LOA Air Flight 13
description
Transcript of LOA Air Flight 13
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