Speed Thinking | Think Quicker | Fast Thinking | Problem Solving | Decision Making |Team Building | Brainstorming » Jennifer Turner

How to create big, new ideas with Speed Links

Jennifer Turner — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 03:56:48 +0000

Speed Links can be used by an individual and/or a team. It is powerful, quick and a practical tool you can use everyday to generate big, new ideas.

The Speed Thinking System consists of three key elements:
1. A 2 minute, 9 possibility mechanic
2. A 4-step process (Start, evaluate, build, action)
3. A new tool called Speed Links.

I have attached the latest version of Speed Links here.

As you can see it has a number of features:
-          There are nine inner bubbles (reflects the 9 possibilities)
-          Nine outer bubbles (the build stage)
-          There are no numbers (you can start anywhere with Speed Thinking)
-          It is highly visual (more right brain)
-          There is a space in the middle unlike Mindmapping for example, which starts with a central idea and branches out.

How to use Speed Links:
I will show you just one application (there are over 30).
1.       Write you challenge in the top right hand corner.
2.       Now start by creating nine initial thoughts or possibilities in the next 2 minutes (one thought per inner circle). The key here is not to filter or judge your thoughts.
3.       Now select one or more of the inner thoughts that you find the most interesting or surprising (i.e. the evaluate step).
4.       In the next two minutes try and build on this initial thought and make this idea, nine times better.
5.       Repeat this step until you have developed a big new concept.
6.       Now select the most promising idea and write nine ways to you can action or test this new idea (e.g. I could talk to a few customers about it). Make these actions as specific and tangible as possible.
7.       As a further step try numbering your inner circles from 1 to 9 (or how many initial thoughts you came up with). Now at random try and connect your initial idea 2 with the number 5—what happens or emerges?

Give it a go and let me know what you think

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How do you react in time-pressure situations?

Jennifer Turner — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:35:21 +0000

If you have been watching the football World Cup like I have, you will have been amazed at how poor England’s performance has been. They have some of the best players in the world in Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard yet when they get on the pitch they cannot seemingly pass the ball more than a few times to one another without giving it away. Their coach, Fabio Capello is equally mystified but suggested to BBC Sport that ‘it is a mental thing. Absolutely. When you are under pressure, big pressure, sometimes the legs do not work normally,"

Perhaps the same is true at work and in life generally? Under time pressure situations e.g. when we are put on the spot and asked for a comment or a new idea in a meeting or presentation we freeze. Or when we are sitting for an exam and we know the material but we cannot think clearly. I know I have.

Yet for other people they have told me that they do some of their best work under some form of time-pressure. When there is a deadline it seemingly brings out the best in them. Having a deadline creates a sense of urgency and stimulus to act.

This ability to be able to perform and produce high quality results under time pressure I believe will become the most important skill that any high performing manager or leader will need to develop. Why? Because increasingly, we are being asked to deliver more and more results with less and less resources. This might include less people, budget and most importantly time. Hence everyone will be facing more time-pressure situations so we need to adapt the way we work and study to this new environment.

The answer? I am not sure it is the only answer but certainly one answer is to learn to be able to think, collaborate, create, solve and decide quickly. In short, we need to become Speed Thinkers when the situation demands it. Most people find the idea and experience of Speed Thinking uncomfortable at first but they will need to get over this if they wish to progress. Speed Thinking can be liberating and it means that you do not have to time to filter your responses and listen to your internal negative judge. You are more authentic and creative.

Speed Thinking is also more energizing. It creates rather than uses up your energy. The message? The next time you are faced with a time-pressure situation try Speed Thinking. Just start. Try and create nine possibilities in the next two minutes. Just start, it does not matter where just start.
You could then become one of those people that actually enjoys and thrives on pressure (not like the England soccer team).

Dr Ken Hudson
Inventor, The Speed Thinking System.

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9 ways to become a more creative leader

Jennifer Turner — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 03:09:30 +0000

In the latest IBM study among 1500 CEO’s across the globe, one finding was clear—every manager and leader has to become more creative. In fact, creativity was selected by CEO’s as the most important attribute for future business success.

Why?
Leaders need to be more creative to adapt their organizations and business models to an increasingly complex and uncertain environment. Leaders have to deal with changes in technology, customer preferences and face often disruptive competition—all happening at a rapid pace.

So how can you become a more creative leader?

Here are nine starting points:

1.       Talk about creativity and innovation. I am amazed how many leaders want innovation yet never talk about it.

2.       Be open to new ideas. The first thing that will kill creativity is when a leader asks for new approaches then beats up the first person that comes up with an unexpected or left-field idea.

3.       Lead by example. Leaders have to be creative themselves if they want others to follow them. Ask yourself-what have you done that is new and different in the past week?

4.       Adopt an experimental mindset. To become more creative simply means that you have to experiment. Test, test and test again.

5.       And if you are testing be prepared for most of these to fail. The aim is to try and test things that are important and that you can test quickly, easily and simply.

6.       Recognize creativity. It does not have to a large scale reward system but simply a moment of praise for example of a new approach.

7.       Understand that creativity is a skill and that it can be improved with the right training, practice and tool kit.

8.       Highlight that creativity can be applied to products, processes, how you serve customers, advertising campaigns etc. Everything that an organization does can be made more creative.

9.       Do this all at speed. It is no use being creative if it takes months or years. As one leader mentioned to me at a recent workshop we are creative but it takes us 2 years to get something to the market-place, by then the entire market has changed and the customer wants something quite different!

Dr Ken Hudson
Founder & Chief Starter.

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Accelerating Intel’s Thinking Speed

Jennifer Turner — Wed, 19 May 2010 12:12:13 +0000

Intel has long been regarded as one of the leaders in technology and innovation. It’s realization of Moore’ Law (i.e. processing power doubles every two years) is an amazing feat. But not only are the Intel managers interested in accelerating the processing power of computers but also in quickening the pace of their thinking.

That is the challenge I set myself when I spoke to a number of Intel managers in both Singapore and Malaysia recently. The theme of my presentation was that Speed Thinking creates a positive cycle. Fast thinking leads to fast action, quicker results and accelerated learning.

This was also the key message that I delivered at a talk I gave at the HR Summit held in Singapore. This is Asia’s largest HR conference with thousands of managers and leaders attending. For me, the major themes of the conference revolved around engaging employees, leadership and how HR as a function can deliver a more accountable and results oriented capability to any business.

The conference was well-run (Key Media) and Singapore continues to amaze me with its emphasis on developing its only true asset—its people.

Dr Ken Hudson
Chief Starter,
The Speed Thinking Zone.

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Making decisions-the best of both worlds

Jennifer Turner — Thu, 06 May 2010 00:45:23 +0000

Life is about making decisions. Hopefully we make more good ones than bad but how can we increase our chance of success? Well there are those that consider the best (and only) way is to consider a range of options, carefully weighing up each alternative and making a rational, objective decision. The trouble with this approach is that the world is moving so quickly and by using our left brain you tend to only consider a few incremental options and the impact of each one is not known in advance.

Alternatively there are others who suggest that people should only rely on your intuition or gut-feel. For people who have experience in a particular field this is a very effective and incredibly quick way to make decisions (1). However intuition is not infallible, relies on extensive experience, is an internal process and is difficult to teach.

My proposition is that there is a third way which is faster than traditional decision-making yet provides intuition with greater rigour, structure and openness. It is called Speed Decision Making and it is ideal for a fast-paced world in which you have to constantly make everyday decisions. In fact, research by Kathleen M Eisenhardt suggests that in fast-moving environments, faster decision making is associated with better performance.
Why? Faster decision-making enables leaders to keep pace with the competition, take advantage of opportunities and leads to faster learning.

An example of this type of decision-making tool is as follows:

Using ‘Pros and Cons’ @Speed:
This is an old favourite but with a twist. When faced with a time-sensitive decision, try and develop as many different pros and cons as you possibly think of in two minutes. This might unlock new angles on a decision that you might not have considered.

If you are working with a group, you could have half the group developing the ‘pros’ and the other, the ‘cons’. You then compare and contrast your two lists. Or you could have the same group do all the pros, discuss these and then move on to the cons.
After developing the ‘pros and cons’ list you are then in a better decision to make a better decision in minutes.

This type of tool will stop you procrastinating, give you more confidence and with practice you can increase your decision-making success rate.

This is an extract from my latest book Speed Thinking-how to thrive in a time poor world.
Find out more about it by clicking here or read our first review!

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New Speed Thinking Book available in May

Jennifer Turner — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 04:40:37 +0000

Dr. Ken Hudson’s new book–Speed Thinking: How to thrive in a time-poor world (Allen & Unwin) is to be published in the first week of May.

This is Dr Hudson’s third book after the international success of The Idea Generator (Allen & Unwin, 2007) and the Idea Accelerator (Allen & Unwin, 2008).

This book represents the very latest thinking on this breakthrough concept. The first few chapters outline why we need to think quicker, the insight behind Speed Thinking and the theory and structure of Speed Thinking. The last chapters offer a range of practical and effective tools you and your team can use to Brainstorm Ideas in minutes, Solve Problems quickly and make better, faster Decisions.

Every day, business owners, managers and leaders are expected to deliver more and more with less and less. They have fewer people, smaller budgets and—crucially—less time. Lack of time to make decisions has become the most stressful part of life for many business people.

In a time-poor, fast-moving world we need a new approach.

In this breakthrough book, Ken Hudson shows you how to achieve amazing results in time-pressure situations using Speed Thinking.

Speed Thinking is a practical thinking system that will enable you and your team to perform effectively as deadlines hit.

If you and your team want to become more efficient and productive quickly— and feel more energised—then the process and tools of Speed Thinking can help you right now!

Speed Thinking can be obtained at all good book stores or by visiting our online shop and placing an order.

Read our first review.

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Would You Like to Create Breakthrough Ideas in Minutes?

Jennifer Turner — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 03:30:57 +0000

Of course you would–big, new ideas are needed now more than ever. This is not the time to be faint-hearted, you can accelerate your work, career and life by developing new perpsectives, ideas and solutions.

But how do you create ideas on demand?

We have developed a program called IdeaRush. It is a new piece of software that is available to anyone that visits our website.

You can develop new product ideas, solve problems or create new growth opportunities quickly. IdeaRush is simple, practical and can be used with immediate impact.

I am giving you a free taste–my only request is that you let me know what you like about it, what you don’t and how you are using it.

Keep Speeding.
Ken Hudson

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