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The BBC website has a fun page about Leonardo Da Vinci, with a short quiz that you can take that determines what kind of thinker you are. Answer the questions honestly, now.
It turns out that I am a “Linguistic Thinker”. Hmmm. I didn’t see that coming.
What kind of thinker are you?
If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/5w28j8. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen
In part three of The Art of War, Sun Tzu writes of the unity and focus that are required in every part of the army. In the Art of Productivity we will discuss an incremental approach to planning a project.
Proper planning involves following a process that allows one to create a plan after fully defining the problem to be solved. Attacking a problem without focus or unity leads to disaster. In a typical environment, most difficulties are met with an increase in action - work harder, get busier, hire more people. When this doesn’t work, the response is often to rearrange things, and people, in the belief that we just aren’t organized enough.
Finally it will dawn on someone that we are approaching the problem from the wrong direction, because it is still here. Now it’s time to brainstorm those “creative” solutions, think outside the box, draw outside the lines. At the end of this creative session, when we have generated a few ideas that may or may not be related to the problem, we will come to the realization that we really do not know exactly what the problem is. How can we solve a problem that we have not properly defined?
Sun Tzu said:
In the practical Art of War,
The best thing is to take the enemy’s country whole and intact;
To shatter and destroy it is not so good.
It is better to capture an army than destroy it.
~
Problems require solutions,
The best solutions are found when the problem has been defined.
An undefined problem will resist solution,
It is better to solve a problem than avoid it.
To fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence;
Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.
Throwing money and resources at your problems will not solve them,
Defining and understanding the problem will lead you to the solution.
The highest form of generalship is to balk the enemy’s plans;
The next best is to prevent the junction of the enemy’s forces;
The next in order is to attack the enemy’s army in the field;
The worst policy is to besiege a walled city.
The best approach to problem-solving is to first define the issue;
The next best is to empower your team to define it for you;
The next in order is to hire a consultant to lead you through it;
The worst approach is to do the wrong things faster.
.
The rule is, not to besiege walled cities if at all possible.
The preparations of weapons and machines will take months;
And building mounds against the walls will take months more.
Do not attempt to start a brainstorming session without defining the goal;
You will waste your time attempting to engage the participants,
You will waste their time in attempting to be creative without tools.
Therefore the skillful leader
Subdues the enemy’s troops without any fighting;
He captures their cities
Without laying siege to them;
he overthrows their kingdom
Without lengthy operations in the field.
The phases of natural planning in order to:
Discover the purpose and principles to be followed;
Envision the desired outcome;
Brainstorm and capture ideas for solutions;
Organize the components and priorities;
Assign the Next Actions for completion.
With his forces intact he will
dispute the mastery of the empire,
Without losing a man his triumph will be complete.
This is the method of attacking by strategem.
Knowlege of the Purpose and Principles,
Allow you to know when the solution is off-track;
Everyone involved will know the proper criteria,
Having defined the parameters for action.
.
It is the rule in war,
If we outnumber the enemy 10:1, to surround him;
If five to one, to attack him;
If two to one, divide the army in half.
The value of thinking about “Why”
Creates decision-making criteria,
Aligns the resources to be used,
And it can expand the options that are available.
If equally matched, we can offer battle;
If slightly inferior in numbers, avoid the enemy;
If unequal in every way, we can flee from him.
Though an obstinate fight may be made by a small force,
In the end it must be captured by the larger.
Having a clear picture of success
Affects what we perceive and how we perform.
If the vision of the conclusion is unclear there will be failure.
You will not see how to achieve the outcome
Until you see yourself doing it.
The general is the bulwark of the state;
If the bulwark is complete at all points,
The state will be strong;
If the bulwark is defective,
The state will be weak.
A powerful skill to have is conceiving clear outcomes.
Imagine the state of the project from beyond its completion;
What is the greatest possible success?
If the vision of the outcome is not clear,
The solution will be ineffective.
.
There are three ways in which a ruler can bring
misfortune upon his army:
1) By commanding the army to advance or retreat,
being ignorant of the fact that it cannot obey.
This is called hobbling the army.
There are three ways that the process
can doom the project to failure:
1) Outlining the goals and objectives,
Without defining the operational reality.
This is called sandbagging the process.
2) By attempting to govern an army
The same way he administers a kingdom,
being ignorant of the conditions in an army.
This causes restlessness in the soldier’s minds.
2) By scheduling meetings
And demanding the attendance of all,
Without knowing whose involvement is essential.
One meeting will become a group of smaller meetings.
3) By employing the officers of his army without discrimination,
Through ignorance of the military principle
Of adaptation to circumstances.
This shakes the confidence of the soldiers.
3) By attempting to assign responsibilities
without having knowledge of capabilities,
or being aware of the resources available.
This causes stress and fearfulness.
.
When the army is restless and distrustful,
Trouble is sure to come from the other princes.
This will being anarchy to the army,
And flinging victory away.
When meetings are deemed to be useless,
Participation in a meaningful way is impossible.
When contributions are not valued,
Solutions are never presented.
.
Thus we may know that there are five essentials for victory:
There are five essential steps in the method of Natural Planning:
1) He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight.
1) What is the true purpose of the planning?
2) He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces.
2) What principles will be followed to bring a successful outcome?
3) He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout its ranks.
3) Focus on the final outcome and the features that will be in place.
4) He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared.
4) Brainstorm for solutions, capture your ideas with a mind-map. Save every notion.
5) He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.
5) Organize the ideas and identify the order of the components.
.
Thus the saying:
If you know the enemy and know yourself,
you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.
If you know yourself but not the enemy,
For every victory gained, also suffer a defeat.
Thus the sayings:
“Proper planning prevents poor performance.”
“Failure to plan means planning to fail.”
“Lack of planning on your part does not
Constitute an emergency on my part.”
If you know neither the enemy
nor yourself,
you will succumb in every battle.
If you do not define the problem
nor envision the outcome,
you will fail at every endeavor.
Feel free to discuss and share your thoughts in the comments. I am looking forward to the conversation. A public domain version of the Art of War can be downloaded here(.txt file, .html file). (from Project Gutenberg)
If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/6l5ssz. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen
If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/5mb9tu. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen
For the past 21 years, we have been working closely with a wide range of savvy organizations who have identified the need to raise the bar for innovation and creative thinking. One thing that’s become abundantly clear to us is this: 95% of all the people who end up in our sessions are predominantly left-brained. Hmmm… They want to “get out of the box,” but first they want to define the box, measure the box, compare it to other boxes, and/or send the box up to corporate to make sure that everyone signs off on the collective vision of non-boxiness.
The 32 tips on this list are broad-ranging, from simply “establishing credibility” (always useful) to “consult with the tough people on the breaks“. I recommend that you read the whole thing, here are a few of my favorites:
1. Establish your credibility
If you do not already know the participants in the session you’ll be facilitating, get your bio to participants before the session begins. Include anything that will help people understand that you have the experience and expertise to be a valuable resource. If this is not possible, introduce yourself early in the session and describe your qualifications. Your goal is to reassure participants that you just didn’t walk off the street with a magic marker in your hand. This effort is not driven by the need for you to pose as a superstar, but to diffuse any lingering doubt in the room that you are the one to facilitate. Doubt kills creativity. You want to do everything possible to remove doubt from the room.
[…]
5. Break the ice.
Most people who end up in your creative thinking session will probably not be in a creative mindset when they enter the room. On the contrary, they are likely to be hurried, multi-tracking, overloaded with information, overwhelmed with tasks, and/or feeling underappreciated. One way or another they are likely to be dwelling in the logical, linear, analytical side of their brain. What they need is some kind of transition – a bridge from the world of “human doings” to the world of “human beings.” A well-facilitated icebreaker is the best way to do this.
[…]
7. Don’t think, do!
Brainstorming sessions, understandably, are “head sessions,” requiring a significant amount of thinking, cognition, and mentation. But that is not the only way to get at good ideas. In fact, one of the best ways to quicken the appearance of good ideas is to “not think.” Mozart used to exercise before he composed. Yakahura Nakamatsu, the holder of the most patents ever, liked to swim underwater before he invented. Socrates used to take his students for a walk. Somehow, these seemingly mindless excursions free up brainpower. The best and fastest way to accomplish this, we’ve discovered, is with hands-on, interactive problem-solving activities that have high relevance to the brainstorming challenge or group dynamic.
[…]
15. Encourage participants to follow their fascination.
Whenever possible, allow participants to choose (and continue choosing) the challenge, opportunity or idea they want to brainstorm. Fascination is one of the key drivers of creativity. Sometimes, of course, it is not possible as to shape a session around individual fascination, since a person’s expertise may be needed in a particular sub-group or your client may have a need to have participants address specific, company-wide challenges. Also, sometimes, when you give participants the choice of which topic/challenge they want to brainstorm, everyone will want to address the same one, leaving essential topics “orphans.” Should this be the case, ask participants if they have a second fascination or if they would be willing to “take one for the team” by addressing a topic that needs attention (but has no “takers.”)
[…]
28. Disappear from time to time.
That’s right. Disappear. Don’t always stand in the front of the room being the facilitator or brainstorm leader. Move out of the way and let someone else lead the session for a while. Circle round to the back of the room and let the group have their own discussion. You don’t always have to be an advertisement for “creative thinking.” It gets tedious after a while. Indeed, sometimes the most effective way to diffuse a heavy dose of the left-brain mindset in the room is to back off and let one of the left-brainers take center stage.
[…]
30. Get people talking about “ahas!” they’ve had in their own lives.
No matter how conservative, risk averse, or linear any participant in your session will be, it’s likely that all of them – at some time or another – have had a really great idea. “Creativity” really isn’t all that foreign to them (although they may think it is). All you have to do to get participants in touch with that part of themselves is to get them reflecting on a past moment in their lives where they were operating at a high level of creativity. Get them talking about how it felt, what were the conditions, and what preceded the breakthrough. You’ll be amazed at the stories you’ll hear and how willing everyone will be to participate in the process to follow.
[…]
32. Consult with the tough people on the breaks.
Every once in a while, a really tough person shows up in a session – someone who is probably very smart, extremely competent, experienced, with a big BS detector, and just enough arrogance to make you feel uncomfortable. These people can be big influencers in a brainstorm session, especially if they hold positions of power in the organization. In the best of all worlds, these folks would always be on your side. But they’re not. Sometimes, in fact, they become “corporate hecklers,” even if they don’t say a single word. Every time you look at them you get self-conscious or filled with doubt about your expertise. Don’t play to these people in a neurotic attempt to get their approval. You won’t get it. But do seek them out on breaks and engage them. Get them talking. Pay attention. See if you can pick up any useful feedback or clues about revising your agenda or approach. Even though you wouldn’t choose to be trapped on a desert island with them, these folks may turn out to be a huge blessing for you – because they are carriers of a particular insight or sensibility that needs to be honored. More than likely, some of the other people in the room are feeling the same thing, but have been too polite to show their true colors. So, don’t be afraid of these people. They can be a very valuable resource.
What are some of your favorite brainstorming techniques? Please share with us in the Comments.
If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/5zqjcq. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen
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August 31st, 2007 by Stephen
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