Creative Streak

Stop It or Mop It

As I wrote yesterday, understanding and articulating the problem (“a less than ideal state”) is a crucial step in creative thinking.

Once you have the problem written in a way you and your brainstorm sponsor agree, the next step is to brainstorm ideas which either remove or control the problem.

One of my favorite exercises helps do exactly that – and it, has a great name to boot:  Stop It or Mop It. 

Originally created and defined by Dr. Robert Harris, a retired professor of English at the University of California at Riverside, Stop It or Mop It is based on the two primary ways to address problems, either by focusing on its Cause, or by focusing on its Effect.

Cause addresses head-on the source of the problem, including the reasons for the cause.

Effect addresses the result or consequence of the problem as well as its symptoms.

Lateral Puzzles To Inspire Creativity and Problem-Solving

As a kid, one of my favourite books was the series Two-Minute Mysteries by Donald Sobol, featuring the unflappable criminologist Dr. Haledjian. Sobol’s other famous books for kids – Encyclopedia Brown – never interested me. I’ll take murder, robbery and other serious crimes, thank you very much.

The series lived up to its name in that you could read the story in a few short minutes, but they were also long on mystery, secrecy, red herrings and devilish strangeness. Haledjian was typically called in by Police Inspector Winters to solve a baffling crime. Clues were often absent or, more likely, utterly contradictory (e.g., a frozen body found in a park on a hot summer day).

Sobol’s mini-episodes were a noir hybrid of storytelling and riddle. If the stories has a common denominator, it challenged the reader’s assumptions and preconceptions. Little did I realize these lateral thinking puzzles would be a brilliant introduction to problem-solving and creativity.

I Am (Still) Proud of Burson-Marsteller

For the past week, I have cringed at the ugliness brought on to my former employer - Burson-Marsteller - by a very small group of people working on behalf of their client Facebook to smear its competitor Google.

I just got through reading the loooooong list of people condeming B-M on Facebook (a tad hypocritical, I thought). My, my - the opportunistic zeal to bring down an entire company for the behaviours of a small handful.

I don't know the details of the incident, but I do know this. As a creative director at Burson-Marsteller, I worked for nearly 400 clients over 10 years. I visited more than 60 of its (then) 75 offices worldwide. As one of its senior trainers, I personally taught a countless number of people. I can say without reservation that 99.99% of its employees - then and now - are ethical, decent and hard-working professionals. A percent I might add which could be applied to the entire PR industry, if not any profession anywhere in the world.

To close, a small piece of advice to those few vultures frothing with glee at Burson - or anyone else who stumbles (badly) in life. IF you feel compelled to slap a tar brush at someone else, apply it delicately because a little bit of it might come back to hit you square in the forehead.

Communications in the Dark Ages

(This is a repost of an article from a few days ago. Ironically, as I was responding to a few people commented they too had serious problems with Vodaphone, I lost the entire article.)

There’s an interesting story in today’s Sydney Morning Herald (‘Facebook Now Ingrained In Relationships’) that has lots to say about social media and its influence on relationships.

The question that really intrigued me was this statement: “It raises the hypothetical question of what if Facebook was ever switched off?” – the operative words “switched off.”

For the past six days, Vodaphone – who provides my wireless broadband (as well as my mobile phone service) – has been excruciatingly slow. Even though the USB modem ‘said’ I had an average of 1.8 bps, it took an agonising 97 seconds for a webpage – any page – to load last Wednesday. By Thursday, it had slowed to 2 minutes and 25 seconds at an average rate of 45 bps. By Friday, I could walk across the street to the milk bar and buy the Sydney Morning Morning before my browser could load the SMH website. By that afternoon, I had been cut-off completely and thoroughly until Monday morning.

Using Creativity For More Than Brainstorming

Outside of generating ideas – in and of itself, an important task – a surprising number of people admitted they didn’t know why they needed to be creative.  And, many of these people further said they didn't have any interest or need for creativity.

It’s not surprising.  “Being creative” has historically described someone who’s subversive or rebellious.  It’s a person who falls outside of the traditional, normal or accepted path.  For many cultures, creativity – also known as “being different” – is an unwelcome attribute for a variety of political and societal reasons.  I’ve even met people who believe being creative is incompatible with being professional.

And yet, creativity is often cited as one of the most important leadership skills.  It’s the skill you apply to develop something new or different.  Without creativity, nothing would ever change.

Here’s some examples of how you might use creativity at work.

1.  Strategic Planning

Strategic planning involves investigating all of the ways an organization might grow in a particular industry or category, or transition into new areas.  Researching and developing any possible plans of action demands creativity, particularly in ways which are new, different or unusual.  To paraphrase Albert Einstein’s famous quote, “You can’t expect new solutions from doing the same thing and over.”

One of my favorite books on strategy is The Mind of the Strategist: The Art of Japanese Business by Kenichi Ohmae.

2.  Branding and Message Development

Every good corporate spokesperson knows this mantra, if not be heart, then by intuition:  Know what you say, not say what you know.  Determining what you're going to say requires the speaker to develop, re-write and edit a variety of statements into the perfect one.  Similarly, branding or re-branding an organization or product means investigating all of its potential positions when compared with its existing or potential competition, with message development to follow.  Positioning a company or service also means creating ideal messages which resonate with its target audiences, their influencers and the media.

3.  Negotiation Skills

Knowing the range of options between what is needed versus what is wanted is the difference between a successful and poor negotiator.  Creativity allows the negotiator to develop those options in advance of the meeting with the other side.  It’s preferable to brainstorm options in advance, as it’s often difficult to be creative during the intensity of the negotiation.  The ideal book: Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, by Roger Fisher, William L.  Ury and Bruce Patton.

4. Risk and Crisis Management

A seasoned communicators considers all worst case scenarios for risk, issues and crisis management.  The phrase “What if…?" is the same question used in many brainstorms.  Good crisis plans think through every possible catastrophe in advance because – like negotiating – one’s creativity disintegrates in tense situations.

In their Harvard Business Review article ”Preparing for Evil” (April 2003), Ian I. Mitroff and Murat C. Alpaslan outline how the best companies prevent and contain crisis and issues, often using creativity.

What other activities or events do you use your creativity at work?