The place to start innovating is right in front of you.

Despite a tremendous amount of discussion in the media, innovation is still unfamiliar waters to most business leaders. They hesitate to plunge in, even when “WWADI” (the Way We’ve Always Done It) is no longer delivering results and new thinking is urgently needed.

Hesitation is understandable. In my last article for KPMG Enterprise, I observed that fear can inhibit both employees and leaders from expressing and accepting new ideas. Creativity is personal and people decide how they will contribute ideas to their organization (or not) based on their feelings.

The pressure to make a big splash doesn’t make it any easier to get in the water. The media focuses on “game-changing” innovation and showcases the successes of giants such as Apple and icons such as the late Steve Jobs. That’s inspiring but also intimidating.

Innovation doesn’t have to be a deep dive; you can wade in. The critical decisions are where and how.

Choose a single entry point

The best entry point is a small, self-contained pilot project based in incremental innovation i.e., improvements to existing products, services and processes. Look for challenges requiring genuinely new thinking vs. a practical fix within the realm of “WWADI” (the Way We’ve Always Done It).

There are innovation opportunities right in front of you; some are obvious. Build a full menu of options before you choose a pilot project.

Review the current business plan. There may be new challenges to execution. Maybe you have fewer resources. Maybe the competitive landscape is suddenly crowded. Maybe customer demands are greater. Either way, there is a call for new thinking.

Ask for feedback from customers, employees and suppliers. Customers will likely highlight unmet needs and opportunities to add marketable value to your current offering. The people who work “in the trenches” will likely point out things that can work better. An online survey will reveal the spectrum of possibilities. Clarify with interviews.

If your conclusion is far-reaching e.g., “we need to manufacture different products,” you’re beyond a self-facilitated pilot project – you need help from a specialist.

Wade in, step by step

The steps below are common sense. All of them address the fear factor inherent in innovation.

• Define a small pilot project. The goal of the pilot is two-fold: implement a valuable idea, and gauge how well your people adopt innovation behaviours and processes. Choose an opportunity aligned with your current strategic plan and set realistic goals for the pilot. Be specific about how value will be generated and measured. Identify potential risks and mitigate what you can without killing the freedom to try something new. (You can’t go swimming without getting wet!)
• Pick a pilot team. Focus on creating champions for the pilot as well as future innovation projects and include people willing to play devil’s advocate. Ensure the pilot leader has an open mind!
• Follow these 5 steps for idea development. Avoid skipping steps in a rush to get a result.

1. 1. Define the challenge. Figure out what you are trying to solve and then get consensus that it will create measurable value for the organization. If you can’t agree, it’s a sign you’re entering the water at the wrong spot or you’re not ready to take the plunge.
   2. Gather data. Cultivate fresh insights/ideas with various types of research. This step is about making thought-provoking connections from the known to the new, and from the new to the known.
   3. Generate ideas. Explore NEW ideas (go for quantity and variety) and defer evaluation.
   4. Refine ideas. Strengthen/select the most promising ideas using a matrix of relevant business criteria. Then translate ideas into viable solutions.
   5. Propose ideas. Make a strong business case to secure approval and resources for implementation.

Start swimming

Implement the winning idea. Pause to test it against success measures, and improve as needed.

Before you implement, communicate the goals and expectations for the pilot to the organization. Doing things differently requires support from all those affected. Use regular project updates to generate excitement and give credit to the team. Reveal what was learned from failures to reinforce that innovation is not sink or swim – ideas that don’t work often trigger ideas that DO work!

When the pilot is complete and the team reports on lessons learned, you will be more equipped to determine the role of innovation in your organization’s business strategy, processes and culture.

Recently I performed with my improv class in a show and took away more insights on how to be a relaxed and effective “performer” in the business world. They apply whether you’re giving a presentation or just participating in a meeting.

Listen and be present to what is going on in the room – it will increase your enjoyment and make room for authentic collaboration.

I really enjoyed watching my classmates perform while I was standing on the side of the stage, waiting for my turn. I was able to do this because our improv teacher has trained us not “to get inside our head” and “pre-load” scene content before we go into it. If you’ve already crafted the scene in your head when you begin, you are not collaborating with your scene partner(s), you are dictating.

Lesson: Deciding not to be inside your head frees you up to make the most of the present moment. It’s too easy to fake the act of listening; you peer at the person talking but instead of really hearing them, you’re inside your head crafting your response to what you think they’re saying. You may be missing good stuff and sometimes, your response reveals that.

Allow room for failure in your presentation – it will relieve the pressure of perfection.

In my first scene, I played a wife in a marriage that was falling apart. I chose a Southern accent because it is usually reliable for me. However, during the second scene I could not call up the accent – it was one of those mental hiccups, like forgetting how to spell a simple everyday word. After a first attempt that sounded like a strangled Australian accent, I went mostly silent and relied on my face and body to communicate. In the end, all the audience remembered was a great character, well played – or so I was told.

Lesson: To err is human. When you show the audience that you are vulnerable and flawed, people identify with you. In turn, this makes it easier for them to connect with your message. Of course, while errors that arise from nervousness or other human foibles are acceptable, errors that come from being poorly prepared or poorly informed are not. Tip: in my seminars on how to builld/deliver a 5-minute pitch, I point out an odd paradox: although it’s okay to be nervous, never say “I’m nervous.” Verbalizing a weakness undermines the audience’s confidence in your abilities.

Know your spine – it will guide your responses and make your communication consistent.

I’m often asked, “How do you know what to say next?” with regards to improvising a scene. First, I listen to my scene partner and build on their offer. Second, I ensure I know my character in terms of her motivation and basic character (“her spine”) and allow that to inform me. My Southern wife was mortified that she could not produce a child for her husband, and this meant whenever another character casually asked about the state of her marriage, her response was tortured and fearful – in a funny way, of course.

Lesson: People like to know who they are dealing with in the business environment. Figure out who you are, and then be that person consistently. Know your spine – likely, it consists of a few dominant qualities vs. just one. Some call this personal branding. This is not to say you can’t evolve over time (as a brand can); however, it means you need to define how your character adds value to the organization. For example….

• If you’re detailed oriented, be reliable for knowing the small important stuff.
• If you’re creative, be reliable for bringing ideas to the table, and asking others about theirs.
• If you’re efficient, be reliable for using other people’s time well.

Conclusion

I started improv classes because I wanted to do a thing that scared me. Four years later, I wouldn’t say the fear is gone – I still get nervous before a show – I would say that I have confidence that my training has prepared me to deal with whatever happens on stage. If it’s true that “Life is a stage,” then I feel pretty good about life.

Here I play a Southern gal seeking forgiveness from her husband, played by my scene partner, David.

Photographer: Skye Regan – SRP © 2012 | www.skyeregan.com

In one of my wordless scenes with my classmate, Jennifer. Photo courtesy of William's Dad (William also in my class).

There is a rule of thumb – it takes 21-30 consecutive repetitions, at least once per day, to install a new habit – and it worked for me when I worked on three habits at a time. I realized I have limited will power to put against new habits so I need to be clever and economize.

Looking at my own blog, I realize a visitor sees three immense topics – innovation, collaboration and communication – and within them, many new things to try. Yikes – where to start? From my experience with my clients, I boil it down to the three most important habits – all of them are about focus.

Re: innovation – Stop and figure out what you’re trying to solve

New clients often claim brainstorming is a waste of time because it doesn’t produce actionable results. I advise them focus BEFORE brainstorming by asking: “What is the problem we’re trying to solve?” or “What is the opportunity we’re trying to capture?”  The result is a Challenge Statement that everyone buys into before the work begins.

It’s about connecting the dots, from your project to your team’s larger goals and applies to any initiative, not just “creative” stuff. Make this habit easy by putting your team’s business plan or Balanced Scorecard within easy reach.

The implication of skipping this step is wasted time and the ire of colleagues who invest time in a brainstorming session that produces little result. (Once you have a Challenge Statement, you’re ready for the next steps.)

Re: collaboration – Stop and prepare for meetings!

I work with a lot of cross-functional teams on effective collaboration and the first request is always “fewer and more efficient meetings”! The solution starts with one habit: good agendas!

As a professional facilitator, I am obligated to be efficient because clients are paying me for results. My preparation is quick: I pull out the plan and ask, “Where do we need to be at the end of this meeting, in order for us to stay on plan and on point?” Then I reverse engineer from those outcomes. I send out the agenda in advance and also write it on the white board (with approximate times) when I arrive.

Below is an example of an agenda for a meeting to set up a brainstorming session. It refers to tangible outcomes and uses verbs vs. nouns to prompt specific action. (This may seem like basic stuff but you’d be amazed at how often it does not get done.)

• Set Challenge Statement
• Determine participants for brainstorming
• Choose brainstorming technique(s)
• Decide venue: offsite?
• Determine pre-work
• Set next steps for logistics (who, what, when)

Make this habit easy by keeping all your project plans in easy reach. (Even small initiatives need a plan – it might be a list of next steps pulled from an e-mail.) If there is confusion about bigger goals, help your team find clarity.

The implication of skipping this step, again, is wasted time and the lost benefits of focused thinking.

Re: communication – Put the burning question first!

There is irony here: my clients tells me they are frustrated when people don’t get to the point quickly yet they admit their own communication skills are lacking. One client joked, “I wanted to write you a short letter but I didn’t have time so I wrote you a long one.” Being concise is hard work!

I advise my clients to “pose a burning question” at the top of every communication – be it e-mails, PowerPoint, discussion at meetings or phone calls – and make a clear ask.

The best place to establish this habit is e-mail as you are guaranteed to repeat the habit several times a day over the 21-30 day period. The key here is to visualize people reading your e-mail off a PDA to remind you they will only read the subject line and the first sentence or two.

E-mails to colleague about logistics require a simple burning question and ask. The key is to avoid storytelling and unnecessary detail. Example:

• Subject line: “Can we move strategy session to Tuesday?”
• First sentence(s): “We lose two key participants (Kelly & Mark) on Thursday. Tuesday is clear for all. Please confirm by this afternoon that you can be ready two days sooner.”

For more complex issues, it’s a matter of defining the call to action before writing the e-mail. In the case below, the training team was about to send out a long e-mail justifying budget cuts with a vague subject line, “Training budgets, 2012.” When they realized they had no burning question or ask, they came up with a solution and then wrote the e-mail.

• Subject line: “Do you need help balancing your training budget ?”
• First sentence(s): “Join us for a 60-minute lunch’n'learn for tips on maximizing training dollars – April 13, 12-1pm (two week before budgets due). Confirm at link below by April 9.”
• Body of e-mail: (Some history from training team on why budgets were cut and examples of the tips that will be shared, to show value.)

The implication of skipping this step is that your e-mail is not read and action is not taken.

So there you have it: three new habits you can install over the next month.

Last night I cheated on my diet – creamy pasta, 3 glass of red wine – and although my taste buds were a huge fan of the meal, my body wasn’t. Over the last two months, I’ve trained it not to tolerate heavy foods. In the same way, these new habits will reduce your tolerance for unfocused meetings and e-mails. Lead by example, or hire me to teach your team!

A 2002 IKEA commercial (below) infused a table lamp with humanity by showing it being removed from its home and left rejected and alone on a sidewalk with the trash. A similar lamp character could easily be used in an energy-saving campaign reminding employees to turn off their electrical devices at the end of the day. (When left on all night, alone in an empty office, the lamp becomes sad.)

Uses for this technique

A team mascot, "Galida Gus," emerged from a flowchart we drew of the team charter.

Using a personality to express an entire brand is a big job, so let’s leave that one alone. There are other, more manageable uses such as conveying a competency (e.g. customer service, tech savvy, health & safety, teamwork) to internal or external customers. I once worked with a pharma team that had just been convened; the mandate was to develop a drug for commercialization. The team was about five years from launch so it had nothing concrete to rally around – just a product name, Galida.

One day we were doing a team exercise – establishing vision and so on – and the diagram I had drawn on the flipchart began to look like a character. The team embraced it as “Galida Gus.” I used my graphic skills to give it a bit of personality and voilà, a mascot was born. Gus came to represent the team bond – there’s an “us” in Gus – which served them when Galida was later cancelled.

The starting point

In a previous post I talked about using the Twin Trigger Exercise to create metaphors that trigger ideas. Thinking of a human or animal character as a metaphor for your concept is the starting place per the Fido brand example (metaphor is “reliable phone = reliable dog”). It’s a different approach than the Geico gecko because Fido focused on the general concept of faithful dogs vs. choosing one particular dog to represent its brand. In turn, this metaphor stimulated some terrific creative – you may recall Fido’s campaign around the physical similarities between dogs and their owners.

Step 2 of Twin Trigger is listing the attributes of your concept. At that point, you can break away from the exercise to browse through some visuals that may evoke those attributes. An efficient route is a royalty-free stock photography site e.g. iclipart.com where you can browse through categories for animals, wildlife, people, characters, etc. Then you can grab any image that works.

About the lizard thing…

My inspiration for this post was some micro photography on pokkisam.com of insects and lizards. Two of my favourites are below – to me, they instantly convey personality. Related to the ideas below is a previous post, Provoke with Photography.

This lizard could represent a company's ability to manage two divergent work streams simultaneously.

This lizard could represent a ugly problem that has been positioned (unconvincingly) as desirable.

The challenge: achieving focus

With only 5-minutes to tell a story, participants had to be selective about what they put in and ruthless about what they took out. By their nature, entrepreneurs are passionate about their “baby” and so tend to tell too much. They’re also proud of their progress and so tend to showcase the details. They needed a tool that would give them objectivity.

The tool: ABCaP

I adapted ABCaP – my process for action-oriented communication – to a 5-minute format. To sell the value of it to the group, I set an egg timer to five minutes and demonstrated (in real time) how to structure the content and deliver it to an unknown audience.

Whether talking for five minutes or thirty, the same structure applies.

• Know your audience because it’s all about them.
• At the beginning, hook them with a burning question, tease them with a short answer.
• At the end, make a clear ask.
• In the middle, put in the right amount of the right information to compel the audience to give you your ask.

The basics of ABCaP

Rule One: It’s all about the audience

It’s not about you; you’re not selling to yourself. You’re selling to a very specific audience that has limited time and attention to give you. It’s their perception and their behaviours you want to affect. Thinking about that will help you edit your message down to 5 minutes.

If you don’t fully embrace RULE ONE, not only will you have trouble editing your content, you will send a subliminal message to the audience that you don’t recognize their importance or value their time.

An important point for the Climate Spark group: on January 26, they will pitch one after the other to the panel. If each pitch is not simple and focused, it will not stand out from the others. I taught ABCaP to the product teams at a large pharma company for a similar reason. Once a quarter, the U.S. president drops in to hear back-to-back status updates from all teams – prior to the training, the president could not always distinguish the status of one team from the next.

The beginning

The burning question is how you frame your topic to make it relevant to the particular audience. The strategy is to hook them – like a newspaper headline or the first scene in a movie. You can also use a provocative statement that infers a burning question.

You set up your burning question in a way that is unique to you: with a brief story, an exercise or demonstration, a shocking fact, or a visual. The right burning question will make your audience want to know the answer. It will highlight a gap in their knowledge and engage them right from the start.

Right after you ask the burning question, you give a short answer – a teaser. It might be a simple yes or no, or it might be one-sentence. Your audience will hang in to see how you back up your answer.

The middle

In the middle part of your pitch you lay out a more complete answer to the burning question. The strategy is to inform and inspire your audience so that they’re willing and able to give you the ask, at the end.

You need to fill in the gap with the right amount of right information, so you’re going to have to kill some of your stuff. Writing the middle part is about prioritizing and then letting go.

If you overwhelm the audience with too much information, or fail to make it meaningful, the audience may disengage. The good news is that your burning question will narrow the focus of your talk and make it easier to edit.

A trick to removing content from your 5 minutes is to divert some details to the Q&A, if you are fairly certain the audience will ask for them. Regardless, always make a list of most likely questions ahead of time so you can construct and rehearse concise answers. The Q&A is the final impression so glide (don’t stumble) over the finish line!

The end

Once you get to the end, if you’ve done it right, people will want to help you. But you have to tell them HOW to help you. In specific ways.

This is your ask and it’s a one-time opportunity. Miss it and your “captive audience” will applaud politely and wander off. It’s a matter of knowing what you need to drive your project forward. And having the courage to ask for it.

Climate Spark Testimonial

Inge really delivered. She arrived prepared for our unique audience and their specific challenges. She is dynamic, engaging and knowledgeable, and found a way to help each and every participant to strengthen their presentation and pitch skills. – Eli Malinsky, Director, Programs & Partnerships, Centre for Social Innovation

Start now

Download the ABCaP Cheatsheet. Adapt it for a 5-minute pitch by ignoring steps 3 and 8. If you would like to train your group and have access to specific worksheets, contact Inge.

For more tips for building and delivering presentations, browse the communications category of this blog.

I’ve already talked about specific ways to provoke with photography e.g., using it to stimulate conversation at an internal meeting or to warm up for brainstorming. For these uses, you can “borrow” pictures from the web without copyright worries. If you need royalty-free images, follow my tips in the same post. To lesson your dependency on words, you can also use clip-art (with restraint) and diagrams to convey your content.

Below are two of my favourite images from Most creative and interesting advertisements 2011. The first I love because it instantly conveys the value proposition of FedEx in such a charmingly global way. The second I love because it’s inventive, and a gift from Iberia to all those poor travelers who wait endlessly (and bored) at luggage carousels.

J. Richard Hackman is a Professor of Social and Organizational Psychology at Harvard University and a leading expert on teams. His research shows that, most of the time, team members don’t even agree on what the team is supposed to be doing. Does yours?

Why not find out? Gather the team and answer the no-nonsense questions below. If you stay on task, the exercise will take about two hours. Break it into two pieces, if you like. The goal is to stimulate the team to find clarity. If too many discrepancies arise, you will need to ask your team’s director for help.

Caution: Ask someone outside the team to facilitate, to ensure the results are honest, concise and focused. If the results feel false or too wordy, the team will discard them! If self-facilitating, watch out for bias and/or the “steamroller” effect!

Warm-up

Start this with a short energizing exercise such as Clap Focus.

Questions

Why do we exist?

• What is our mandate? In advance, ask your team’s director to define in one sentence the reason the team exists. Example: Maximize the long-term profitability of Product X in Canada. Keep the answer hidden until the team has done the exercise and then compare answers. Come up with a final statement and then test it by asking: “Would the president agree that this is why we merit our operating budget?” Mandate is essential common ground for a team.

Who are we?

Set the stage for the accountabilities discussion. Ask…

• Who are the members of this team? Core members “own” the work and make major decisions. Contributors or SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) come and go as needed. Distinguish the two groups.

• What are the functional roles? Ask each person to summarize his/her role. Example: “I am the writer. I collaborate with the team about direction, and then capture it in words.” Keep it broad: save the specifics for later. End this exercise by asking: “Are we comfortable with the role each person defined? Do we need to clarify how roles fit together?”

What are we doing?

Define scope of work. Ask…

• What are key outputs/deliverables? List the items that require collaboration from all/most team members. Example: Canadian Marketing Plan and Budget. The list is NOT about validating each person’s work so don’t clutter the list with small outputs created by individual team members.

• What is inside/outside scope of work? Draw a line down the centre of a page and write “what we do” and “what we don’t do” on either side. Include the most tempting distractions. Example: We do… adapt the global creative campaign for Canada. We don’t…attempt to change the global creative campaign. The purpose is to create a common reference for where time is well spent, and NOT well spent.

Why are we doing it?

Create line-of-sight from the team’s work to the organization’s progress. Ask…

• How does our work support the broader goals and strategies of our organization? Expand on the mandate. Example (for the mandate above): 1) Generate sustainable revenue; 2) Develop brands that are distinct in the market place; 3) Support corporate image and values.

• Where do the team’s key deliverables fit within the larger organization? If the team members understand the broader context, their work is more focused and efficient. Example: Canadian Marketing Plan for Product X is an extension of the Global Strategy for Product X.

How do we do it?

Clarify the most efficient way to do the work. Ask…

• What principles will guide us? Brainstorm for a list of principles. Beside each one, list the specific behaviours that support each principle. This is a forum to discuss the factors that bond a team, or disrupt it. Example: Norm = Respect for others. Behaviours = 1) Arrive at meetings on time, prepared to do the work specified by the agenda. 2) Listen; don’t interrupt. 3) Respond to e-mail requests within 24 hours. Note: Avoid “aspirational” items – don’t list “innovation” if the team is not empowered to execute new ideas. Vote as a team to narrow down principles to the top five. Rewrite the top five principles/behaviours on a new page and then have everyone sign it as evidence of their commitment to upholding the principles.

• What processes will guide us? Agree on and commit to the team processes to help with collaboration and efficiency. I recommend the following (at minimum):
  • Meeting formats and agendas
  • Project briefs and schedules
  • Mid-point reviews (to recalibrate on longer projects) and project debriefs

• What will our meetings look like? Decide how often the team needs to meet, and in what format(s). Examples: Weekly 30-minute “issues” meeting (remove barriers to progress) and monthly 90-minute development meeting (generate strategies and ideas for new opportunities).

• What work is done when? Distinguish work done “at the table” (collaboratively, at a meeting), vs. “at my desk” (independently). The purpose is to avoid investing precious team time in topics that don’t belong at the table. Example: The writer will clarify: “We set direction for content at the table and then I write it back at my desk. I circulate a draft for comments and only bring it back to the table if we need to resolve conflicting feedback.” Avoid the temptation to slide into details of team process (e.g., who signs off on what). Reserve those details for a separate meeting in which you capture and refine process, if the team agrees this clarity is valuable.

• What are specific accountabilities? Clarify who does what on the key outputs/deliverables you listed earlier. Assign this exercise as homework to each team member after you advise on format and language…

• Format. For each item, each person describes their contribution, as concisely as possible, per the language below. In the end, information from all team members will come together in a single chart, with the deliverables down the side, and the team roles across the top.
• Language: State contribution as a verb e.g., own, develop, input or confirm. A person ”owns” an item if it is their responsibility to drive contribution from other team members and pull together the final result. (Every item should have an owner.) Other members might “develop” i.e., collaborate on ideas and strategies AND/OR  “input” i.e., provide specific expertise, information, content, etc. AND/OR “confirm” i.e., review information material provided to them to ensure it is accurate.
• Example: For “Canadian Marketing Plan,” the Production Manager specifies his contribution as “Input – production budgets.”

In my experience, a team that does this exercise will find at least five ways to improve focus, efficiency and/or collaboration.

I developed B.I.5 – Breakthrough Ideas in 5 Steps for exactly this purpose; it respects personal creativity while keeping people connected to the realities of business. I’ve been quietly using B.I.5 with clients for the last 14 years.

Creating value with ideas is the real call to action, whether a company is focused on incremental innovation, continuous improvement or simply building a culture that encourages people to apply creative thinking to day-to-day business.

A senior director at BMO said, “Your program (B.I.5) is fantastic. It’s simple, creative and most importantly – its extremely effective.”

A training manager said, “I have been in search of training on creativity/innovation. After completing B.I.5 I felt like my search was over. The session provided practical tools and very useful information on how generate ideas and more importantly produce ideas that can be approved and implemented.”

Do you and/or your team need B.I.5?

If you can’t answer “YES” to every question below, you do!

Can you produce good ideas, fast?
Are your ideas strong enough to make it to implementation?
Can you measure how your ideas create value for your organization?

WHAT IS IT?

B.I.5 – Breakthrough Ideas in 5 Steps – is a fast and efficient way to stimulate new thinking for any project. Call it basic innovation skills! In tactical terms, it’s a simple framework (download the B.I.5 Cheatsheet) to guide thinking. The tips and tools can also be used ad hoc, inside or outside of the larger framework of these five steps…

• Define the challenge
• Gather data
• Generate ideas
• Refine ideas
• Propose solution

The five steps focus you on generating ideas that break through approvals, get implemented and create value for the organization. They help you improve the quality of ideas you generate and the efficiency of the way you do it.

WHO IS IT FOR?

Individuals or teams focused on creating value for the organization e.g., efficiency and productivity, customer satisfaction, increased revenue or market share, cost effectiveness, employee engagement, etc.

WHAT IS IT USED FOR?

Anything that can’t be solved with “the way we’ve always done it” e.g., a  challenge (big or small) related to a product, service, process, program or tool, etc. B.I.5 will invite you to redefine what needs a creative response! Perhaps you need to find creative ways to execute an existing business plan because suddenly there are challenging circumstances e.g., a reduced budget.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

B.I.5 focuses and accelerates your brain’s natural creative process while keeping you connected to the realities of business. It works for anybody, not just “creative types,” and debunks myths about creativity.

HOW IS IT LEARNED?

You immediately apply skills and tools to an actual business challenge! You define the challenge before you practice with brainstorming tools. Then you refine the most viable ideas into a business solution and pitch it!

Companies can tailor how they learn B.I.5 to their culture and their needs. To discuss the options below, contact Inge.

• Create a customized training vehicle – e.g., off-site workshops, weekly courses – anything is possible!
• Integrate B.I.5 content with existing training programs for employees and leaders as I did for Fairmont Hotels & Resorts.
• Do the intensive 8-hour workshop for teams (2 consecutive half days) – download the B.I.5 Workshop Outline Nov14-2011.
• Support team workshops with the 2-hour seminar for leaders – see the outline for Creative Conversations.

About the facilitator

That’s me, Inge Christensen. My specialty is accelerating creativity and productivity. The B.I.5 framework is an example; it’s informed by my studies of the creative process as well as 25+ years consulting experience with corporate clients ranging from luxury hotel to pharmaceutical to financial. Client testimonials say it all. While my passion is connecting people to their own creative process and my trademark is humour (I’m an improv performer), this is not a “touchy-feely artsy-fartsy” workshop. It’s about creating ideas that create value. My bio will tell you more about my background. Or you can watch me do my thing on TV!

For me, the burning question of this video is inferred by the beautiful inhale/exhale opening sequence: How do we describe the great Mother Earth? (First of all, she breathes!) The quick answer appears on title slides interspersed among gorgeous images of nature: She’s alive; she’s home. She is complex; she is beautiful; she’s finite. But then, shortly after two minutes in, we begin to see images of the damage caused by mankind and a title slide announces: She’s hurting. So powerful!

With perfect timing (and a pounding soundtrack), comes the set up for the call to action: She’s our mother. She can be saved. She’s worth defending. Worth dying for. In my opinion, this is where the film lost me – right at the height of the emotion it created – because it didn’t invite me to be part of the solution. Instead, it went on to show photos of people who were murdered as a result of their commitment to protecting the land. Of course, I care that these people died for such noble pursuits but emotionally I was ready to commit to action: just tell me what I can do to help Mother Earth and be specific! (Give me the ask!)  I would have responded to slides such as “Reduce, re-use, recycle WITHOUT FAIL,” and “STAND UP to government: CALL OUT polluters.” If there had been a final slide pointing to a website, I would have gone there immediately.

Two issues result when we hear a powerful message but are not directed what to do about it.

• We, as receivers of the communication, feel a bit impotent. We have no way to act on the emotions we were made to feel.
• The creator of the communication wasted an opportunity to spur action and advance their cause.

Conclusion

If you’re creating action-oriented communication, it’s essential to connect the dots in a straight line – from the burning question at the front, to the ask (or call to action) at the end. Your audience trusts you to take them on a journey, from problem to solution. Maximize the opportunity in this!

The film was put together by Vivek Chauhan, a young film maker, together with naturalists working with the Sanctuary Asia Network.

I tell them to unite their efforts via a simple process and then power through it, together. Efficiency in team decision-making results from due diligence and collaboration at the right points. It requires focus, patience and an open mind from all team members.

I developed a process for my clients called TD4, Team Decision-Making in 4 Steps. (Download the cheatsheet here.) It mirrors my creative thinking model – BI5, Breakthrough Ideas in 5 Steps – for good reason. Whether your team is generating an idea or a decision, the end goal is implementation. In other words, the output needs to be strong enough to survive scrutiny. TD4 and BI5 attack this goal in the same way: the team begins by clarifying the challenge with a statement, then gathers information, then generates a lot of options and finally, picks the option that best fits relevant business criteria.

Take off from a Decision Statement and land on a Decision Result

Think of decision-making as a flight: the team takes off from a well-defined place and then discusses, while in the air, where to land – i.e. “the right destination” (decision). This metaphor creates a sense of urgency, teamwork and forward movement – and gives you some visual language to use with the team (see below).

RULE ONE of decision-making: Do it right the first time. Even if it is possible to “redo” a decision, it will likely be difficult!

TD4 – Step 1: Clarify the issue. Write a Decision Statement to clarify the decision to be made.

• Let’s make sure we’re all on the same plane. Teams often forget to ask, “What exactly are we trying to decide?” because they assume that everyone knows already. That’s like expecting your team mates to sit next to you on the plane without actually telling them what flight you’re on. Success in Step 1 is about committing to a Decision Statement.

TD4 – Step 2: Gather information. Collect/review information that impacts the options available

• Let bring the right stuff. People tend to rush to an answer. In their hurry, they skip the proper research and go with the information they have handy. That’s like arriving at the airport empty-handed, assuming that your carry-on bag has packed itself and materialized in the overhead bin. Success in Step 2 is about pre-work: finding what is needed to inform the decision and then reviewing it before Step 3.

TD4 – Step 3: Explore the options. Host a Decision Meeting to discuss all the possible options.

• Let’s get this plane from Point A to Point B. Teams sometimes succumb to long, circular discussions when processing a decision. That’s like keeping the plane in the air indefinitely — you will run out of fuel and crash! It’s also inefficient to land the plane midflight to pick up a person or information you forgot to put on the plane in the first place. Success in Step 3 is about sufficient preparation and a well-facilitated robust discussion about options.

TD4 – Step 4: Choose a way forward. Evaluate options against relevant criteria and agree on a Decision Result.

• Let’s land this plane! The most common mistake at this stage is not weighing the criteria properly i.e., minimizing worrisome issues for the sake of pushing the decision through. That’s like choosing to land the plane at an airport being whipped by a tornado by saying, “it’s just a bit of wind.” If your plane is destroyed,  you’ll have to start all over again. Success in Step 4 is about committing to achieving a Decision Result while sticking to realistic evaluation criteria.