Creativity to Innovation
September 27, 2009
Creativity is not the end all. It allows a person to see an idea differently, or define a problem from another point but it by itself does not do things. Only when a person takes action does anything happen.
Action planning, or helping to see the step by step tasks that need to be done, is often overlooked. Managers assume that individually people can figure out the steps for themselves. And in most cases that is right, however, the interpretation each person puts on the steps is usually enough to diminish the results.
A easy way team-building exercise that will quickly help a group sycronize their action plan is to give everyone in the group different colored index cards. Layout a roll of white craft paper down the middle of a conference table with only a few target dates on. Give the groups 10 minutes to put their own tasks on their cards and then left them loose for 10 minutes. Call time and then have the walk around the table and see how their tasks relate to the other members noting to themselves problems in the flow on the remainder of their colored cards. Finally these cards are posted on easel/wall board and the manager groups the cards together around challenge spots. The group then re-works those areas and changes or moves the initial cards on the timeline. The manager can simply then glue the cards down and hand the timeline as a reminder to every one of their plans.
The result is a useable action plan.
