Knowledge Generation and Creativity

1. Knowledge Generation and Creativity

2. 1. Innovation and Creativity. 2. Blocks to Creativity. 3. Idea Generation: Brainstorming. 4. Idea Convergence: Facilitation.

3. Knowledge Brokering Cycle • Capturing Good Ideas. • Brokers (like IDEO) span markets, industries, technologies and geographies in finding ways to integrate ideas. • Keeping Ideas Alive. • We all forget (7 +/-2). IDEO keeps parts, toys, prototypes and drawings. They b-storm visually as well. • Imagining New Uses for Old Ideas. • Old ideas can provide powerful solutions via analogy. Physical layout can encourage serendipitous interaction. • Putting Promising Concepts to the Test. • Ideas need to be tested for use and financial return … companies need processes for rapid prototyping.

4. Lessons from IDEO(23 Minute Segment))

5. Brokering and Innovation Process at IDEO • Team Leader – Chosen for facilitation skills…not necessarily technical excellence. • Diverse Skills – Integration of expertise without excessive focus on one voice (I.e., the boss). • Information Gathering – Bringing in info from real experts and watching people in context. • Divergent B-Storming – No judgment on ideas…looking to snowball. • Convergent B-Storming – Voting with post its. • Getting “Unstuck” • Sub-Groups and take the best: 1) Shopping, 2) Safety, 3) Checkout and 4)Finding What You Are Looking For. • Playfulness and physical layout for innovation --- Both things push you to see and think differently.

6. 1. Innovation and Creativity. 2. Blocks to Creativity. 3. Idea Generation: Brainstorming. 4. Idea Convergence: Facilitation.

7. Eight Seconds to Remember

8. Eight Seconds to Remember

9. How We Think About A Problem Can Rapidly Constrain Options Carrier – Assumption that can’t convert lost heat into energy. Novartis – Assumption that getting through the cell membrane impossible.

10. Studies Show Our Creative Spark Declines Unless We Exercise Our Ability To See Possibilities!! 113 15 Uses Of A Bottlecap 98 83 65 Laughter 41 Questions 11 32 Creativity 6 2 0 44 5 8 Retired AGE Did Anyone Use The Box?

11. A Problem:Can Ask Yes Or No Questions Bill and Hillary are lying dead on the floor with glass and water all around them. How did they die? There is a woman lying dead in a cabin at the base of a mountain. How did she die?

12. 1 Minute With Someone Beside You: How Many Squares? How Many People See 17? How Many People See 16? How Many People See 26? How Many People See 20? How Many People See 35? How Many People See 30?

13. 1 4X4 4 3X3s 9 2X2s One Answer: 30! BUT this is on a computer!! 16 1X1s

16. How to be“curious”first… (How Could It Apply In Your Career?) Ask, “What do I have to be open-minded about to solve this?” Create an analogy for your challenge. Look for second right answers. Create an IdeaMap using colored markers. Look backwards through magazines for an idea. Pick random word from a dictionary and use as a hint. View challenge from 2 levels above and 2 levels below. Ask, “What would we never do?”

17. 1. Innovation and Creativity. 2. Blocks to Creativity. 3. Idea Generation: Brainstorming. 4. Idea Convergence: Facilitation.

18. Open, Focus, Close • The “open” stage invites ideas, explores options, identifies problems, or brainstorms solutions and approaches. • The “focus” stage encourages convergent thinking and allows participants to clarify information, discuss items, and prioritize ideas. • The “close” stage involves reaching consensus and developing action plans.

19. Open, Focus, Close • The “open” stage invites ideas, explores options, identifies problems, or brainstorms solutions and approaches. But sometimes getting things going can be difficult! What does Michael Douglas do well here? What could go better?

20. Creativity most often happens when you hold opposite thoughts together. (Coffee and Cold)

21. Three Minutes On Your Own:Consider What You Do For Fun And Learning. How Could You Combine Them To Make Learning and Classes at McIntire Better? Lectures Outside Etc.

22. How We Speak Blocks Creativity… Be Curious First…In Thought and Language

23. As A Group:Use A Common Visual Reference Point and Generate as Many Ideas as Possible (Nominal Group Technique (Round Robin) and Then Snowballing) Lectures Outside Etc.

24. 1. Innovation and Creativity. 2. Blocks to Creativity. 3. Idea Generation: Brainstorming. 4. Idea Convergence: Facilitation.

25. Focus and Close! • Techniques for Focusing: • N/3 Voting (Where N is the number of possibilities). • Simple rank order. • Rating scale (1-Very Unimportant to 5-Very Important). • Forced Distribution (Ideas put into four categories). • N/3 Voting to get to the best idea…and share with class.

26. Organizational Memory Discussion Questions Discussion on “Technology is Not Enough.” Come prepared to discuss: • What does the article suggest in terms of maximizing learning from an experience (both in the experience and then embedding learnings back into an organization)? • What forms of memory are important? • What strategies do companies employ to fill each kind of memory? Case discussion on BP Caselette in Chapter 1, Davenport and Prusak. Come prepared to discuss: • Why does BP care about managing knowledge? What is the benefit? • What are they doing to manage knowledge? • How could the organizational memory ideas apply to BP’s knowledge capture and transfer efforts?