boxes make great castles. These, and other methods of play allow us to experience the real world but in a non-threatening way. Also we engage our imagination without the presence of the artificial barriers or filters that adults tend to employ. As adults we call this prototyping but we tend to forget the importance. We must value play more.

Breaking mindsets is all about smashing fixed ways of thinking. Most, if not all of us have either a fixed way of doing things or a fixed way of thinking about things. These fixed patterns are known as mindsets and they can severely limit our actions in both business and private life. Imagine that you take the same route each day when you walk to your place of work. Each day you buy the same newspaper and the same sandwich for lunch. Over time you begin to get a little fed up with your choice of sandwich and the newspaper does not seem to engage you as it once did.