This is no ordinary bubble

I start all my Creative Block Busting workshops by asking people to blow soap bubbles. You can’t imagine how it transforms the place. People love blowing bubbles. I tell them that they can keep blowing bubbles throughout the workshop. I however warn them that this is addictive!

The art of blowing a bubble

Why do I ask them to blow bubbles? I find that whenever people come into a workshop they bring their problems, worries, tensions and pending job list into the workshop. That is natural and unavoidable.

However if they remain in the same frame of mind, I felt that they will not be open to fresh thinking. The simple act of blowing bubbles relaxes them, and gets them into a playful mood.

I have seen people getting quite inventive in blowing bubbles. One participant held the metal ring with the soap film in front of an air-conditioner vent and produced a stream of uniform bubbles! “Lazy man’s way to blow bubbles!” he said.

30 second creations

The next thing participants do is to create whatever they want with plasticine (Funschool playdo) in 30 seconds! I am always amazed at the outcome of this simple exercise.

No one protests that 30 seconds is too short; every one  just gets into the task and creates whatever comes to his mind. They have the creative license to create what they want. There are no rights and wrongs. Except in a few cases where participants have small children at home, people have not made anything with a playdo for several years!

It is fascinating to see the creations. Every single creation is different from the other. Some use other material on the table, together with the playdo to create something. Others create several things, not just one. They use their creative license fully.

I then point out that their individual creations, represent their individual creativity, thinking, experience, expertise and so on. I request them to hold on to this spirit of individual creative thinking and expression, throughout the workshop.

The bubbles and the playdo exercise signal to people that they and their ideas will be safe here. They have the freedom to think and express what they want. They do not have to be afraid of censure, criticism or censorship. What they created matters. They will be respected and listened to.

It was a safe non-judgmental place where they are free.

Most corporate managers tend to underestimate the value of creating this climate of safety. I was guilty of that too as a manager. We do not understand how a threatening, non-supporting  climate can freeze people’s minds. One of my writers had used the term ‘Fear stalks the corridors’ to describe the atmosphere in my office and how it was affecting the work of our creative people.

If you want a plant to grow well, the soil, air, sunlight and water have to be right. Just a high quality seed alone will not do. I wish more corporate managers understand this and invest in creating the right creative climate. This is not about a clean air-conditioned office.  It is of course important. More important is a happy cheerful place where people feel safe and un-threatened.

That will make a substantial difference to the quality of thinking. That is why companies like Google, IDEO and others create work spaces that encourage creativity and innovation and not stifle it.

“What is an idea?”

This was my question to a group of managers attending my workshop.

“A thought?”

“A solution to a problem?”

“A creative thought?”

“A suggestion may be?”

“Ok, let us try an exercise. Give me some suggestions on how to make this room more cheerful.”

“Open the windows.”

“Change the seating”

“Paint the walls and ceiling with wild colours”

“Put more plants in the room.”

“Play some music”

“Crack a few jokes.”

“Change the facilitator – get some one younger, more attractive!”

“Will it make a difference to the room if we followed even a few suggestions?”

“Most certainly.”

“What is common between these statements?”

“They are clear, simple.”

“What else do you observe?”

Since I got no further response I pointed out: “Every suggestion has an active verb and a noun. Change this, add that, remove that, open that, get this etc. Every suggestion is an idea, a prescription for action. By definition an idea must change people, places and situations. Otherwise it is not an idea. An opinion is not an idea. A point of view is not an idea. A piece of research is not an idea. An insight is not an idea. All of these can trigger an idea, but they are not ideas.”

“What is creativity then?”

“Creativity is about newness, freshness. A creative approach may lead to a new idea.”

“Then what is innovation?”

“Innovation is adding value by implementing a new idea.”

“So how do we get ideas? What do we do? How do we get break-through, out-of-the-box, disruptive ideas?”

“The first thing is to be relaxed and have an open mind, free of pre-conceived notions, assumptions and biases. I will talk about this later.”

This is an expectation every one seems to have in most creativity workshops.

So I ask the question “What is the box? How can you get out of it if you do not know what it is?”

People share various views and thoughts but we do not get a definition that is simple and easy to understand.

So I share this example.

Imagine that I am in a room. It is a strange room. It has no doors, no windows and no ceiling. The walls are 6 feet in height.

Just outside that room is another room very similar to the first one. No doors, no windows, no ceiling. Wall height 12 feet. That room is filled with my assumptions.

Imagine another room just outside the second room. It is very similar to the first two rooms. No doors, no windows, no ceiling. Wall height is 24 feet.That room is filled with my logic.

Now how can I get out of my room? It is not easy but possible. I could dig a tunnel and find my way out or I can climb a rope from a helicopter on top and get out.

There is no standard way to get out of this room. Our minds are like this box. We are prisoners of our assumptions and logic. It is not easy to escape these. They strongly influence our habitual ways of thinking.

To get out of it you need external help. That is why it is important to use thinking techniques that stretch, prod, challenge our normal ways of thinking. Only then can we get out of the box ideas.

Love Is the Killer App: How to Win Business and Influence Friends  by Tim Sanders

Tim Sanders’ book comes through like a breath of fresh air. The reason is very simple. You can feel that Tim only `preaches what he practices’.

What Tim describes is really a way of living and not some formula for success. The essence of the book is all about how to make a difference to some one else’s life and in the process your own.

Tim talks about 3 big things. Knowledge. Networking & Compassion. What is exciting about the book is that Tim clearly demonstrates how to gain knowledge, how to build a relationship based network and finally how to use both with kindness & compassion in helping others. And the best part is that it is a business book!

In some ways he echoes people like David Maister (author of True Professionalism) who said “Clients don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care”. And Peter Block who wrote “Stewardship” – Service over self interest.
Incidentally the book is full of quotable quotes. Great for speeches, presentations & conversations.

What is also heartening is that Tim himself applies the reality check because he recognises the difficulties in being a “Lovecat” (Any body who acquires knowledge, builds a robust and active network and shares both with generosity is a Lovecat according to Tim).

The evangelistic zeal in his book is inspiring. That’s what got me to write this review. (Tim recommends that you read at least 2 books and also review it to ensure that you have digested it!!).

The timing of this book could not have been more appropriate. There are many experienced people across several countries who might be without jobs and are trying to be independent practitioners. “Love..” will be a great way to start.
Love is the Killer App

This is not a book for those looking for quick fix solutions or for lazy people. Tim has given the big idea. You will reap the benefit only if you practise it. That isn’t easy.

Couple of years ago I attended a workshop Edward de Bono (the master himself).

There were more than 200 eager managers, entrepreneurs and consultants. He adopted a unique style while he spoke to us. He sat in front of an overhead projector, on a raised platform. The acetate film was in a roll not in sheets. He would doodle as he spoke and finish couple of rolls in a day.

I still remember one exercise he gave us.

“Imagine a restaurant. List down all the important features/components of a restaurant, without which you believe you cannot run a restaurant.”

I generated a list of about 10 things.

“Pick out the most important feature.”

I picked the kitchen.

“Now think about how you will run the restaurant without that feature. You have 5 minutes”

I had think of an idea of how to run the restaurant without a kitchen!

I quickly thought of a central kitchen 5 kilometers away from the restaurant. We would place orders through phone and email. They would send the food by mopeds/motorbikes in hot and cold cases.

“How many of you have done this?”

Many of us raised our hands, feeling quite good about this.

“Now, think of one more idea, different from the first one. You have 5 minutes”

This was quite tough. However I managed to think of an idea. The restaurant has no kitchen. Every table is desifgned as a kitchen table. There is a chef attached to every table and one corner has all the ingredients stocked. As the guests sit around, the chef and the assistant cook a meal right in front of their eyes. The chef also shares some tricks of the trade, as he cooks.

So here is another idea for a restaurant without a kitchen.

Challenging assumptions is a very powerful way to think of completely new solutions. It requires discipline to write out the assumptions first, prioritising them and attacking them one by one. It is just as important to generate more than one idea for each assumption you challenge.

I have used challenging assumptions many times at work and at home too – with excellent results.

“I know you are going to spin a yarn”

“Prasna, that is your assumption. In fact my view is that assumption is innovation’s biggest enemy.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because I know people kill a lot of their own ideas because of their assumptions.”

“Give me an example.”

“I could for instance assume that nobody will have the time to read this post or be interested in it. Therefore not write this post. I know of many cases where people have made assumptions and adopted solutions that were inappropriate.”

“Tell me more about that.”

“Years ago when I was running Ogilvy’s Bangalore office I faced a problem. There was one person from the creative department who would never come on time. We just could not persuade him to come on time. I assume it was a direct challenge to my authority. I wanted to take some drastic action which would also send a clear message to everyone. Luckily I did not do that.”

“Why luckily?”

“Because one of my colleagues found out from the person that he just could not manage to come on time because he stayed in a far off suburb. He had to change three buses before he could get to office. If he had to be in office at 9:30 he had to leave home at 6:30! Once I heard that I felt miserable, about my assumption.”

“What kind of assumptions do people make that kill innovation even before it is born?”

“That is a nice one: killing innovation even before it is born. There are several assumptions that affect or stop innovation. People make assumptions about their bosses, the company, the culture, the management etc. They also make assumptions about the opportunity or the problem which often affects the way they look for solutions. Let me share a video I saw recently, which will demonstrate this. Take a look at this.”

Child’s creativity

“Excellent.”

“What is the hidden cost of innovation?”

“Prasna, I am talking about time costs and others costs.”

“Explain.”

“Here is an example. A group of 20 senior managers spend two days at an offsite venue to generate new business opportunities. They short list a few potential opportunities.
When they return, they get back to their fire fighting. No one follows up on the opportunities they spotted.”

“Ridiculous. Does this really happen?”

“Of course it does.”

“So what are the hidden costs?”

“People playing safe while selecting potential opportunities. They select what they are comfortable with, rather than those with high potential to make a substantial difference. This is the cost of a good opportunity lost.”

“What else?”

“People giving up too soon. I see managers giving up opportunities as soon as they face some opposition to the idea or some practical execution problems. I have seen several ideas lost because of this.”

“What else?”

“Bosses killing ideas. This is the biggest of the waste generator in innovation. Bosses kill ideas and attack the person with the new idea. So they lose the idea and the enthusiasm of the person to try anything new.”

“How do bosses kill ideas?”

“Prasna, that is a separate subject by itself.”

“What are you working on?”

“Well, I am designing a brainstorming session for one of my clients.”

“You are wasting your time and you are wasting your client’s time as well.”

“That is a rather strong statement to make. What makes you say that?”

“Frankly I have never seen anything worthwhile coming out of these sessions. Have you?”

“Of course I have. Otherwise I would not be in business.”

“Do your clients find it worthwhile? What do they get?”

“They get ideas they may not have been able to think of on their own.”

“So you give them your ideas.”

“No. I don’t do that. I help them get new ideas on their own.”

“That is a tall claim. What do you do differently from others who brainstorm for ideas?”

“I simply follow a commonsense process. There is no mystery no black box.”

“What exactly do you do?”

“The first thing I do is divide our work.”

“Whose work?”

“My client’s work and mine.”

“Tell me more.”

“My client is the one looking for ideas, solutions to problems. It is his prerogative to decide what he wishes to work on. I manage the brainstorming process.”

“Give me an example.”

“Let us say my client has a problem. He is losing a lot of talent.”

“So he wants to retain them. He is looking for ideas on that. You help him on that.”

“That is his goal – arresting attrition or retaining people. But we go beyond that. We start by asking why we are not able to stop talented people from leaving us. We discuss this issue to locate the real reason why they are losing people.”

“How do you do that?”

“By talking to people who have left. By studying some of the employee research etc. We are looking for the essence of the issue, some nugget.”

“Is that so difficult? It is about money, perks etc. Is it not?”

“You will be surprised. Talented people are looking for much more.”

“Like?”

“They want more respect. They want freedom, independence, authority to take decisions. A chance to participate in growing the organisation. In one case they wanted to feel more valued.”

“This is a revelation.”

“I will give you another example. I was working with an IT group in a large bank. Their frustration was that user departments never listened to their instructions and treated them like ordinary technicians who come to repair equipment. They were unhappy and so were the user departments.”

“So what did they want ideas for?”

“They wanted ideas by which they could make the users follow their instructions.”

“So you conducted a workshop on that?”

“No. Instead we did some probing and found out the real reason why users were not listening to their instructions.”

“What was the reason?”

“We found out that the users did not trust them nor did they respect their expertise.”

“ So there is a lot of home work.”

“Yes. It is clearly focused home work. It is somewhat like diagnostics. Our effort is to locate the real issue. That is our first step. We do not move unless this is done well.”

“How do you do that?”

“I have learnt a lot from you – I ask a lot of good questions!”

“ Good for you. What do you do next?”

“We put together the right team to participate in the workshop.”

“This is a no brainer is it not? Marketing people for marketing issues, IT for It, HR for HR etc.”

“Not really. For the one on earning respect from user departments, we had only 7 out of 25 people from IT. Rest of them were from user groups, consultants, and even one or two hardware and software vendors. This helped us to look at the issue in different ways. Interestingly this session also brought the people together. We then stretched them and encouraged them to go beyond habitual thinking. We use a variety of tools and techniques for doing that. ”

“Did they get good practical ideas?”

“Lots of them big and small.”

“So every one was happy?”

“May be. Yes, we had lots of ideas, but we wanted ideas that will create a big change. And quickly too.”

“What was the problem?”

“Many of the ideas were interesting, fresh and even unique. In most cases we face a grave danger at this stage. People judge too early because they do not know how to look at a new idea. They often lack the experience and imagination to look at a new unknown idea and think about ‘what is good about this idea?’ or ‘why do I like this idea?’ or ‘what could be the benefits of implementing this idea?’. It is even tougher to imagine ‘what could this idea become?’. This is some what like hiring a management trainee. How many of us can see a future CEO in the person we hire?”

“So what do you do?”

“We guide the people through the selection process step by step. People can only select ideas, but cannot reject anything. We ask people to use their gut feel first before applying logic and rigour. This way we ensured that unusual ideas with potential were not killed.”

“So there is a lot of work before, during and after a brainstorming workshop?”

“Of course. Getting people to clear the cobwebs in their minds get out of their habitual thinking is a lot of hard work.”

“Looks like there is more to brainstorming than getting a bunch of people together in the conference room one evening and ordering pizza and coke.”

“Correct.”

“What would you say is the secret of getting good results from a brainstorming session?”

“Define the issue sharply, generate ideas passionately, select ideas smartly, develop ideas creatively and implement ideas meticulously.”

“That is deceptively simple.”

“True.”

“Good morning Prasna.*”

“Ha, I thought you had forgotten me. You are busy wasting time on Facebook.”

“Prasna, don’t be so old fashioned. Any way I need some help. I want to talk to you.”

“What is this about?”

“It is a about a new way of working with clients.”

“What is new?”

“Can I explain the concept first?”

“No. Just tell me about this new way of working with clients.”

“This is about my fees.”

“What about your fees?”

“I am leaving it to the clients to decide.”

“Does this mean you will not quote any fees?”

“Right. Client decides what he wishes to pay.”

“What is new about this? The clients always paid what they wished to pay. Tell me about one instance where a client paid an amount against his wishes.”

“May be once or twice.”

“Did the clients come back?”

“No.”

“There you are. So, what is new about clients deciding the fees then?”

“It is true that the clients always have the final say. But this one is different.”

“How?”

“There is no negotiation of any sort. Client pays what he wishes, I just accept it. No arguments, no negotiation, no discussion.”

“How does this help the client?”

“My mind is fully on their issues, their work. I don’t worry about my fees.”

“What happens if they pay you less?”

“Less than what?”

“Less than what you are used to?”

“Well that is his decision. I just accept it.”

“You won’t be disappointed? Peeved?”

“No.”

“What happens if they do not pay you anything?”

“It is an extreme example. Well, I will just accept that too.”

“Why are you doing this? What is in it for you?”

“I am doing this because it makes tremendous sense to me. It will make tremendous sense to clients too. I believe it will change the quality of the relationships with clients. It will be about working together to make things happen, not transactions. ”

“I must admit, albeit grudgingly, this sounds rather good ; I still have my reservations. Have you spoken to anyone?”

“Yes, a couple of friends.”

“What do they say?”

“One felt that it may not work well, because different clients have different value perceptions. Therefore my fees may not be consistent.”

“What do you think?”

“I agree that the fees may not be consistent. But then why should it be consistent, because all my projects are different.”

“Have you tried this with anyone?”

“Yes, with two clients, over the last few years.”

“Did it work? Were the clients happy? Did it work for you?”

“It worked very well for clients. It worked well for me as well.”

“So why did you not do this for everyone?”

“Because I thought that the two cases were exceptions.”

“Now you want to make the exception the rule?”

“That is right”

“You seem to have made up your mind. What help do you need from me? What are you looking for?”

“I just wanted this conversation with you. Your questions always help me.”

“Go ahead, just make the exception the rule. Happy New Year.”

*Prasna is my friend, philosopher and guide. He appears wherever, whenever. He asks questions that are sharp and piercing. He clears my mind every time.

Let me tell you a story first. I use this story often in my Creative Blockbusting© workshops. (http://www.ideasrs.com/workshops/creative-block-busting/)

I have a friend Natarajan (Nat to his friends) who is also a Tambrahm (Tamilian Brahmin) like me. He is a senior manager in one of the Indian Multi-Nationals. He and his family are vegetarians.

Nat has a nice practice. Every month he takes out his family – wife, teenage daughter, and son- for dinner. This has been going on for years.

Nat had his favourite restaurant list and would choose one from his favourite list every month. However, his daughter was not happy with his choice of restaurants.

One month she said, “Dad, I will take you to a different restaurant this month. It is of course 100% vegetarian.”

“Which one is this?”

“Little Italy”

“What cuisine do they serve?”

“Authentic Italian food.”

Before Nat could respond, his son jumped into the conversation and “Wow! Dad we must go there.” When he looked at his wife, she nodded and said, “Why don’t we try it? The children seem to like it.”

Nat said “Why not? I am all for experimentation. Let us go for it.”

On the appointed day, both his daughter and son asked his permission to bring their best friend. Nat readily agreed. (He was somewhat relieved too. He was constantly running out of subjects to talk to his children. What he found interesting, did not interest them.)

When they settled down the children were the first to get off the mark. They seemed to know the items on the menu pretty well. Nat looked at his wife and she smiled and said, “I will go by your choice.”

Nat read the menu card once again and was completely lost. He had never been to an Italian restaurant before. He did not feel comfortable to talk to the manager and find out more about the items on the menu. What will his children and their friends think?

Nat then beckoned the steward and told him “My wife and I are not happy with any of this. Can you organize for some nice dhal, chawal, jeera aloo and a raita for us? We are sick and tired of our sambar & rice you see. This will be a good change.”

I stop my story here but use the story to explain what happens in organizations that start looking for break-through innovations, but end up with incremental improvements. Very often the culprit is the senior management.

The CEO declares that he is all for experimentation and will support any innovation, provided of course it is relevant. (This is like Nat saying ‘I am prepared to experiment with any cuisine, provided it is vegetarian.’)

This is a good beginning. However, what happens when the CEO is presented with outstanding ideas – ideas that have never occurred to him or his board members. If these ideas are implemented the benefits will be immense. Some of them could be game-changers.

Then the CEO and his colleagues on the board, start analyzing the ideas. They look unfamiliar, and they make them feel quite uncomfortable. They start making the ideas familiar by changing couple of features and introducing features that they like.

Finally, they have something marginally different from what they normally do. However, the ideas are not disruptive and will not cause any discomfort. Everyone is happy now.

They followed Nat’s formula and settled for “Dhal Chawal”. They even felt happy that they made progress from their usual, predictable ‘Sambar Rice.”

This is what I call ‘Dhal Chawal Innovation’. Incremental improvements like a marginal change in the menu. Status quo will be intact and safe.

I am not disdainful of improvements of any kind. However, I feel frustrated when I see outstanding ideas transform to become ‘Dhal Chawal’, because the senior management did not want to put in the effort make the big idea happen. “Too much work, too many changes” says the CEO dismissively. What annoys me even more are the ‘I know all’ attitude and a refusal to look at new things with an open mind.

The last straw on the proverbial camel’s back is when the CEO delivers a speech on Innovation at some forum and gets a standing ovation!

‘Dhal Chawal Innovation’ is the staple food for many CEOs who could make a big difference to the culture of innovation in their organizations. Sadly, they constantly signal to the people that ‘Dhal Chawal’ is good enough!