3 Ways to Turbo-Charge Your Innovation

Workshop Day
March 26, 2014
#shlearn | @siliconhalton | www.siliconhalton.com

@SynergeticMan ca.linkedin.com/in/trevormcalpinewww.synergeticmanagement.com @SynergeticMan
3 Ways to Turbo-Charge
Your Innovation
How to use pro-actively use creativity to
invent, innovate and design the future
(and add a dash of guerilla leadership too!)
2

@SynergeticMan ca.linkedin.com/in/trevormcalpinewww.synergeticmanagement.com @SynergeticMan ca.linkedin.com/in/trevormcalpine
Who is Synergetic Management?
• The Synergy of:
o Performance Improvement
o Business Coaching – Owners & Executives
o Creativity & Innovation Acceleration
Synergies that accelerate your success
tmcalpine@synergeticmanagement.com
416 – 873 – 8671
3

A Warning
RIGHT vs. WRONG
4
• Adopt any and all processes & tools
• Use what works – try out new things
CANNOT LEARN LESS

A Warning
RIGHT vs. WRONG
Learning does NOT get you Results
Doing gets you Re$ult$
5

3 Things You MUST Have
• Working process
• Improvement process
• Innovation process
6

3 Things You MUST Have
• Working process
• Improvement process
• Innovation process
7

Creativity/Invention/Innovation/Design
• Where does an innovation process fit in?
8
Environment
Person(s) Process
New & Useful
Product
Service
Theorem
Idea …
Processof
Invention
Change
Personal
Societal
Commercial
etc.
Processof
Innovation
Massive
Change
“Killer Apps”
Tipping Pt.
etc.
Processof
Design
Based on Puccio, Murdock, & Mance (2007) + Hirsh & Roach (2012)

Creativity/Invention/Innovation/Design
9
Environment
Person(s) Process
Environment
Person(s) Process
Environment
Person(s) Process
Environment
Person(s) Process
New & Useful
Product
Service
Theorem
Idea …
Processof
Invention
Change
Personal
Societal
Commercial
etc.
Processof
Innovation
Massive
Change
“Killer Apps”
Tipping Pt.
etc.
Processof
Design
External
Events

50+ Years of CPS Development
10
1942
• Alex Osborn’s work entitled How to Think Up published
1952-1953
• The first recognizably CPS works: Osborn's Wake Up Your Mind (1952); Applied Imagination (1953)
1963
• Further refinements - Osborn reduced his original seven CPS steps into three composite steps:
• Fact-Finding (including problem definition, data gathering, and analyzing)
• Idea-Finding (including idea production and development)
• Solution-Finding (including evaluation and adoption)
1967
• Others began to modify the original Osborn CPS model:
• Parnes published a five-step revision that became known as the Osborn-Parnes model
1985-2000
• Six other versions of CPS released by different authors / teams of authors
2005
• CPS: TSM released by Puccio, Murdock, & Mance
(The definitive CPS: TSM work Creative leadership: Skills that drive change is 1st published in 2007)

50+ Years of CPS Development
11
• CPS is one of the 3 seminal sources of
creativity training
o Synectics – Gordon, Prince
o deBono
• Works in academia and the field
o Regular “updates”
o Relevant to where we live and work

What is Creativity?
• Anything that leads to something
NEW
&
USEFUL
12

What Needs Creative Input
Situations that are:
• Ill-defined
o Unclear – even the end goal may not be fully visible
• Novel
o Can’t just do what was done before (no default)
• Complex
o Missing or contradictory information, criteria or
evaluation methods
• Mutable
o Changing; in flux
ONLY work on what you own / can influence
13

Can Creativity be Learned?
YES
14

How is Creativity-Enhancement Taught?
Combination of:
• Models
• Tools
• Cognitive skills
• Affective skills
• Meta skills
• Motivation / courage
 Requires a high-level of well-organized domain-
specific knowledge & skills to be creative in a specific
field
15

Area of
Discovery
Area of
Discovery
AreaofFamiliarity
The Engine of Creativity
Diverge  expanding away from original idea
Converge  narrowing in towards a new common idea
16
Based on Puccio, Murdock, & Mance (2005) – used with permission

Diverge / Converge Rules
17
Definitions and Rules for Divergent and Convergent Thinking
Divergent Thinking Convergent Thinking
A broad search for many diverse and
novel alternatives
A focused and affirmative evaluation of
the alternatives
Rules:
 Defer judgment
 Strive for quantity
 Seek wild and unusual ideas
 Build on other ideas
Rules:
 Be affirmative
 Be deliberate
 Check your objectives
 Improve ideas
 Consider novelty
Definitions – Puccio, Murdock, & Mance (2007), p.39
Rules – Miller, Vehar, Firestien, (2001a), pp.22-23
Wildcard Principle  Be Open to Incubation

Creative Problem Solving
The latest model: The Thinking Skills Model
18

CPS:TSM Explained
19

CPS:TSM Steps
20

Using and recognizing each step
Step When to use Related words
Assessing
the
Situation
IF you need to describe, identify,
gather, and select relevant data
OR
determine the next process step
Assess, evaluate,
determine, monitor,
recognize, sort, find,
seek, decide, interpret,
explore, etc.
21
Assessing the Situation also requires:
o Metacognition
o Impeccable honesty
o Unquestionable courage

Exploring
the Vision
IF you need to establish the goal
or desired outcome of your
efforts
Picture, dream, look at,
forecast, contemplate,
see, speculate, ponder,
wonder about, etc.
Formulating
Challenges
IF you need to identify the
obstacles or barriers that need
to be addressed to achieve the
desired outcome
Clarify, untangle,
explicate, define,
decipher, clear up,
uncover, discern why,
etc.
22
FourSight preference: Clarifier

Exploring
Ideas
IF you have identified a specific
challenge(s) that, if overcome,
will move you in the direction of
your desired outcome, but you
do not know how to address this
challenge(s)
Come up with, invent,
break through, originate,
innovate, hatch, fashion,
think up, find a way,
make up, design a way,
etc.
Formulating
Solutions
IF you have ideas that need to be
transferred into workable
solutions to overcome a
challenge
Develop, elaborate,
evaluate, flesh out,
strengthen, refine,
analyze, maximize, build
on, etc.
23
FourSight preferences: Ideator - Developer

Exploring
Acceptance
IF you have solutions or a
proposed changes you wish to
carry forward and want to
ensure that the environment
will support your thinking
Sell, convince, market,
promote, leverage,
influence, persuade,
pitch, position, introduce,
advocate, popularize,
recommend, etc.
Formulating
a Plan
IF you have solutions or a
proposed change and you are
not sure what steps need to be
taken, and in what sequence, to
implement your thinking
Execute, implement, do,
script, orchestrate,
devise, plot, outline,
organize, roll out,
sequence, act, carry out,
etc.
24
FourSight preference: Implementer

Thinking and Affective Skills
Step Thinking Skills Affective Skills
Assessing the Situation Diagnostic Mindful Curiosity
Exploring the Vision Visionary Dreaming
Formulating Challenges Strategic Sensing Gaps
Exploring Ideas Ideational Playfulness
Formulating Solutions Evaluative Keeping Options Open
Exploring Acceptance Contextual
Sensitivity to
Environment
Formulating a Plan Tactical
Tolerance for
Risk Taking
25
!
3 “Universal” Affective Skills: Openness to Novelty; Tolerance for Ambiguity;
Tolerance for complexity

Key Diverging Tools
26
5 W’s & H Who, What, Where, When, Why & How + modifier: else
Why / Why Diagram
Ask “Why?” about why the situation exists;
keep asking “Why?” to challenge these answers
Wishful Thinking “Wouldn’t it be nice if …”; “Wouldn’t it be awful if …”
Storyboarding
Draw a series of panels depicting the progress from
today towards desired solution
Statement Starters
in Formulating
Challenges
Stem + Subject + Action Verb + “Receiver”
HMW – How Might We … ?
IWWMW – In What Ways Might We … ?
H2 – How To … ?
WMB – What Might Be … ?
Web of Abstraction “Why?” & “What is stopping me/us?” + modifier: else

Key Diverging Tools (cont.)
27
Brainstorming Follow the rules for Divergent Thinking + use support
Forced Connections
Pick any object & ask “What ideas does this give you
about (the challenge)?” – Use multiple objects
Metaphorical
Thinking
(Make the familiar strange
& the strange familiar)
Similes – X is like (something unrelated) … ?
Personal Analogy: (When I am X), I … ?
Direct Analogy: what is X like in the world of … ?
Comparative Analogy: X is like … & … because …
Generating Action
Steps
Generate the action steps required to implement the
change or solution – use divergent thinking rules
How – How Diagram
Ask “How can (this solution or change) be achieved?” –
ask “How can (this answer) be achieved” – Repeat …

Key Integrative Tools
28
Criteria
Challenge ideas along key criteria: “Will it…?”; “Does
it…?”
Evaluation Matrices (>4) Ideas vs. Criteria – 2x2 matrix – relative weighting
PPCO
Plus – What works about the idea
Potentials – What’s really interesting/new possibilities
Concerns – What are major concerns – diverge to solve
Overcome – How can you overcome concerns
Assisters vs.
Resisters
5 W’s & H – Identify factors & people who will assist or
resist implementation of the change – use divergent
thinking to find all of them
Stakeholder
Analysis
X-reference key individuals / groups vs. a scale
(strongly oppose to strongly support) – determine
action steps to shift people to the minimum support
levels needed to ensure the implementation succeeds

Key Converging Tools
29
Hits
What data points do people feel (on a vote) are the
most significant?
Highlighting
Can significant Hits data be grouped together to show
relevant themes or trends?
Success Zones
2x2 matrix x-referencing Degree of Importance vs.
Probability of Success – Choose the most promising
candidate(s)
Sequencing
Define the deadline by which to implement the
solution or change – define 4 time horizons (now,
short-term, mid-term, long-term); determine Who
will do What by When and slot in all action plans
Performance
Dashboard
For each key outcome, determine a graphic way of
representing progress towards the outcome

Kirton Adapter-Innovator (KAI)
KAI
• Measures creative style, not level of creativity
• Adaptive style
o Tends to tinker with and modify what is existing –
“improve the box” thinking
• Innovator style
o Tends to create whole new solutions –
“break the box” thinking
• Macro-level, plotted on a single axis
• Those to the left are more “Adaptive”, those to
the right are more “Innovative”
30

FourSight Diagnostic Tool
• Determine your key problem solving
preferences
• 4 preferences
o Clarifier
o Ideator
o Developer
o Implementer
• Quick, simple, effective for individuals & teams
31
Clarification
Implementation
Transformation

Environment
Ekvall’s 10 dimensions of creative climate
32
Challenge & Involvement Playfulness & Humour
Freedom Debates (appropriate challenges)
Idea Time Low (Interpersonal) Conflict
Idea Support Risk Taking
Trust & Openness Dynamism
Based on Puccio, Murdock, & Mance (2007)

End Goal
It’s all about the re$ult$
• Pro-active
o Choose to act, do not wait to be acted upon
• Deliberate
o Achieve real $ and other (measurable) goals
• Focused
o Real constraints – time, $ and resource
• Repeatable
o “Magic people chemistry” & pixie dust are unreliable
33

End Goal (cont.)
It’s all about the results (cont.)
• Sustainable
o Does not take greater and greater e- to get results
• Ennobling
o Leaves people better for having engaged / adopted it
34

Moving theory into practice
• Theory and Practice are the same...
ONLY IN THEORY!
Innovation is experiential – so go innovate!
2014-03-31 35Synergetic
Management

SPECIAL OFFER !!!
• FourSight Assessment at cost (only $25USD)
o Regular Price $97(USD)
• FREE results explanatory call (~ ½ hour)
o Value $100
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o Value $150+ (~ 1 hour)
Process
o Click on the following link: http://bit.ly/SMsh4Sb
o Take the assessment – they send me the results
• Weird, I know, but it is their system / process
o I contact you and explain fully what your results mean
• Beyond their helpful paragraph or two 
36

Questions
37

CPS:TSM Reference
The Thinking Skills Model
of Creative Problem Solving
(CPS:TSM)
38
Creative Leadership:
skills that drive change
Puccio, Murdock, & Mance
2007 (1st ed.), 2010 (2nd ed.)

3 Ways to Turbo-Charge Your Innovation

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