LOA Air Flight 13

NERCOMP Regional Airport

ProvidenceMarch 13, 2013

LOA Air has been in business for over 5 minutes

Our vision: In exchange for your free ticket, we make you sit through in-flight training, then we put you to work

This is our first flight You can’t talk to the captain

LOA Air Background

1. Destination: Applied Creativity2. Flight duration: 45 Minutes

Flight phases:3. Flight attendants provide in-flight training4. You do work5. We ask the $10 million dollar question:

“What the #$@#$# just happened?”

LOA Air: Flight 13 Flight Plan

Please fasten your seatbelt by inserting the metal buckle into the other thing. Then turn your attention to the in-flight training taking place at the front of the cabin.

Ready?

In-Flight Training

Min Basadur McMaster University and Basadur.com Work based on decades of Creative Problem-

Solving research

“Leading others to thinking innovatively together: Creative leadership.” The Leadership Quarterly 15 (2004).

wedaman.wordpress.com

Basadur Creative Problem Solving

There is a process through which all activities go from idea to implementation

People prefer different phases of that process based on how they gather and use information

Each phase / style has a characteristic “way” The “ways” collide if you don’t watch out

Key points

1. Generating: discovering good problems 2. Conceptualizing: defining those problems 3. Optimizing: developing new solutions 4. Implementing: putting the solutions into

action

Note: It’s not creative until you’ve done all the steps

Creative Process

Determined by: How we learn: direct experience vs. abstract

thinking How we use knowledge: evaluation vs.

ideation

Creative Preferences

Which one (or two) of these would you say best defines you?

The Four Styles

Initiator Comfortable with ambiguity Very sensitive to the surrounding environment Likes to get things started

Job types: Artistic professions, marketing, training, development, industrial engineering, teachers

Generator

Idea developer Patient thinker Able to put pieces together to form the “big

picture” Develops understanding

Job types: professors, organizational development, R & D, market research, strategic planning, physics, math, economics

Conceptualizer

Testing and experimenting Practical solutions Thorough analysis Confirms ideas and notions Creating step-by-step plans

Job type: engineering, IT systems development, finance, accounting, applied research, technical customer support

Optimizer

Gaining acceptance from others for changes Making changes work and stick Will do anything and try anything to make the

solution work Experiments and alters plans to make them work

in the ‘real’ world

Job Types: Sales, manufacturing & production, logistics, project management, administrative support, customer relations

Implementer

1. Generator: sprouts ideas 2. Conceptualizer: develops ideas further3. Optimizer: makes the plan4. Implementer: puts the plan into action

Which are you?

All work goes from idea to implementation via four phases: Generation, Conceptualization, Optimization, Implementation.

People’s styles align to these phases. You need them all. Tensions ensue. Productive workplaces manage those

tensions.

RECAP

We’re going to do a RAPID test of the Basadur Model!

Gather in groups of four and await further instructions.

To sort yourselves quickly, raise fingers to indicate the phase you identify with: Generator = 1; Conceptualizer = 2; Optimizer = 3; Implementer = 4

Assignment Part 1

We’ll reveal a Challenge in a minute

Your group has 10 minutes to solve it, attempting to honor the four phases of the Basadur process

We’ll coach you through the four phases as you’re doing them

Best solutions get a free ticket on Basadur Biplanes

Assignment Part 2

The Phases, once again:

1. Generator: sprouts ideas 2. Conceptualizer: develops ideas

further3. Optimizer: makes the plan4. Implementer: puts the plan into

action

Assignment Part 3

About that Captain

The Challenge:

You’re at 10,000 feet in an airplane. There is no captain. Winds of change are tossing you around.

Using only the materials in the plane and your own skills and knowledge, without breaking the rules of physics, propose a way to get us all back to earth safely.

Assignment Part 4

In two minutes, think of as many ideas as you can to solve the problem. No matter how ridiculous.

More ideas now = better solutions later.

Follow the lead of your generators and conceptualizers.

Fight against the tendency to judge. If you’re an evaluator, do not trust your instincts.

Generating Phase

In two minutes, pick out one or two of the ideas and flesh them out. Don’t think of new ideas, but add detail to the existing ideas.

Follow the lead of your generators and conceptualizers.

In theory, how might some of these ideas work? Make connections with other things you know.

Continue to fight against the tendency to judge. If you’re an evaluator, do not trust your instincts.

Conceptualizing Phase

In two minutes, reduce ideas to one, and figure out how to implement it in the real world.

Follow the lead of your optimizers and implementers.

How will we really do this--in reality?

Fight against the tendency to think of new ideas. Generators and Conceptualizers should stifle themselves.

Optimizing Phase

Step back and review the plan.

Be ready to report out, if you think you’ve got an interesting solution.

Implementing Phase

Report out

How did that work?

What parts were hard for you?

Did any tensions arise?

Any similarity to the workplace? Differences?

Post-activity Reflection

We’re not solving problems in 10 minutes at work, and we’re not jumping out of planes, but . . .

We still need protocols to guide us through the process, limit evaluation in the early stages, and limit ideation in the later stages.

Could you imagine using something like this on a current project? On an upcoming project? On a thorny problem?

Take-aways

Learning Organization Academy 2013

July 8 - 10, Wellesley College

Helping teams build environments that encourage learning at work.

LOA