Energy and resources spent on creativity

Creativity needs time and energy. The 6Ms (Men, Materials. Machines, Methods, Markets and Money) should be made available to the initiative over the long-term. Sustained innovation requires that resources are set apart for practice of the innovation process. Innovation spirals should meet. A manager comments: “I m not sure I want my people to be more creative; they have trouble getting their work done on time and within the budget as it is.”

Expenditure in R&D compared to competitors

Companies with high R&D budgets compared to market norms are more likely to be innovative. This shows that a company is investing resources in innovation.

Driving Creativity in Star Performance

The way a company treats its top performers provides role models for all others. If such fast track performers are innovative, then others will see creativity and innovation as the path to success. If most star performers are cautious and rule bound, the clear message would be, “Be careful and just follow rules if you want to move up. Creativity does not pay”.

The organization's response to unsuccessful risk taking

A risk, in fact anything new, involves the possibility of failure. The path to successful innovation may pass through a period when nothing seems to work. The organizational response to an unsuccessful innovation holds the key to whether the company will develop into an innovative company or not.

The organization's response to successful risk taking

Organizations that institutionalize successful risk-taking by teams and individuals by public rewards and affirmations, are more likely to reinforce innovation through new and riskier paths. Performance should be monitored. Champions should be rewarded.

Steps to Increase Your Happiness

The world is in your drawing room, it is clamouring to change your life with more and more sophisticated toys. As a popular saying goes, ‘What separates the men from the boys is just the price of their toys.’ Simplify and go home to what you really need. The world is like a buffet counter at a five-star hotel. Let’s not grab everything on our plates. Let us be choosy, so that we may avoid spiritual indigestion and physical exhaustion. Let us replace stress with positive emotions that engender joy. Let us increase our Happiness Quotient (HQ). Finding a job you love is one of the ways you can immunise yourself against heart problems. A good marriage is a protective shield against heart attacks. Merely avoiding negative emotions is not enough; one should consistently cultivate the positive emotions of love, compassion, courage and peace.

Top management’s relevance to risk taking

Taking risk is key to innovation. The more formal a company is, the less likely people are to do anything to rock the boat. Doing new things does involve some professional risk to the person leading the initiative. A lot of handholding by top management can encourage people to take risks. Innovation happens on small budgets as proved by Velvette Shampoo, sold in one-rupee sachets for the poor.

Allocating time for new product development

New product development is the best way to reap first mover advantage. Time has to be budgeted for new product development. While many traditional companies have their own R&D teams, there are fast moving IT giants who have outsourced innovation to smaller, less expensive, outside teams. They have vice-presidents of External Innovation. Whatever the strategy may be, time has to be allotted for New Product Development. A lack of resources can result in extraordinary innovation  Toyota’s Kanban system of Just In Time management was the direct result of acute space shortage in Japan.  Holland with limited land and water resources became the foremost exporter of cut flowers, capturing a major share of the market. They grow flowers on rock wool and recycle all the water.

Interacting directly and consistently with customers

Tapping customer creativity is a tool to help negotiate new products with customers. It is the kind of process that reinvents the future. For instance, customers were not even aware of the possibility of a Walkman. Only an intense negotiation between top management, manufacturing and customers could have created it. Proctor and Gamble has a Connect and Develop hub (C&D hub), which helps to harness the creativity of consumers, employees, trade partners and others. Customer interaction can be induced by the following: • Management by Walking Around (MBWA) is the most appropriate way to ensure that the customer’s voice is built into products and processes. • Advisory committees of opinion leaders can be an effective method of keeping one’s finger on the pulse of public opinion. Focus group interviews enable customers to explore ideas with skilled facilitators, trained to go below the surface of suggestions and complaints.

Investing in new technologies

Investing in new technologies can happen rapidly by global scanning. It can provide instant innovation from an outside source. The only problem is that it is quite expensive. Often foreign technologies also come with strings attached: sometimes Indian corporations are not given key secret processes. In India, this has resulted in cheaper import substitutes, using easily available local resources. India, with its vast human resources, would do well to invest in developing innovation in its own backyard instead of buying it readymade. Innovating internally would also make India globally more competitive.

Appreciation for diversity

Innovation is more likely to occur in a melting pot of exotic diversity. Homogenous groups are less likely to spark off innovative ideas. Corporations that celebrate diversity and respect it are more likely to create a stable of innovators. Using an inexperienced outsider or a naïve resource can create major breakthroughs in traditional industries. In some cases, companies that network with competitors have benefited more in terms of innovation.

Constructive performance feedback

Productivity depends on performance feedback, as does innovation. 360-degree feedback provides young innovators the opportunity to give their bosses clear feedback on a less than conducive environment. A system to clearly map individual competencies and provide consistent, timely feedback, can result in providing appropriate training when required. The immigrants of diverse races who moved to the USA, created a dynamic flow of new ideas and thus helped in forming a leading economy.

Listening to all members

There is no doubt that each person in an organization has ideas. If there is one thing the quality movement has taught us, it is that it makes sense to listen to everyone, particularly the workman who does the work. People who feel that they are heard are more likely to solve problems. There is no incentive to think outside the box when no one listens or cares. Positive affirmation is the key to ensuring that people stretch to think innovatively. Participation is the reward we give to those who respect us.

Developing alternatives in good times

Many management teams are involved in fire fighting and solving urgent matters that have developed into critical situations. Time needs to be set apart to study alternative solutions for the problems that lie under the surface of a running organization. ‘Don’t fix it if it ain’t broke,’ say the Americans, meaning, do not change something that is working well. This is disastrous advice in the present context of rapid change. Status quo is the gateway to overnight obsolescence. Innovation should be planned when things are going well. When things are going badly, when survival itself is an issue, no one has the time or energy to look for alternatives. Ashok Leyland has a YES program to harvest new ideas from young executives.

Rewarding and recognizing efficiency

Today it is a well-established fact that informed participants are better than spectators. Sharing knowledge and information have gone a long way in achieving better performance. Rewards, awards and performance-based incentives build morale. Many companies have introduced performance-based incentives as a key component of salaries for employees. ICICI Bank rewards and registers patents.

Climate that welcomes creative work ideas

Most companies are so involved in meeting deadlines and fire fighting that there is rarely time to discuss and explore work related issues. Providing a structure, space and time to discuss ideas and toy with possibilities, can greatly increase the chances of creative ideas emerging. The tolerance required to generate a multitude of alternative solutions is the climate required when talking about work.

Cross-functional teamwork

Although recent empirical research shows that most firms have implemented cross-functional teams for the majority of the new product development projects, they are still finding it hard to ensure that these teams are successful in completing the new product development task. In looking at how to create successful teams, many factors have been suggested, particularly cooperation between team members.

Managing across departmental lines

Turf protection has always been a major barrier to innovation. The capacity to break down barriers and conflict between departments can release massive energy for innovative contributions. Inter-departmental rivalry, the tendency to compete rather than collaborate, acts as an obstacle in the way of team creativity. There are many ways to deal with this, including cross-functional teams.

Appropriate dissemination of knowledge and information

In the past, Indian management maintained a shroud of secrecy regarding the company’s achievements, particularly its financial performance. Today it is well established that informed participants are better than unwilling victims sacrificed for the company’s profits. Sharing knowledge and profits have gone a long way in achieving better performance. The mightiest of modern organizations have been built through the power of information and the human mind.

Organizational Emphasis on Human Factors

The Industrial Revolution made thinking, feeling, human beings, cogs in the wheel. Fortunately, competition has forced us to bring back humanity into the workplace, because it could increase profits. Instituting co-operation and commitment is key to innovation and better performance. The study of some large Indian companies showed that Stars have actively fostered a culture that stimulates innovation and view it as their source of life. Wal-Mart’s Sam Walton, became the second richest man in the world by using innovative methods, particularly in supply chain management.

Breakthrough ideas must be welcomed

Mindwaves are the cultural shifts that sweep across the organization, creating transformational change. Involvement at all levels in developing strategy ensures organizational commitment. Breakthroughs need the support of top management. Budgets have to be set apart and human resources deployed, to achieve breakthrough ideas.

Doing things not done by others

A key innovation characteristic is doing things not done by others. The first mover advantage in innovation is the key to high profits. Two companies, which introduced creativity programs, United Technology and Federal Express, realized a high return on investment (ROI) from their creativity programs. Federal Express achieved a factor of two ROI, or 200%. The ROI for United Technology was even higher, a factor of six.

Replicating best practices

Copying the best practices from other players in the field can improve efficiency. Replicating the ideas that work across the organization, can save time and other resources. Paying attention to the mishaps of other players and avoiding what does not work for them, is also usable information.

Improve existing tasks

In order to be innovative, one needs to ensure that all existing tasks are done in the most optimal way. Routine matters are often dealt with automatically and inefficiency often creeps in, eating into the profitability of the organization. The techniques of innovation see existing tasks as a vast area, with great potential for improvement. The Japanese are always looking for better ways of doing anything. They say in effect, “This is being done very well. Let us study how to do it better.” This is what drives them to amaze the world, incessantly, with their miraculous creations. While it allows the status quo to remain, they are constantly looking for ways to do existing things more efficiently. A well-known manufacturer of travel luggage in India was deeply concerned about the high cost of transporting bags. During a brainstorming session, one of the members asked “Why do you transport air? All the bags are just full of air.” In effect, a nesting system was created, where one bag sat snugly inside a larger bag. The reduction in logistics costs led to the company buying up its nearest rival and enjoying a virtual monopoly for many years.

Do away with unnecessary tasks

A great deal of organizational energy is wasted by duplication of activities that are being done by others and duplication of activities that can be done by suppliers or other stakeholders. This is a result of overlapping responsibilities. Once unnecessary tasks are eliminated, there will be a focus on relevant activities and with it will come relevant innovation.

Doing the right things

This concerns choosing the right way to do things by benchmarking with the best organizations in the world. The internet provides us with direct access to best practices from around the world. Once good and better ways of doing things right are discovered, they must be shared across the organization on a consistent and relevant basis. Unilever has Innovation Centers in every region that are dedicated to studying the best way of doing everything. These processes are then replicated across the globe

Doing things right

Mistakes can be expensive. The cost of rejection is a major source of concern in manufacturing. Doing things right is essential before companies can think of doing new things. Doing things right happens through: • Training • Retraining • Building-in quality consciousness • Reward and feedback systems • Process improvement • Communicating and affirming a culture of excellence • Building teams that co-operate rather than compete

Organizational Culture

Organizational Culture has the great Emphasis on Innovation. Without the oxygen of support and applause, ideas often die in infancy. The creativity improvement program can be the foundation that enables all other company programs to be effective. There are a number of steps to ensure that the program encourages innovation.

Necessity is the mother of innovation

A small bank, which did not have the funds to pay for expensive real estate, came up with the idea of using other people’s premises: schools, petrol pumps and super-markets. Then they moved seamlessly into a growth path, starting thousands of ATMs and mobile banks. Today, they are one of the largest banks in India. More recently, many banks have introduced the concept of 24-hour direct banking with business being carried out by anonymous people at the end of a telephone. This is neutralizing the competitive advantage, which established banks enjoyed by virtue of functioning from prime sites in Mumbai.

Drivers of Innovation

Leadership and consumer relevance are the top drivers of innovation. There are two essential ingredients for successful innovation: Leadership and Consumer Relevance. Innovative processes do not begin in the R&D laboratory. They are initiated with a mandate from the highest level of the corporation. Identifying the consumer’s needs is an equally integral part of the innovation process. Ensuring employee participation in planning and a complete buy-in into innovative strategy is critical. At Unilever, top management strongly believes that innovation has to be closely linked to the business strategy.

The mind is the greatest resource needed for innovation

With mental capability, there are few limitations. Overload a machine and it can break down. Even computer chips have their speed limits. Resources can run dry. However, if we can help people make better use of their minds, the returns are immeasurable. The mind computer has the capacity to store an equivalent of 7550 volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Organizational Freedom

The process of managing innovation ties in closely with organizational freedom. Managing innovation is not an oxymoron. Highly innovative companies manage the actual process of generating, developing and implementing innovative ideas better than their competitors do. This process involves a lot deliberate duplication and redundancy in order to foster knowledge sharing and communication. There are million garage start-ups in IT. In rural India, cowshed innovation is common. But in every case, it has blossomed in an atmosphere of organizational freedom.

THE CULTURE OF INNOVATION

Why wait for the whole country to be cleaned up? Why don’t we keep our own doorstep clean? Why wait for worldwide changes? Let us make a contribution to change our own small corporate space. Innovation is about lighting our little candles to defy the darkness. The organizational climate often decides whether the ideas flourish and bloom or fade and die. Thus, organizational culture becomes critical to innovation. Ricardo Semler of Semco, the South American magnate, believes that the culture of innovation in an organization is created by providing total freedom to his employees.

Analysis is a corollary to incubation

In the creative thinking process, incubation is followed by ‘Analysis.’ During the process of analysis, apply left-brain thinking – logical, statistical and mathematical. Solutions have to be carefully discussed and the optimum one chosen. The solutions are analyzed against the parameters chosen by the problem owner. Some prevalent parameters are: a) Time b) Budget c) Convenience d) Human resources e) Goodwill and impact on staff motivation levels f) Aesthetics g) Saving lives h) Political capital

The best ideas are stimulated during incubation

After idea generation, the next step in the thinking process is incubation. After you have spent time collecting the facts and generating ideas, forget the problem. Hand it over to the subconscious to incubate. The subconscious is a vast computer, which stores everything you have ever seen, felt, smelt or experienced. Alex Osborne, the advertising genius, said that during incubation, “I lie like a wet leaf on a log of wood and allow the current to carry me where it will.” Osborne continues, "When I am thus involved in doing nothing, I receive a constant stream of telegrams from my subconscious." He feels that he has done his best work when he was really doing nothing. Also bear in mind that luck favors the prepared mind. The thought process involved is a cycle, linking preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification.

Direct Analogy

A direct analogy answers the question: Where else has this problem or a similar problem been solved? Maybe our problem can be solved in the same way. The richest source of analogous solutions seems to be the natural world. “Nature seems to have solved just about every problem we can think of, if only we know where to look and are able to translate the idea from one context to another,” writes Ronald Whitfield, in ‘Creativity in Industry.’ The same view is echoed by Gordon Edge, of PA Technology: “If you want to solve a problem, see how it is solved in nature. Living forms always have the most economical answers, as a result of evolution.” His team used the way a nocturnal moth’s eye absorbs light and thereby reflecting it, (by means of a delicate crisscross pattern coating the eye), as the basis for an information storage system on an optical disk. In the case of the optical disk for information storage, the connection to the nocturnal moth was found by ‘a lucky chain of coincidences,’ which recalls Pasteur’s comment that ‘chance favors the prepared mind,’ and George Prince’s modification of it – ‘the prepared mind makes its own chances.’ We cannot all be experts in biology, zoology and so on, but we can take an interest in a wide variety of phenomena and trust our own minds to throw up clues that will lead us to the analogies we need.

Career Excursion

One of the simplest of all excursions is to look at the problem through the eyes of someone completely different. You can do this by imagining you are in a totally different job – a coal miner, astronaut, deep-sea diver, football manager, and ballet dancer. As you imagine yourself in that job, see what ideas occur to you that might help with the problem.

Stillness

The best attitude for learning is to be relaxed but alert. Like a flower open to the morning sun. The best attitude for thinking also is the same. Like a cat in the sun, completely relaxed so that even its paws are limp; but at the first sign of a mouse, it springs into action, all muscle and lightning speed. Yoga, meditation or any other form of stillness will ensure that you are in an ideal state for thinking fluently.

Using Life to Develop Creative Ideas

Life provides rich material to develop creative ideas. There is a story in the Bhagavatham about how Uddhava asks Krishna the question, “Who is a Teacher?” Krishna says: “Look at the sky; far, far away, you can see an eagle swift and strong and free. In a single instant, it can swoop down to earth and capture its prey. As far as vision and speed are concerned, that eagle is your guru. See the lion in the forest; see how majestic is its gait. As far as grace, is concerned that lion is your guru. Watch the sinuous serpent; he is not anxious about his prey. He waits and watches. That serpent will teach you confidence. All of life is designed to teach you. Those who love you, teach you something. Those who hate you, teach you more.” Sorrow and pain are sent into our lives for a reason so that we can empathize with others. Life is the ultimate text book, and graduating from the university of life is the final goal.

Beauty and its Power to Expand the Mind

Look into the purple heart of an amethyst. Register the color in your heart and illumine every part of yourself with that color. Beauty has the power to open the secret doors of human personality. You become relaxed, alert, comforted and nurtured. Your mind becomes fluid and flowing. All that is harsh and dissonant melts away. Thoughts bloom like flowers on a tender branch. Immersing yourself in the grand silences of nature can help you to start the process of becoming more interestingly ‘you,’ the ‘you’ God created, the ‘you’ who can become self-actualized and peaceful.

Turncoat

Play devil's advocate – take the exact opposite view of the one you have been holding. If you are an optimist, think through the motivations of the pessimist. Most of us tend to see situations through the flawed windows of our own nature. We are optimistic or pessimistic and do not really participate with others in understanding all aspects and connotations of a problem. Edward de Bono’s Six Thinking Hats can help a group or even a person understand all aspects of a problem. Each of us wears each hat in turn or persuades others to wear them. I’d like to state here that, while thinking, one should remove all barriers and obstacles. Thinking is the easiest way of testing a solution. Thinking through all possibilities can prevent major financial distress. But most people are as careful and timid with their thinking as they are with their actions, thus losing the possibility of nurturing creative ideas. People feel busy and productive when engaged in activity, but can be busy doing work which may be non-productive. In my view, thinking should be the major activity of managers and progress lies in constantly striving through innovation to delight the customer.

Wishful Thinking Technique

Applied properly, this approach can free you from any unnecessary implicit assumptions that you are making about the challenges you face. Procedure for use: Generally, the steps to follow in applying the technique are as follows: 1. State the question, goal, situation, or problem. 2. Assume anything is possible. 3. Using fantasy, make statements such as: “What I really want to do is...” or “If I could choose any answer to this question, it would be ...” 4. Examine each fantasy and transpose it into your reality by making statements such as: “Although I really cannot do that, I can do this by...” or “It seems impractical to do that, but I believe we can accomplish the same thing by ...” 5. If necessary, repeat Steps 3 and 4.

Brainstorming Technique

Developed by Alex Osborn, the brainstorming method was designed to separate idea generation from idea evaluation. It has the objective of moving people into a nurturing, supportive atmosphere of freewheeling thoughts. Ideas are stimulated through hearing others’ ideas. The emphasis is on quantity of ideas, using the philosophy that quantity produces quality. Procedure for use: William Miller suggests the following ground rules for effective brainstorming: Pick a problem/opportunity where each person has the knowledge and motivation to contribute. Define the problem in neutral terms rather than referencing a pre-selected solution. E.g., “How do we get this job done?” rather than “How do we get this person or this group to do this job?” Record the ideas on flip charts or large pieces of paper where everyone can see them. Suspend evaluation or judgment until all ideas have been given. Stretch for ideas. When you think you’ve got all the ideas, go for another round, being even more outrageous in possible solutions. Aim for quantity to help find quality. Accept all ideas, even weak ones. Encourage embellishment and building on ideas.

Attribute Matching

Attribute Matching is a simple method which breaks down stereotypes which are very common among many of us. Procedure for use: Come up with a procedure or process that is totally different from the process or product to be improved. List attributes of the new product or process. Apply each attribute to the product or process being considered and arrive at alternative solutions.

The Question (5Ws/1H) Technique

The Who-What-Where-When-Why-How questions or 5Ws/1H, aid in expanding your view of a problem or opportunity, to try to make sure that all related aspects have been considered. By going through several cycles of the 5Ws/1H, alternatives related to the problem or opportunity can be explored exhaustively. This technique is one of the most useful of all creativity techniques because it can be used after each phase of the development cycle. By asking the 5Ws questions you have greater assurance that you are covering the full set of alternatives to be considered. The response to the H (How?) question provides approaches to implementing the ideas you have generated with the Ws. The answer to the H question should be a resource budget covering the 6Ms: Men, Materials, Machines, Methods, Market and Money. Procedure for use: 1. Develop a question for each of the Ws and the H. 2. Develop responses to each of your questions. 3. Evaluate alternative approaches suggested by your responses to your questions. When an improved approach results, determine its cost-effectiveness; and change the problem solution accordingly.

CAPS

The CAPS concept enhances and supplements the 4Ps and has special significance in the marketing of services. The following connections may be considered. Procedure for use: Consideration refers to the inconvenience that is caused to the customer. This could be loss of time, safety or loss of dignity. This adds to price. Access refers to the ease with which a service can be used. Promotion is a little different when we consider that many aspects of a service are intangible. Finally service is of course something that has far more dimensions than a product. Service cannot be touched or smelt but only experienced. Example for use: Apply CAPS to a bank to improve customer service. Consideration – The paper work could be made easy to understand and someone may be deputed to help. Access – Computer and Internet access may be provided so that people can complete their transactions from home or office. 24/7 ATMs improve access. Promotion – Member-get-member programs may be used. Service – Home delivery or office delivery of cash could be offered to selected clients.

Bug List Technique

Innovators share the feeling of being driven by a real or perceived failure of existing things or processes, to work as well as they might. Fault finding with the world around them and disappointments with the inefficiencies with which things are done appear to be common traits among inventors. According to Marvin Camaras, an inventor, “Inventors tend to be dissatisfied with what they see around them … maybe they’re dissatisfied with something they’re actually working on or with an everyday thing... They say this is a very poor way of doing it.” The Bug List techniques were developed to capitalize on this tendency of faulting things around us – to lead to corrective action. Procedure for use: 1. The group is asked to identify things that irritate or “bug” them. Each person is asked to identify 5 or 10 bugs. 2. Then the list is consolidated to identify the bugs common to most persons. 3. The group is led through the list and asked to vote. 4. Then the group brainstorms ways to resolve the bugs.

Experiential Attribute Matching

Experiencing an event is totally different from thinking about it. Information from the five senses rushing in reflects the ecstasy of the experience. One of the groups in my training program went on a turtle walk on a beach. They saw a large turtle alone on the sand; one of them came up with the idea that individuals in an organization should be allowed space to grow, without interference, in solitude. Yet another saw the slow and clumsy turtle and came up with an idea that postulated the exact opposite: let the organizational plan be clear and precise. Learn to capture dreams, visions, floating thoughts and to synthesize them into your plans. For example, the best way to understand a tree is to become a tree in the storm.

Tent Thinking vs. Marble Palace Thinking

A bank wanted to rapidly open branches at a minimal cost. They were not sure which locations were most likely to succeed. An I Lab came up with the idea of using existing organizations such as schools, petrol bunks, and panchayat halls to set up branches. This solution has two advantages: 1. It was inexpensive 2. It could be easily dismantled or closed if not successful. Today, the speed at which corporations are required to grow, involves experiments. An experiment should be inexpensive. In fact, in an experiment, there is no success or failure; there is only feedback. This essentially is Tent Thinking. A tent can be put up, change shape, it can expand or reduce and it can be put up elsewhere. Marble Palace Thinking involves a fascination with permanence. Permanent structures, people and systems are expensive and difficult to dismantle. Permanent staff is a fixed overhead, which cannot be reduced as a swift response to falling demand in a recessionary market. This is the Marble Palace mentality. Success in today’s scenario goes to those who are swift, dynamic and able to respond to mercurial changes in the environment. Adaptability is the most important quality this millennium demands. Marble palaces become fixed overheads, which are difficult to adapt to any other use.

Company Wide Innovation Tools

It is only through the systematic learning of tools, the generation and testing of new ideas that organizations can improve their Innovation Quotient (IQ). Company-wide innovation is not about nurturing solitary genius in sterile laboratories, but requires the bubbling enthusiasm of teams, playfully ping ponging wild ideas, taming them, using old ideas as a foundation for innovation and finally carefully hand-holding and nurturing innovative teams through the long and messy process of implementation. Companies wanting to be innovative need to draw a clear line between thinking and doing. Thinking can be outrageous, intuitive, and dangerous. It can only add new dimensions to understanding the situation. The rules for thinking are different from the rules for doing. Implementation is possible only with a clear foundation of rational thought and practical application. ‘Thinking enables us to explore alternatives before choosing the most suitable, profitable and satisfying solution. ‘Doing’ requires different analytical skills. But many companies make people afraid even to think beyond the beaten path. Today any company traveling the traditional path may be driven off the road by innovation in technology, as in the case of the ,textile units in Coimbatore. The greatest paradox is that the biggest risk of all is not to be innovative, never to do anything new, even at the experimental level. The business or individual who never experiments and continues to do things ‘the way we’ve always done it,’ feels safe and comfortable, but risks being caught out by changing circumstances. An experiment should not destroy the company. An experiment should provide feedback and not be judged for its success.

Thinking Tools

Thinking tools are formulae and methods to help people think out of the box. The use of a thinking tool enables every participant to generate ideas. Each idea is usually different because people are unique and bring to the table their own unique experiences and assumptions. The best way out of a deadlock in the discussion is to use a thinking tool. Thinking tools make the teaching of creativity simple. Tools can help us replicate innovation quickly across the organization. The world’s foremost companies have insisted on teaching creativity and innovation skills. IBM, Coco Cola, Unilever, Sony, ICICI, Ashok Leyland, TI, HLL, TVS - the list goes on. IBM even has a two year program for all its engineers. MindsPower I-Labs, over the last 20 years, have been dedicated to improving the creative potential of Asian companies.

Boundary-less thinking

Boundary-less’ thinking has brought us face to face with the fact that there are no limitations to corporate or personal growth. One of the interesting experiments that conducted was on the second P of Marketing, Place. One of the hospitals consulted for a major problem with the “place” component, since it is far from the city. We made an exciting assumption that changed the situation dramatically. They said “place” is where our patients are. Our doctors, our equipment, or facilities could go wherever the patient needed it. So they set up a home health program, which takes doctors to the homes of patients. A school health program takes the concept into schools. Companies all over the country could benefit from this concept. They are no longer constrained by lack of space. Distance is telescoped by good transport. Our services are offered at faraway places, by training and appointing associates. An individual can be highly creative when he has the right beliefs about his true, unique nature.

BRAINSTORMING TECHNIQUE

Brainstorming technique was developed by George Prince, one of the founders of the creative thinking movement. This is a technique called developmental thinking, which is used to explore ideas which are attractive but not yet feasible. In simple terms, if two people A and B, are discussing an idea given by A, B as a discipline, should identify three elements which he likes about the idea. This encourages A. B then goes on to give an itemized response on his specific concerns about the idea. The concerns are specific and they identify problem areas for A to solve. Instead of being adversaries on opposite sides of a problem, A and B become partners in growing the idea in a peaceful, nurturing climate. There is a great deal of work done by thinkers on how to make the group climate more creative and less hostile. In developmental thinking, as the teachers at Synectics say, “All potentially positive features of the ideas are identified and the deficiencies are used to give the direction for improvement, preserving the element of novelty while the idea is modified to make it feasible.” This process is a contrast to the conventional screening of ideas into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ after a typical brainstorming session, when novel ideas are likely to be screened out because they are not feasible.

Thinking Tool : Turn Upside Down (T.U.D)

The steps followed in T U D: 1. Normal belief: A hospital is a place for sick people. 2. T U D: A hospital is a place for people who are healthy. When we looked at a hospital as a place for people who are healthy, our base of customers increased to include a vast number of healthy people who come for positive health programs. The positive health theme included the “Well Woman” program, which involved a health and beauty focus: yoga experts, beauticians, and women’s health practitioners helped create a vastly successful program. Preventive health care became a positive activity. 15 check-ups including the heart check, the diabetic check and the child health check were part of the wellness check portfolio. the relationship with customers, which traditionally started on a note of pain, anxiety, and death, began on a happy note. The focus was how to remain healthy and how to face problems. The lifetime relationship, which is the bedrock of direct marketing today, started on a happy, positive note, with wellness as the key. Since then I realized that, thinkers from Plato onwards have developed hundreds of thinking tools which are as easy to learn as the 3R’s - Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. The simplest tools include checklists ranging from Rudyard Kipling’s famous “Five good serving men” (The questions Why, Where, When, Who and How) to Alex Osborne’s 9 Word Checklist.

Idea generation

Stars make extensive use of brainstorming to generate ideas. Idea generation is most productive when it is used to tackle a specific business problem. As mentioned in Chapter IX, the rules for a successful idea generation are: suspend judgment, postpone reaction and extend effort. In addition to brainstorming, Stars make use of many other tools for the generation of ideas.

Innovative Marketing practices

The marketing and sales departments are the eyes and ears of the company in the marketplace. They are part of the market intelligence system that keeps company officials informed about the rapidly changing conditions in the micro and macro environment. The gathering of this information is usually casual, depending on the individual’s own interest. This may consist of market gossip, newspaper and trade reports, clues from the field force and information from outside sources. The information is often random and sketchy. The company may learn too late about a dealer’s need or a customer’s changing aspirations or a competitor’s aggressive move, to respond effectively. Stars are able to excel due to their practice of the following: • Training sales staff in the process and systems of collecting information • Using the internet, media and contacts to gather all available information • Buying information from specialized market research companies

Listening to the customer

Stars made regular use of market research to source new product ideas. Market research enables the company to understand a marketing problem better because customers spark off innovative ideas faster than any other resource. New product ideas are likely to emerge from the marketplace during research. This is because changing fashions and improved communication networks are creating new aspirations among customers. This information has to be solicited, as it will not flow or be recognized in the hustle and bustle of chasing bottomlines. Careful observation, interpretation of information, and recognition of opportunities is the key to success.

Impact of Innovation on the bottom line

The profits of Stars grew faster than the profits of spectators and Non-starters. Stars also reported higher levels of employee satisfaction, lower levels of employee turnover. Additionally, employees of Stars had great faith in the quality of their products. Innovation Stars are on a positive cycle in which increasing profits and high employee morale reinforce each other.

Stars Differentiate from Aspirants and Non-Starters

Stars were very positive about their company and its future. They believed that the quality of their products was higher, and that their market share was increasing. Employee satisfaction levels were high because people were committed and engaged. Some of the other factors that differentiated Stars from Aspirants and Non-Starters were: Stars had a greater belief in the need for creativity in the organization. Innovation was clearly mentioned in their mission statement. They systematically measured customer satisfaction, and used this information to make course corrections. They spoke directly to their customers. New ideas were often obtained through market research. They made use of outside consultants. They used cutting-edge technologies to impact bottom lines. They were able to ensure that different departments worked together. They excelled in environmental scouting for ideas. They had a shared process of idea generation.

Aspirants and Non-Starters

Aspirants: These companies recognize that innovation is integral to success in the marketplace, but have not put in place, systems to drive innovation. These companies want to be innovative, but don’t know how. Many of the companies surveyed fell into this category. These companies have the potential to be much more successful. Non-Starters: These companies do not recognize the importance of innovation.

Innovation Stars

Employees at a number of India’s top companies responded to a survey that gauged the innovativeness of their organizations. Based upon the responses to the survey, companies were classified as Innovation Stars, Aspirants and Non-starters. Innovation Stars were found to be more profitable, to have more satisfied employees and to have much lower employee turnover. Stars: These companies excel in all areas, tangible and intangible. Such companies are characterized by high profits, superior quality of products and services, high levels of creativity, brilliant marketing practices, strong brand equity and image, wide market presence and low employee turnover. The Star is an extremely innovative company, which has succeeded in maximizing innovation in all areas of its operations. The climate of such a company is extremely nurturing and rewards creativity while being supportive of experimentation. People working there are excited about going to work; they are thrilled about their company’s future.

Energy and resources spent on creativity

Creativity needs time and energy. The 6Ms (Men, Materials. Machines, Methods, Markets and Money) should be made available to the initiative over the long-term. Sustained innovation requires that resources are set apart for practice of the innovation process. Innovation spirals should meet. A manager comments: “I m not sure I want my people to be more creative; they have trouble getting their work done on time and within the budget as it is.”

Expenditure in R&D compared to competitors

Companies with high R&D budgets compared to market norms are more likely to be innovative. This shows that a company is investing resources in innovation.

Driving creativity in star performance

The way a company treats its top performers provides role models for all others. If such fast track performers are innovative, then others will see creativity and innovation as the path to success. If most star performers are cautious and rule bound, the clear message would be, “Be careful and just follow rules if you want to move up. Creativity does not pay”.

The organization's response to unsuccessful risk taking

A risk, in fact anything new, involves the possibility of failure. The path to successful innovation may pass through a period when nothing seems to work. The organizational response to an unsuccessful innovation holds the key to whether the company will develop into an innovative company or not.

The organization's response to successful risk taking

Organizations that institutionalize successful risk-taking by teams and individuals by public rewards and affirmations, are more likely to reinforce innovation through new and riskier paths. Performance should be monitored. Champions should be rewarded.

Top management’s relevance to risk taking

Taking risk is key to innovation. The more formal a company is, the less likely people are to do anything to rock the boat. Doing new things does involve some professional risk to the person leading the initiative. A lot of handholding by top management can encourage people to take risks. Innovation happens on small budgets as proved by Velvette Shampoo, sold in one-rupee sachets for the poor.

Innovation does not always call for big budgets

 Dyanora Television, acting in collaboration with Matsushita, took televisions to low-income households through hire purchase and direct selling.  Hindustan Lever’s Shakti Ammas, acting as door-to-door retail agents, now have incomes to buy consumer products.  Amul brought Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, into the homes of poor dairy farmers through the magic of co-operatives.  Kegg Farms did the same for poor poultry owners by developing a hardy, local variety of poultry called Kuroilers that could be raised in rural backyards.

Allocating time for new product development

New product development is the best way to reap first mover advantage. Time has to be budgeted for new product development. While many traditional companies have their own R&D teams, there are fast moving IT giants who have outsourced innovation to smaller, less expensive, outside teams. They have vice-presidents of External Innovation. Whatever the strategy may be, time has to be allotted for New Product Development. A lack of resources can result in extraordinary innovation • Toyota’s Kanban system of Just In Time management was the direct result of acute space shortage in Japan. • Holland with limited land and water resources became the foremost exporter of cut flowers, capturing a major share of the market. They grow flowers on rock wool and recycle all the water.

Interacting directly and consistently with customers

Tapping customer creativity is a tool to help negotiate new products with customers. It is the kind of process that reinvents the future. For instance, customers were not even aware of the possibility of a Walkman. Only an intense negotiation between top management, manufacturing and customers could have created it. Customer interaction can be induced by the following: • Management by Walking Around (MBWA) is the most appropriate way to ensure that the customer’s voice is built into products and processes. • Advisory committees of opinion leaders can be an effective method of keeping one’s finger on the pulse of public opinion. • Focus group interviews enable customers to explore ideas with skilled facilitators, trained to go below the surface of suggestions and complaints. Asia Brown Boveri (ABB) regularly involves shop floor workers, marketing executives and customers in an annual process of negotiating the future.

Investing in new technologies

Investing in new technologies can happen rapidly by global scanning. It can provide instant innovation from an outside source. The only problem is that it is quite expensive. Often foreign technologies also come with strings attached: sometimes Indian corporations are not given key secret processes. In India, this has resulted in cheaper import substitutes, using easily available local resources. India, with its vast human resources, would do well to invest in developing innovation in its own backyard instead of buying it readymade. Innovating internally would also make India globally more competitive.

Appreciation for diversity

Innovation is more likely to occur in a melting pot of exotic diversity. Homogenous groups are less likely to spark off innovative ideas. Corporations that celebrate diversity and respect it are more likely to create a stable of innovators. Using an inexperienced outsider or a naïve resource can create major breakthroughs in traditional industries. In some cases, companies that network with competitors have benefited more in terms of innovation.

Appreciation for diversity

Innovation is more likely to occur in a melting pot of exotic diversity. Homogenous groups are less likely to spark off innovative ideas. Corporations that celebrate diversity and respect it are more likely to create a stable of innovators. Using an inexperienced outsider or a naïve resource can create major breakthroughs in traditional industries. In some cases, companies that network with competitors have benefited more in terms of innovation.

Constructive performance feedback

Productivity depends on performance feedback, as does innovation. 360-degree feedback provides young innovators the opportunity to give their bosses clear feedback on a less than conducive environment. A system to clearly map individual competencies and provide consistent, timely feedback, can result in providing appropriate training when required. The immigrants of diverse races who moved to the USA, created a dynamic flow of new ideas and thus helped in forming a leading economy.

Listening to all members

There is no doubt that each person in an organization has ideas. If there is one thing the quality movement has taught us, it is that it makes sense to listen to everyone, particularly the workman who does the work. People who feel that they are heard are more likely to solve problems. There is no incentive to think outside the box when no one listens or cares. Positive affirmation is the key to ensuring that people stretch to think innovatively. Participation is the reward we give to those who respect us. Einstein developed his theories in a Swiss patent office.

Developing alternatives in good times

Many management teams are involved in fire fighting and solving urgent matters that have developed into critical situations. Time needs to be set apart to study alternative solutions for the problems that lie under the surface of a running organization. ‘Don’t fix it if it ain’t broke,’ say the Americans, meaning, do not change something that is working well. This is disastrous advice in the present context of rapid change. Status quo is the gateway to overnight obsolescence. Innovation should be planned when things are going well. When things are going badly, when survival itself is an issue, no one has the time or energy to look for alternatives. Ashok Leyland has a YES program to harvest new ideas from young executives

Rewarding and recognizing efficiency

Today it is a well-established fact that informed participants are better than spectators. Sharing knowledge and information have gone a long way in achieving better performance. Rewards, awards and performance-based incentives build morale. Many companies have introduced performance-based incentives as a key component of salaries for employees. ICICI Bank rewards and registers patents.

Climate that welcomes creative work ideas

Most companies are so involved in meeting deadlines and fire fighting that there is rarely time to discuss and explore work related issues. Providing a structure, space and time to discuss ideas and toy with possibilities, can greatly increase the chances of creative ideas emerging. The tolerance required to generate a multitude of alternative solutions is the climate required when talking about work.

Cross-functional teamwork

Although recent empirical research shows that most firms have implemented cross-functional teams for the majority of the new product development projects, they are still finding it hard to ensure that these teams are successful in completing the new product development task. In looking at how to create successful teams, many factors have been suggested, particularly cooperation between team members. NIIT celebrates the first showers of the monsoon with a pakoda party.

Managing across departmental lines

Turf protection has always been a major barrier to innovation. The capacity to break down barriers and conflict between departments can release massive energy for innovative contributions. Inter-departmental rivalry, the tendency to compete rather than collaborate, acts as an obstacle in the way of team creativity. There are many ways to deal with this, including cross-functional teams.

Appropriate dissemination of knowledge and information

In the past, Indian management maintained a shroud of secrecy regarding the company’s achievements, particularly its financial performance. Today it is well established that informed participants are better than unwilling victims sacrificed for the company’s profits. Sharing knowledge and profits have gone a long way in achieving better performance. The mightiest of modern organizations have been built through the power of information and the human mind. Hyundai Motors had as its theme ‘Innovation for Humanity.’ Their goal ? Endless innovation.

Organizational Emphasis on Human Factors

The Industrial Revolution made thinking, feeling, human beings, cogs in the wheel. Fortunately, competition has forced us to bring back humanity into the workplace, because it could increase profits. Instituting co-operation and commitment is key to innovation and better performance. The study of some large Indian companies showed that Stars have actively fostered a culture that stimulates innovation and view it as their source of life. Wal-Mart’s Sam Walton, became the second richest man in the world by using innovative methods, particularly in supply chain management.

Breakthrough ideas must be welcomed

Mindwaves are the cultural shifts that sweep across the organization, creating transformational change. Involvement at all levels in developing strategy ensures organizational commitment. Breakthroughs need the support of top management. Budgets have to be set apart and human resources deployed, to achieve breakthrough ideas.

Doing things not done by others

A key innovation characteristic is doing things not done by others. The first mover advantage in innovation is the key to high profits. Two companies, which introduced creativity programs, United Technology and Federal Express, realized a high return on investment (ROI) from their creativity programs. Federal Express achieved a factor of two ROI, or 200%. The ROI for United Technology was even higher, a factor of six.

Improve existing tasks

In order to be innovative, one needs to ensure that all existing tasks are done in the most optimal way. Routine matters are often dealt with automatically and inefficiency often creeps in, eating into the profitability of the organization. The techniques of innovation see existing tasks as a vast area, with great potential for improvement. The Japanese are always looking for better ways of doing anything. They say in effect, “This is being done very well. Let us study how to do it better.” This is what drives them to amaze the world, incessantly, with their miraculous creations. While it allows the status quo to remain, they are constantly looking for ways to do existing things more efficiently. A well-known manufacturer of travel luggage in India was deeply concerned about the high cost of transporting bags. During a brainstorming session, one of the members asked “Why do you transport air? All the bags are just full of air.” In effect, a nesting system was created, where one bag sat snugly inside a larger bag. The reduction in logistics costs led to the company buying up its nearest rival and enjoying a virtual monopoly for many years.

Replicating best practices

Copying the best practices from other players in the field can improve efficiency. Replicating the ideas that work across the organization, can save time and other resources. Paying attention to the mishaps of other players and avoiding what does not work for them, is also usable information.

Do away with unnecessary tasks

A great deal of organizational energy is wasted by duplication of activities that are being done by others and duplication of activities that can be done by suppliers or other stakeholders. This is a result of overlapping responsibilities. Once unnecessary tasks are eliminated, there will be a focus on relevant activities and with it will come relevant innovation.

Doing the right things

This concerns choosing the right way to do things by benchmarking with the best organizations in the world. The internet provides us with direct access to best practices from around the world. Once good and better ways of doing things right are discovered, they must be shared across the organization on a consistent and relevant basis. Unilever has Innovation Centers in every region that are dedicated to studying the best way of doing everything. These processes are then replicated across the globe.

Doing things right

Mistakes can be expensive. The cost of rejection is a major source of concern in manufacturing. Doing things right is essential before companies can think of doing new things.  Training  Retraining  Building-in quality consciousness  Reward and feedback systems  Process improvement  Communicating and affirming a culture of excellence  Building teams that co-operate rather than compete

Organizational Culture and the Emphasis on Innovation

Without the oxygen of support and applause, ideas often die in infancy. The creativity improvement program can be the foundation that enables all other company programs to be effective. There are a number of steps to ensure that the program encourages innovation. IBM whose motto is ‘Think,’ believes in ‘More intellect, less materials.’

Leadership and consumer relevance are the top drivers of innovation

There are two essential ingredients for successful innovation: Leadership and Consumer Relevance. Innovative processes do not begin in the R&D laboratory. They are initiated with a mandate from the highest level of the corporation. Identifying the consumer’s needs is an equally integral part of the innovation process. Ensuring employee participation in planning and a complete buy-in into innovative strategy is critical.

The mind is the greatest resource

The mind is the greatest resource needed for innovation. With mental capability, there are few limitations. Overload a machine and it can break down. Even computer chips have their speed limits. Resources can run dry. However, if we can help people make better use of their minds, the returns are immeasurable. The mind computer has the capacity to store an equivalent of 7550 volumes of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Process Of Managing Innovation

The process of managing innovation ties in closely with organizational freedom. Managing innovation is not an oxymoron. Highly innovative companies manage the actual process of generating, developing and implementing innovative ideas better than their competitors do. This process involves a lot of deliberate duplication and redundancy in order to foster knowledge sharing and communication. There are a million garage start-ups in IT. In rural India, cowshed innovation is common. But in every case, it has blossomed in an atmosphere of organizational freedom. Microsoft says that “their only factory asset is the human imagination.”

CULTURE OF INNOVATION

Innovation is about lighting our little candles to defy the darkness. The organizational climate often decides whether the ideas flourish and bloom or fade and die. Thus, organizational culture becomes critical to innovation. Ricardo Semler of Semco, the South American magnate, believes that the culture of innovation in an organization is created by providing total freedom to his employees. Ricardo Semler’s Six Rules for Management without Control: 1. Forget about the top line 2. Never stop being start up 3. Don’t be a nanny 4. Let talent find its place 5. Make decisions quickly and openly 6. Partner promiscuously

The Final Stage of the Process

The ‘reality test’ should now be ruthlessly applied. Once implementation starts, every move costs money. This is the last step in the thinking process and all ideas should be carefully studied. Implementing creative ideas and turning them into innovations is a special challenge. It is a process that requires a clear road map and the organizational will to stick to the path. This is where many organizations fail. An ounce of action is worth tonnes of e-mail, paper and speeches. Implementation is the key to innovation. “Management tends to ignore workers’ suggestions about jobs. I have seen engineers ignore comments from workers, which would improve the productivity of an individual job. At one point, I noticed hot air holes were crossed, creating a potentially dangerous situation. When I suggested they be altered, the foreman said they had been designed that way by engineers who clearly know better than I, how the plant works. Management obviously is effectively cutting off creativity from a large group of employees who are most likely to make worthwhile suggestions on jobs they are doing. The whole situation carries from a lack of respect for the creativity of the individual. It arises from the view that people ought to be as identical as the cars they make.” ― John F Awacies

Analysis is a corollary to incubation

In the creative thinking process, incubation is followed by ‘Analysis.’ During the process of analysis, apply left-brain thinking – logical, statistical and mathematical. Solutions have to be carefully discussed and the optimum one chosen. The solutions are analyzed against the parameters chosen by the problem owner. “Product innovation is not the most important type of innovation, though it is considered the most common type of innovation in Indian companies” Some prevalent parameters are: a) Time b) Budget c) Convenience d) Human resources e) Goodwill and impact on staff motivation levels f) Aesthetics g) Saving lives h) Political capital

Incubation

Once the ideas are generated, the next step in the thinking process is incubation. After you have spent time collecting the facts and generating ideas, forget the problem. Hand it over to the subconscious to incubate. The subconscious is a vast computer, which stores everything you have ever seen, felt, smelt or experienced. You may read a book, watch a movie, listen to music or ride a bicycle. Incubation after hard work can result in discovery. Alex Osborne, the advertising genius, said that during incubation, “I lie like a wet leaf on a log of wood and allow the current to carry me where it will.” Osborne continues, "When I am thus involved in doing nothing, I receive a constant stream of telegrams from my subconscious." He feels that he has done his best work when he was really doing nothing. It was during incubation that Newton discovered the laws of gravity. Also bear in mind that luck favors the prepared mind. The thought process involved is a cycle, linking preparation, incubation, illumination, and verification. It was while having a bath that Archimedes discovered the laws of displacement.

Direct Analogy

A direct analogy answers the question: Where else has this problem or a similar problem been solved? Maybe our problem can be solved in the same way. The richest source of analogous solutions seems to be the natural world. “Nature seems to have solved just about every problem we can think of, if only we know where to look and are able to translate the idea from one context to another,” writes Ronald Whitfield, in ‘Creativity in Industry.’ The same view is echoed by Gordon Edge, of PA Technology: “If you want to solve a problem, see how it is solved in nature. Living forms always have the most economical answers, as a result of evolution.” His team used the way a nocturnal moth’s eye absorbs light and thereby reflecting it, (by means of a delicate crisscross pattern coating the eye), as the basis for an information storage system on an optical disk. In the case of the optical disk for information storage, the connection to the nocturnal moth was found by ‘a lucky chain of coincidences,’ which recalls Pasteur’s comment that ‘chance favors the prepared mind,’ and George Prince’s modification of it – ‘the prepared mind makes its own chances.’ We cannot all be experts in biology, zoology and so on, but we can take an interest in a wide variety of phenomena and trust our own minds to throw up clues that will lead us to the analogies we need.

Do and Dare

Do and dare, get out of your comfort zone and stretch yourself. Stretch the amount of work you do, stretch your expectations, and stretch your imagination. It is essential to give people meaning and purpose in the work place. The practice of innovation can bring back the joy and responsibility of craftsmanship that is missing in many organizations. Create a positive field where others can think. Emotions and the way you deal with them, create the positive field.

Career Excursion

One of the simplest of all excursions is to look at the problem through the eyes of someone completely different. You can do this by imagining you are in a totally different job – a coal miner, astronaut, deep-sea diver, football manager, and ballet dancer. As you imagine yourself in that job, see what ideas occur to you that might help with the problem.

Stillness

The best attitude for learning is to be relaxed but alert. Like a flower open to the morning sun. The best attitude for thinking also is the same. Like a cat in the sun, completely relaxed so that even its paws are limp; but at the first sign of a mouse, it springs into action, all muscle and lightning speed. Yoga, meditation or any other form of stillness will ensure that you are in an ideal state for thinking fluently.

Using Life to Develop Creative Ideas

Life provides rich material to develop creative ideas. There is a story in the Bhagavatham about how Uddhava asks Krishna the question, “Who is a Teacher?” Krishna says: “Look at the sky; far, far away, you can see an eagle swift and strong and free. In a single instant, it can swoop down to earth and capture its prey. As far as vision and speed are concerned, that eagle is your guru. See the lion in the forest; see how majestic is his gait. As far as grace, is concerned that lion is your guru. Watch the sinuous serpent; he is not anxious about his prey. He waits and watches. That serpent will teach you confidence. All of life is designed to teach you. Those who love you, teach you something. Those who hate you, teach you more.” Sorrow and pain are sent into our lives for a reason so that we can empathize with others. Life is the ultimate text book, and graduating from the university of life is the final goal.

Free Fall

The capacity to let go is rare; most humans seek security. But to stand still is to risk even more. It is to risk being overtaken by change. It is to risk being “dragged, an unwilling victim, to be sacrificed on the alter of technology.” Free fall is like bungee jumping. You let go without knowing definitely what will happen. Creative ideas are a kind of free fall. You generate ideas that have never been suggested or heard before. You risk the contempt of your peers, their jeers and laughter. There is the old story of Columbus who discovered America. When he returned, his friends said, “Anyone could have done it. You just kept sailing west till you found America. We too could have done it.” Columbus brought out an egg and said, “Make it stand up straight.” No one could do it. They said, “It can’t be done.” Columbus tapped the egg lightly on the table, so that it cracked slightly, to form a stable surface and then made it stand. Everyone said, “That is cheating. You can’t break the egg.” Columbus said, “Who said you can’t break the egg. You are imagining limitations and boundaries that are not there and then saying it can’t be done. That is why you could not have discovered America.”

THINKING TOOLS: Turn it Upside Down (T U D)

1. Normal belief: A hospital is a place for sick people.

2. T U D: A hospital is a place for people who are healthy.

When we looked at a hospital as a place for people who are healthy,

1. Our base of customers increased to include a vast number of healthy people who come for positive health programs. The positive health theme included the “Well Woman” program, which involved a health and beauty focus: yoga experts, beauticians, and women’s health practitioners helped create a vastly successful program. Preventive health care became a positive activity. 15 check-ups including the heart check, the diabetic check and the child health check were part of the wellness check portfolio.

2. The relationship with customers, which traditionally started on a note of pain, anxiety, and death, began on a happy note. The focus was how to remain healthy and how to face problems. The lifetime relationship, which is the bedrock of direct marketing today, started on a happy, positive note, with wellness as the key.

Since then we realized that, thinkers from Plato onwards have developed hundreds of thinking tools which are as easy to learn as the 3R’s - Reading, Writing and Arithmetic. The simplest tools include checklists ranging from Rudyard Kipling’s famous “Five good serving men” (The questions Why, Where, When, Who and How) to Alex Osborne’s 9 Word Checklist.

Metaphors - Origin and Significance

Ideas imported from other fields can totally transform your company. In a Creativity Lab conducted for an internationally acclaimed company dealing in printing of tea bags, the problem was maintenance of delicate machines. The expensive machines were often handled clumsily, resulting in damage, breakdowns and loss. To counteract this, the ‘Metaphor’ tool was used.

Metaphors can be applied to gain fresh perspectives on the situation under analysis. A metaphor is a term or phrase that is applied to another, unrelated term or phrase to create a non-traditional relationship. For example, “All the world’s a stage.”

Metaphors can be used to examine various situations. For example, an organizational environment might be the topic of analysis. One might ask, “How do people in my organization resemble animals in a jungle? How do different animals manage their interactions with each other and how do we translate them into the different leadership styles that are used?” Answering these queries might allow new insights into the situation.

Nothing Grows Under a Banyan Tree

There is a beautiful tree outside my gate. It is strangely human – it sleeps. As dusk approaches all its leaves droop and hang limp and drowsy. People here call it the ‘sleepy face’ tree.

After a long day at work I feel a special kinship with it. I’m frankly enchanted by its wide spreading branches which reach out umbrella like to provide an oasis of dappled shade; by the way its leaves are darkly outlined against the sky when I look up. Its furry pink flowers and even the dry leaves that crackle under my feet as I go up the cement walk before our house, please me.

I could find no fault with my tree until I saw what it was doing to my jasmine bush. The flowers of this particular plant are my favorite. They emanate a lush fragrance from their heavily petaled blooms.

The shrub always seems to flower with great reluctance – just one or two flowers a day, during the summer months.

This year the tree has grown mightily. Spreading its branches and embracing the ground beneath in cool shadow.

But now, the jasmine has stopped flowering. All my ministrations will not persuade it to throw out a single bloom.

So many great and overwhelming personalities are like my tree. They grow tall and powerful, providing shelter for the multitude. But they invariably destroy the sensitive, quiet soul from whom they cut off the sunlight.

Remember, nothing grows under a banyan tree.

The Mirror Image

Each of us develops an image of self, based on how significant others or those whose opinions we care about look at us. Cooley’s Mirror Image says “I am what I think, you think I am.” This is connected to the ancient Greek legend of Pygmalion, where a sculptor falls in love with a statue. The statue responds by becoming a beautiful girl. Each significant ‘other person’ calls for the best or worst in each of us. For within all of us dwell the highest and lowest. Those who are not significant in our lives may not have any impact on us.

Instead of pouring knowledge into people’s heads we need to help them grind a new set of eyeglasses so that we can see the world in a new way.
− J.S.Brown

How to Deal with Threats and Conflicts

Sometimes, the words of the other person immediately switch on the ‘danger button.’ The fight or flight response is triggered by verbal, tonal, non-verbal cues. If you intend building a long-term relationship with the person, imagine pouring soothing oil on the troubled waters. Through verbal cues, inject soothing, peaceful and supportive words into the field. Then soothe yourself, telling yourself that the negative field will not harm you up to a point. Go with the person’s ideas while soothing yourself. Springboard, Ping Pong and make yourself totally ‘available’ to the person.

Spectators and Participants

Most people are spectators on the banks of the river of life. They miss the point of life, by not being mindful, by not experiencing every moment. The participant dives into every moment, and experiences life in every cell of his being. Such a person cares about the company, the family, his work. His intimacy with the domain enables him to find pathways through the tangled thickets of the problem, which are invisible to the spectator.

To be a spectator is not to know the details of a plan. Chief executives who are not in touch with the grassroot level realities are bound to fail. Their mental distance from the problem ensures that they miss the key elements that decide the difference between success and failure.

Install uncertainty, abandon certainty

To be open and vulnerable even to ideas that seem threatening is the key to creativity. Convert yourself into a total listening self; your determination to support another’s idea will create a field that can yield richly creative ideas. No part of your self should be involved in finding fault, creating obstacles, or developing reasons why the idea will not work. Your mind should flow with the others, lend your heartfelt imagination and support the other’s idea. Use verbal cues to create a positive, listening, supportive field: avoid words that can poison the field and turn it negative; words that prevent the bubbling up of new ideas are strictly prohibited.

A sanctuary for wild ideas

For the lush growth of creative ideas, it is necessary to create a space which is very supportive of wild ideas. Let us build a sanctuary for wild ideas. Just as a game sanctuary protects wild animals, let us place wild ideas in a protected area where they can wander around in peace.

The group is not to stop till they have 100 ideas. No one is allowed to shoot down any idea however irrelevant; only building is allowed. Ping-Pong and springboards are allowed. Impossible ideas in a sanctuary are allowed to grow unmolested. No one is allowed to attack them, only grow and develop them.

As C.K. Prahlad put it, every company has before it a 100 alternative futures. Every person has before him a 100 alternative futures; creativity enables you to explore these alternatives in your mind.

These explorations cost nothing. They could save you millions.

Positive Productive Team

 The individuals in the team have a fixed amount of potential energy.
 Each individual uses as much of his energy as is necessary to ensure his emotional survival.
 He tries hard to avoid getting hurt and to lick his wounds or takes revenge if he is hurt.
 Only the balance of energy is available to devote to the task.
 Energy available to the group dramatically improves as the team climate improves.
 More energy is put into achieving goals.
 Less is spent on safeguarding emotional well-being.
 You achieve a team atmosphere where colleagues are a pleasure to work with, the boss is a good guy, there is excitement in the air and laughter too; and success is within hand’s reach.
 The positive field is the foundation of highly productive and innovative teams.

The Nava Rasas of the Positive Field

Emotions and the way you deal with them, create the positive field. The Mind is a field, which is filled with positive and negative emotions. The nava rasas can be your guide to understanding the nine emotions. The nava rasas are a 2000 year old Indian concept on emotions. The nine emotions have been built into a system of dance called Natya Shastra by Sage Bharata. Rasa means rapture or relish and 37 chapters of the Natya Shastra are devoted to eight of them, as Bharatha does not consider ‘Shantha’ or peace a major rasa. Bharata’s Natya Shastra even described each rasa with a different color.

The positive emotions create a positive field, which fills your blood with the chemicals of happiness and well-being, which are conducive to the building or rebuilding of a healthy body and mind. The negative emotions create a negative field, which fills your blood with the chemicals of unrest and unhappiness. It is important to have a closer look at the nine rasas.

Building teams and generating ideas

The value system of a company can provide the environment for creativity. People can do their best if their work is good for the employees, customers, and the country.

“The essence of creativity is a willingness to play the fool, to toy with the absurd, only later submitting the stream of ideas to harsh critical judgment. The application of the imagination to the future therefore requires an environment in which to safely reflect, in which novel juxtapositions of ideas can be freely expressed before being critically sifted. We need sanctuaries for the social imagination.”
− Alvin Toffler
During meditative practices, the chemicals of peace and tranquility like serotonins and endorphins flow into the blood. Breathing, heart rate and pulse rate stabilize. The mind is able to function calmly and freely. An alert and relaxed attitude is required for the teamwork involved in building ideas and analyzing them. Self-awareness of your state of mind can help you get the most out of life and help others to do the same.

Enhancing the relationship with Self

Validation by the self and others, particularly ‘significant’ others, is essential for the creation of a positive field. Everyone needs to be validated. People who retire from busy lives, feel the lack of validation strongly in their now empty lives, which they had not planned for. A plan that provides validation for one’s existence is critical to wholeness.

My relationship with myself is critical. How do I talk to myself? Holding, sustaining environments, nurturing and supporting fields, foster happiness. Building competence with coaching is an option. However, when one converts one’s management style from self-punisher and merciless critic to a loving coach, one creates an ever-present holding environment that nurtures one’s continuing movement towards growth and creativity.

All things with reverence and sraddha

Decide to approach all events, all people, and all things with affection, reverence and ‘Sraddha.’ This reverence is due to all, because of the divine spark that dwells in everyone whether he is a legend or a failure. Sometimes it is obvious. It is the silent flame of consciousness that reaches out to you from a flowering creeper or a healthy pet. Sometimes this life force has lost its vitality and is dimmed by dirt, lethargy and lack of care. Clean the glass of your Life’s lamp. Make the light shine through.

When you consider yourself sacred, you will treat yourself well. You will wear clean, fresh clothes, ironed and starched, mended if torn, but clean and fresh. You will smile at yourself, encourage yourself. Just as you put on clean fresh clothes, you will also clean up the mental space or field around you. Sweep out all ill-will, anger, fear and anxiety. Let there be the fragrance of incense, divinity of prayer and mantra, the smiles of loved ones, laughter and joy, the smell and taste of good, nutritious food. It is as important to clean the field around you, as it is to have a bath. Sweep out the sad baggage of the past. Take into that field only what is bright and elevating, fine and happy.

Elevate everyday experiences to the level of sacredness!

When work is done with such love, it fills the body and mind with bliss and transforms any place into a sacred space. As Khalil Gibran writes in The Prophet, “What is it to work with love? It is to weave the cloth from the strings of your heart, as though your Beloved were to wear it.” What is required to fill your blood with the chemicals of bliss is an attitude transplant. Soar on your positive attitude.
Here is an example:
I first met Reg when he was in his late seventies in Pondicherry. He was running the ‘Good Guest House’. Hidden behind high walls,, it is a lovely guest house surrounded by a green garden. It was a pleasant surprise, to step in from the dusty, noisy street behind high walls, through a wooden door into that secret, perfect place. The floors gleamed, sparklingly clean; paintings hung on the walls and it was silent inside. Reg, once upon a time, was a French chef. He met the Mother and stayed behind ‛forever’, to look after the ‘Good Guest House’ for Her! ‘Who keeps it so clean?’ I asked. ‘I do it’, he says. ‘I love to keep it gleaming, because when I clean the floor, I feel I am wiping Mother’s feet’.

Empowerment is the result of wholehearted participation

If you learn the secret of positive fields or mindspace, you can improve your Happiness Quotient. You can also get the best out of others. Making members of your team wholehearted participants rather than indifferent spectators, is the key to organizational success.

Wholeheartedness is a state of full presence. This state involves complete enjoyment of a task. Participation, with full commitment of body and mind, is irresistible. I become wholehearted when I give all of myself to an interaction or task. These interactions create a field, which allows me to be wholeheartedly present in the moment, without defensiveness. The most fundamental characteristics of a positive field are that it quells anxiety and produces feelings of acceptance and a feeling of being affirmed. It is like walking into a room full of people who love and accept you, unconditionally. It is a feeling of being meaningful and safe – this frees up energy for connecting.

Enhancing Positive Emotions

Learning to enhance the positive field and reducing the effect of the negative field is an important part of creativity and innovation. Thinking out of the box is possible only in a positive field. The positive field is sustained by certain tools and behavior: verbal, tonal and non-verbal. It is a win-win field. Within such a field, all who operate together are enabled and nurtured.

“It is well known that the era of the rugged individual has been replaced by the era of the team player. But this is only the beginning. The quantum world has demolished the concept of the unconnected individual,” wrote Margaret J. Wheatley. When people in a team co-operate and collaborate, the emotional balance sheet of all participants is positive. Understanding is more important than being understood or being right. The positive field is created by a common prayer or “mantra,” by a mental process which draws a magic circle around all those who are participating. A common exercise, a common company song, common goals; all enhance the power of the positive field. Handshakes, a friendly look, an encouraging word, are key factors. The role of laughter and commonly shared jokes in creating a positive field cannot be over estimated.

The Importance of Maintaining a Positive Emotional Balance Sheet with others

The environment of creativity is a supportive and nurturing environment, where everyone feels free to play, to be intuitive and bold. It is the environment that encourages people to be creative, be silly even, to take risks, and to think outside the box. There is around every organization, a field, which is positive or negative. This field begins within the individual.

Each person has within him a field that is positive or negative. The development of an inner field, a mindspace that is positive, is key to creativity. Consciously developing and pouring in positive emotions creates a positive field within which, a person interacts with others who bring in their own fields. Those who operate in positive fields suffused with love, compassion, laughter, courage and wonder, are likely to be more creative while supporting others to be at their innovative best.

The MindsPower Way

Much of the MindsPower process focuses on stimulating fresh thinking in managers and leaders with the goal of bringing new power and perspectives to their organizations. In strategic planning assignments, the client’s own planning team works out the plan, knowing that the important thing about a strategic plan is not the paper it is printed on, but the process it creates within an organization.
The process facilitates culture change, whether the transformation is being driven by shifting paradigms in the market or by internal events like mergers or acquisitions. Many companies use the process to create profitable new products and processes, often drawing on MindsPower’s unique research process for tapping the creativity of customers. Product development assignments not only assist with the birth of new ideas, but stay with the company all the way to the market.

Companies use the process to create or revitalize quality improvement programs. Another important area of work is corporate transformation, by developing high-performing managers and teams and promoting cross functional teamwork. This often involves mounting an Innovative Teamwork Program, which enables people to invent better ways of working and performing together. MindsPower programs are often tailored to the specific needs of each company.

The first step in developing an environment that nurtures creativity is to separate idea generation from analysis. Most business sessions do not yield too many breakthrough ideas because managers are too busy shooting down each other’s ideas. Such meetings produce boring, safe and often useless suggestions.

Today is the age of knowledge. Innovation can take companies forward at the speed of thought.

The MindsPower Way

Much of the MindsPower process focuses on stimulating fresh thinking in managers and leaders with the goal of bringing new power and perspectives to their organizations. In strategic planning assignments, the client’s own planning team works out the plan, knowing that the important thing about a strategic plan is not the paper it is printed on, but the process it creates within an organization.
The process facilitates culture change, whether the transformation is being driven by shifting paradigms in the market or by internal events like mergers or acquisitions. Many companies use the process to create profitable new products and processes, often drawing on MindsPower’s unique research process for tapping the creativity of customers. Product development assignments not only assist with the birth of new ideas, but stay with the company all the way to the market.

Companies use the process to create or revitalize quality improvement programs. Another important area of work is corporate transformation, by developing high-performing managers and teams and promoting cross functional teamwork. This often involves mounting an Innovative Teamwork Program, which enables people to invent better ways of working and performing together. MindsPower programs are often tailored to the specific needs of each company.

The first step in developing an environment that nurtures creativity is to separate idea generation from analysis. Most business sessions do not yield too many breakthrough ideas because managers are too busy shooting down each other’s ideas. Such meetings produce boring, safe and often useless suggestions.

Today is the age of knowledge. Innovation can take companies forward at the speed of thought.

Implementation: The Final Stage of the Process

The ‘reality test’ should now be ruthlessly applied. Once implementation starts, every move costs money. This is the last step in the thinking process and all ideas should be carefully studied. Implementing creative ideas and turning them into innovations is a special challenge. It is a process that requires a clear road map and the organizational will to stick to the path. This is where many organizations fail.

An ounce of action is worth tonnes of e-mail, paper and speeches. Implementation is the key to innovation.

Analysis : the gateway to solutions

During the process of analysis, logical, statistical and mathematical solutions have to be carefully discussed and the optimum one chosen. Some prevalent parameters are:

a) Time
b) Budget
c) Convenience
d) Human resources
e) Goodwill and impact on staff motivation levels
f) Aesthetics
g) Saving lives
h) Political capital
During the process of analysis, apply left-brain thinking – logical, statistical and mathematical. Solutions have to be carefully discussed and the optimum one chosen. The solutions are analyzed against the parameters chosen by the problem owner.

Different parameters find different levels of priority depending on the situation at hand. Let us consider the example of the budget as a parameter and its priority level in different cases. For a company where liquidity is low, cash flow would be the most important concern. For a company facing a crisis, time may be of the essence and big budgets would be tolerated in view of the emergency situation.

While identifying solutions, ensure that there are a wide variety of options to choose from. There is then a greater possibility that the final option chosen ensures optimal results. This systematic process ensures that the option chosen produces the best results.

Analysis is the stage just prior to implementation. Therefore, detailed analysis forms the root to strong implementation.

Idea Generation

Idea generation is a powerful tool that can be leveraged to drive innovation. In order to be successful, the idea generation program must be clear and consistent, reaching down to all levels of the organization. However, not following through on an idea generation program dooms it to
failure, as can be seen in suggestion boxes that are never opened and exit interviews that are not analyzed. Successful idea generation programs are long-term and transparent. Good ideas are immediately and publicly rewarded. These programs have a greater chance of success when creativity tools are taught in advance.

Identifying and Creating a Problem Bank

Identifying and formulating the problem is the most difficult part of creative problem solving. Very often we state symptoms of the problems and end up wasting scarce resources chasing the illusionary “golden deer of the epics.” Management then becomes so emotionally committed to the wrong path that we can end up moving faster and faster along the wrong road. It is like a man who drills an oil well, in a bad spot. More and more money is spent with no resulting strike. But those involved, refuse to fill up the unproductive well and move on to a new location. They continue throwing good money after bad, because they do not want to admit that a mistake had been made initially.

6M Map for Problem Analysis
6M Plus, Minus, Interesting
Men
Materials
Machines
Methods
Markets
Money

It is important to involve everyone in identifying the real problem. What is a problem for the worker need not seem like a problem for the manager.

Identifying and Creating a Problem Bank

Identifying and formulating the problem is the most difficult part of creative problem solving. Very often we state symptoms of the problems and end up wasting scarce resources chasing the illusionary “golden deer of the epics.” Management then becomes so emotionally committed to the wrong path that we can end up moving faster and faster along the wrong road. It is like a man who drills an oil well, in a bad spot. More and more money is spent with no resulting strike. But those involved, refuse to fill up the unproductive well and move on to a new location. They continue throwing good money after bad, because they do not want to admit that a mistake had been made initially.

6M Map for Problem Analysis
6M Plus Minus Interesting
Men
Materials
Machines
Methods
Markets
Money

It is important to involve everyone in identifying the real problem. What is a problem for the worker need not seem like a problem for the manager.

Nurturing Creativity

The first step in developing an environment that nurtures creativity is to separate idea generation from analysis. Most business sessions do not yield too many breakthrough ideas because managers are too busy shooting down each other’s ideas. Such meetings produce boring, safe and often useless suggestions.
Today is the age of knowledge. Innovation can take companies forward at the speed of thought. The list below outlines the process:

• Identifying and Creating a Problem Bank
• Idea Generation
• Analysis : the gateway to solutions
• Implementation: The Final Stage of the Process

The MindsPower Way

MindsPower process focuses on stimulating fresh thinking in managers and leaders with the goal of bringing new power and perspectives to their organizations. In strategic planning assignments, the client’s own planning team works out the plan, knowing that the important thing about a strategic plan is not the paper it is printed on, but the process it creates within an organization.
The process facilitates culture change, whether the transformation is being driven by shifting paradigms in the market or by internal events like mergers or acquisitions. Many companies use the process to create profitable new products and processes, often drawing on MindsPower’s unique research process for tapping the creativity of customers. Product development assignments not only assist with the birth of new ideas, but stay with the company all the way to the market.
Companies use the process to create or revitalize quality improvement programs. Another important area of work is corporate transformation, by developing high-performing managers and teams and promoting cross functional teamwork. This often involves mounting an Innovative Teamwork Program, which enables people to invent better ways of working and performing together. MindsPower programs are often tailored to the specific needs of each company.

The MindsPower Group

The first step in a MindsPower group is to install the positive field. The field is consciously installed where members of the group feel safe to be open, inventive, and even silly. Playfulness and fun define the MindsPower field. The positive emotions of love, compassion, laughter, courage and wonder are consciously poured into the field.
This climate is critical to the emergence of creative ideas. If all the emerging ideas are the type one feels comfortable with, then the ideas are probably 200 years old. That is why they feel as comfortable as old slippers.

THE MINDSPOWER PROCESS

The greatest competitive advantage comes from out-innovating the competition. As Tom Peters put it, “Add 10 differentiations to every product or service every 60 days. Sounds impossible. Isn’t it tough? It is. But what are the options? Your competitors are not sitting still.”
Innovation is the ultimate human resource which can ensure the competitive advantage of companies. It is the use of creative thinking tools that can provide the competitive edge required to face the challenge of globalization. Creativity may become essential for survival in the Indian context, where there is such a major limitation of resources.