LOA Air Flight 13

1. LOA Air Flight 13 NERCOMP Regional Airport Providence March 13, 2013

2. LOA Air Background 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

3. LOA Air: Flight 13 Flight Plan Destination: Applied Creativity Flight duration: 45 Minutes Flight phases: Flight attendants provide in-flight training You do work We ask the $10 million dollar question: “What the #$@#$# just happened?”

4. Ready? 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.

5. In-Flight Training

6. Basadur Creative Problem Solving 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

7. Key points 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

8. Creative Process Generating: discovering good problems Conceptualizing: defining those problems Optimizing: developing new solutions Implementing: putting the solutions into action Note: It’s not creative until you’ve done all the steps

9. Creative Preferences Determined by: • How we learn: direct experience vs. abstract thinking • How we use knowledge: evaluation vs. ideation

10. The Four Styles Which one (or two) of these would you say best defines you?

11. Generator 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

12. Conceptualizer 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

13. Optimizer 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

14. Implementer 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

15. Which are you? Generator: sprouts ideas Conceptualizer: develops ideas further Optimizer: makes the plan Implementer: puts the plan into action

16. RECAP 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.

17. Assignment Part 1 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

18. Assignment Part 2 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

19. Assignment Part 3 The Phases, once again: Generator: sprouts ideas Conceptualizer: develops ideas further Optimizer: makes the plan Implementer: puts the plan into action

20. About that Captain

21. Assignment Part 4 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.

22. Generating Phase 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.

23. Conceptualizing 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.

24. Optimizing 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.

25. Implementing Phase Step back and review the plan. Be ready to report out, if you think you’ve got an interesting solution.

26. Report out

27. Post-activity Reflection How did that work? What parts were hard for you? Did any tensions arise? Any similarity to the workplace? Differences?

28. Take-aways 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?

29. LOA Learning Organization Academy 2013 July 8 - 10, Wellesley College Helping teams build environments that encourage learning at work.