One of his best ideas i thought was also one of the simplest. He calls it the 1% drill (pg. 407) and basically he asks each manager to try and cut 1% off their budgets. This simple, quick and relatively painless way to manage might be a good way to try and ensure that a business loses its fat and continue its pursuit of greater efficiency.

There is something about the idea of 1% that seems to generate buy-in from all leaders and managers–after-all no-one could really miss a 1% cut.

But why not take it further?

I suggest the following challenge for each manager, each week:

- How can i make this process 1% faster?

- How could we this week make our customer service 1% better?

- How could we make our advertising dollars work 1% harder?

- How can we make it easier for people to do business with us by 1%?

- How can we make our products 1% simpler?

You get the picture. It all sounds so easy to do. So why don’t you accept teh 1% challenge (every week) and let me know how it goes.

Dr Ken Hudson

ShareThis

ShareThis

When faced with a problem, try to develop three Business-as-Usual (BAU), three Different and three Radical ideas in two minutes or less (the accelerated time limit will ensure that you do not filter your  responses).
 
This framework will encourage you to develop a greater range of solutions and gives you permission to offer those really left-field ideas.
 
The business-as-usual solutions are a continuation of what has been done before. The different solutions are those where you take the BAU ideas but add a something new. The radical solutions are
a departure from what has been suggested before (think big!). Then select the best outcome (it could one of the options or a combination of these).
 
For example, consider the problem, ‘How do we retain our best managers?’ A business-as-usual solution might be to pay the high performing managers more. A different approach could be to expand their responsibilities or move  them to a completely new (perhaps struggling) department. A radical approach might be to provide them with a 12 months sabbatical or give them a small
(company owned) business to run.
 
The Power of Three is also a very powerful way of selling your ideas. It is a good way of providing the client or the decision-maker with real choice. Start by outlining the B.A.U. option, then the
different, and finally the radical one. Clients are often more willing to entertain the thought of a radical idea if they have the more bankable tried and true option on the table.
 
The Power of Three has become so successful that some organisations have adopted this language into their culture; ‘that idea is so Business as Usual, where is a Radical One?’

Ken Hudson

Yours in Speed

Dr Ken Hudson

ShareThis

I believe these are wonderful questions. I have tried most of my adult life to be original for better or for worse. It has made me sometimes stand out, to be able to think of different and sometimes valuable new ideas and solutions and follow my own path.

It has also meant that I have become bored far too easily, it has made me unpopular at times and i have lacked a single-minded focus with my business (something i am trying to remedy with my Speed Thinking concept).

But to be an original thinker is still something to be cherished i believe. We all need people in our lives that help us see something in a different light or can open us to a new possibility. Original Thinkers are people with courage and imagination that do not want to follow the crowd nor accept the prevailing wisdom. Sometimes original thinkers are way ahead of everyone else and shine a light that others may follow and occasionally there are people that are original but are just plain wrong or mad or both.

But every now and then wouldn’t it be good to be more original at work (and your personal life).–to be the first person to think of a breakthrough solution and to jump ahead of the competition. To help others break out of the ‘me-too’ cycle?

How do you become an original thinker?

Here are some suggestions:

- Deliberately adopt an unpopular point of view and see the world fro this perspective e.g. is a good for the world that America is so powerful?

- Open your mind to new stimulus e.g. I read psychology and science magazines even though i am neither a psychologist nor scientist.

- Think of the ‘rules of the game’ that everyone seems to follow e.g. why are mobile phones getting smaller and smaller when the population is becoming older?

- Value your own experiences. We have been brought up to believe that our own experiences are somehow not valid they are too subjective. My bet is that if you are frustrated with a product or service for example then others feel the same way.

- Be fast. Don’t hesitate or second guess yourself. The lesson from Speed Thinking is that it is a process that enables your authentic and original self to emerge.

- Have courage. Be brave and follow your own thoughts. Be sure that if you voice a point of view others will follow.

These suggestions can help you become more original. Being able to think for yourself is a priceless ability and asset–in a washed out, neutral, grey world, a splash of colour can really stand out.

Ken Hudson

ShareThis

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/sep2009/id20090930_806435.htm?chan=innovation_innovation+%2B+design_top+stories

But what is Design Thinking? According to Wikipedia, Design thinking is a process for practical, creative resolution of problems or issues that looks for an improved future result.

Another insight is offered by Edward De Bono when he suggests, ‘you can analyse the past, but you need to design the future". He defines Design Thinking as combining existing things in new ways to deliver value.

The common themes among people concerned with Design Thinking is that it is a way of thinking that is more concerned with the what could be rather than what exists today. It complements rather than replaces analytical thinking which is mainly used in business. 

Speed Thinking is similar to design thinking with its emphasis on creating new possibilities, movement and not being stuck in the past. Also Speed Thinking is not concerned with being right or wrong in the early START stage.

But Speed Thinking has one key difference with Design Thinking. The emphasis is on thinking quickly. By varying the pace at which you think not just how you think you can obtain amazing results. This is because you do not filter or judge your responses as you are too busy just creating, solving or deciding in the moment.

The ideal for me? Design Thinking@Speed!

ShareThis

ShareThis

1. Can the idea better meet a customer or user need?

2. Can the idea be made simpler?

3. Can the idea generate more revenue?

4. Can the idea be made more original?

5. Can the idea save more money?

6. Can you test the idea quickly, simply & cheaply?

ShareThis

But is Lateral Thinking (i.e. deliberately moving across a pattern) enough in this fast-paced world?

My proposition is that both critical and creative thinking whilst necessary are not sufficient anymore. We need to be able to think and act faster. This will enable us to better thrive in an accelerating and time-poor world.

I have tried to build on De Bono’s work by adding an extra dimension. We can now control not only how we think but what pace we think at. And by doing so we can paradoxically become more creative, efficient, productive and feel more energised.

For a good summary of De-Bono’s work see below:

1. Challenge the process: This doesn’t mean attack it. Go back to the first principles of the problem and review the direction of the process.
   Example:  a local authority in New Zealand wanted to free up parking spaces but the cost of monitoring parking was expensive. The solution was to allow free parking to anyone who kept their headlights on while parked.
2. Set up a provocative statement: This means looking at the solution to a problem in an impossible or contradictory way.
   Example: a number of factories were ignoring anti-pollution regulations and polluting a river. The provocative statement was: “The factories have to be downstream of themselves”. The resulting solution was making every factory build their inlet pipes downstream of their outlet pipes — they are now the first to suffer from their own polution.
3. Use random words: Adding an element of chance will allow you to come at a problem from a different starting point, one you would not have ordinarily chosen. Picking random words out of a bag forces your mind to make random associations, effectively producing solutions you wouldn’t be able to arrive at using well-worn analytical processes.
4. Use parallel thinking: Instead of going into teams to argue the relative merits of a number of solutions, everyone approach each solution together in every way. De Bono advocates the symbolic wearing of six coloured hats to adopt positive, negative, rational and emotional standpoints. Organisations such as Boeing, JP Morgan and IBM have used this device to reduce meeting times by up to tenfold.

So if you combine lateral and speed thinking you can create your own magic. My Speed Thinking formula–two minutes and nine possibilities.

ShareThis

Keep Speeding.
Ken Hudson

ShareThis

This begs the question: how do you think differently?

The starting point is to realize that being able to think in an innovative way is a skill and like any other ability it can be improved with the right tools, practice and encouragement.

So with this in mind, let me show you how you can think differently literally in minutes. How many different uses can you think of in the next 60 seconds for a mobile phone? In my workshops, most people can answer from 5-7 items e.g. text, phone, camera etc. These are the business-as-usual responses.

But what if I changed the challenge to, how many ‘unusual’ uses can you think of for a mobile phone? E.g. it can be used to hold open a door. Suddenly you can open up to a new range of possibilities.

Now what if I asked, how might an ant use a mobile phone? You might answer, as a dance floor, as shelter etc.

These might not be practical ideas but who would have thought a few years ago that you could use a mobile phone as a watch, camera or video?

My point is this. Being able to think differently is a question of choice. You can choose to think in a usual or a different way. If you choose to think in a different way you have two different strategies:

1. Try and redefine the challenge. In the example above when I inserted the word ‘unusual’ then most people’s mind opens up, and/or

2. Look at the challenge in a new way. In the mobile phone example, it is when I ask the question, how many different uses would an ‘ant’ have for a mobile phone?

The mobile phone example tries to show that most people are trapped into thinking in a particular way. Our mind is like a patterning system that organizes information into existing patterns (an Edward De Bono insight). This makes you quick and efficient in processing information but can lead to rigidity in your thinking and you can only create incremental ideas.

For example, let’s imagine that you were trying to improve your customer service. Another way of defining this challenge might be to; what can you do so that your customers love dealing with you? Now which problem excites and engages you? Which problem definition is more likely to open up new possibilities? Can you see that by simply using a different way to define the problem you can become unstuck? I have found simply by reframing the challenge in more emotional language you can open up new possibilities. The language of business is rational e.g. efficient, cost-benefit etc yet the language of customers is emotional. So restating your goal or challenge in emotional language will help you better understand your customers and will increase your probability of developing a new and different solution.

As mentioned, your second creative strategy is to look at the challenge with a new set of eyes. In the previous example, you can use a financial lens which might lead you to reduce your service to your unprofitable customers or if you used a different lens say as a hotel manager it might lead you to think about how to make every customer feel special. So if you feel stuck then ask yourself how might Richard Branson look at this situation? Or my competitor? Or a child? Or a supplier? Etc. There is no limit to the number of different perspectives you can have on a problem. All are equally valid yet only a partial view of a situation.

The lesson is this. The market-place today calls for you to think differently. This is a skill that you can learn and gain an edge on your competition. You can choose to win by learning to think differently or wonder what happened when your competitors run past you.

Dr. Ken Hudson,

Founder & Chief Starter,

The Speed Thinking Zone (www.thespeedthinkingzone.com).

Author, The Idea Generator and The Idea Accelerator—How to solve problems faster using Speed Thinking.

ShareThis