1. The Unique factor.  The major objective in the creative thinking system is the development and discovery of the “unique factor.”  It’s important not to copy what other people do but through creative thought to develop a unique approach. 

2.  The show factor.  Do what you do so well that people will want to show others how well you do it.  This objective is accomplished by devotion to  excellence.

3. The romance factor. Romance the idea or concept and raise it to a new standard.  Add that special touch to it! Walt Disney romanced the amusement park and created a new thing — a theme park.

4. The plussing factor. Never let something alone.  Keep fooling around with it, improving it, and making it better. You know you have a unique factor when someone steals it.  So keep the unique factor unique by constantly plussing it.

Do some math around that survey.  Based on six people in a company, each making $20 an hour, spending 17 hours a week, 49 weeks a year, a company would invest $99,600 in a base salary in meetings alone.

Unfortunately when companies are feeling the economic pinch they usually add to the number of meetings and further reduce the very things that inspire employees’ innovations. If supervisors can step out of time for a moment and look at new ways to communicate and interact with their employees huge benefits can begin to happen.

The great news is that change can happen one supervisor at at time, it does not have to be company wide or from the top down. By getting the company clutter out of the way and creating meaningful ways for people to come together to solve problems, supervisors and have an incredible impact.

1) Finding or creating a neutral environment helps set the stage.

2) Ideas are interesting and when allowed to be explored without judgement can stimulate curiousity.

3) Curiousity is the core for much creativity but many people don’t know where to start.

4) Graham Wallas in 1927, suggested a simple five-step creativity process to get one’s creative juices flowing: (1) preparation (flirting with anything new); (2) incubation (mixing with other ideas to yield new combinations); (3) illumination (new, sometimes off-the-wall ideas); (4) elaboration (building and refining); (5) verification (confirming that the end product is worthwhile).

5) Just try it. These days getting just one new creative idea can mean the difference between failure and success.

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.

So I decided in that vein I’m going to try breaking down our  meeting retreat rentals into smaller groups. Increasing the total number of people using the facility by having fewer each time. That way it is easier to interest groups from a single department, board, or team  and not have to go through the longer decision-making process of a larger group.

Give me your creative ideas.

At a time when communicate with clients and customers is critical to getting or keeping our existing business, this book is a lifesaver.  In the authors words “Sticky = understandable, memorable, and effective in changing thought or behavior.

• First there is planning prior to the meeting, making sure that there is an assortment of teas for the only tea drinker, fruit for the diabetic attendee, comfortable chairs for those recovering from surgery, and a warm inviting space. In other words the meeting is not just an after thought but a gathering of important people brought together to discuss relevent issues.
•  Then there is  the meeting its self. I recommend updating the traditional agenda with one that better fits your business or organization. One group I work with opens each meeting with members sharing their past month’s successes, no matter how small. Another group writes thank yous to the other members on large Post-Its around the room, recognizing those often overlooked supporters that make our work easier. Of course all of these ideas don’t take the place of a well designed agenda and well run meeting.
• At least annually in a group it is really important to revisit what has transpired over the past year or multiple years. Simply by hanging a long roll of paper horizontally on the wall with a few key accomplishments group members can add what they see as their most important accomplishments they have made. It becomes a wonderful transition to planning for future activities.
• Since meetings are scheduled regularly or surrounding a particular issues -  members volunteer, are assigned or have their attendance assigned as part of their job description so motivation varies in any group. By finding ways that each member helps the group even the most resistant members begin to want to participate. Years ago I had a member of a regularly scheduled monthly meeting who literally just sat and watched his watch – after much worrying about this I finally made him the official group timekeeper. It was amazing over time how much more efficiently our meeting began running and how much his participation improved.
• Finally, just before the close of the meeting a rapid fire review of all the agreed upon actions/projects and setting aside  ten mintutes prior to adjourning when members can schedule time with each other to more efficiently get their projects completed.

When managers are really in a meeting madhouse organizing a retreat style meetings can provide great results.  These meetngs need to be held off site, intensely focused, incorporating great food, recognizes individual contributions and stresses people over technology.