Encyclopedia of Leadership

INNOVATION PROCESSES

Leaders have tremendous control over the first part of the innovation process: encouraging

new ideas (or not discouragingnew ideas). The second part of innovation—high-grading and

stickhandling a new idea into action—is the most challenging of all. These are dealt with in

the application section.

HOW TO USE THIS LEADERSHIP TOOL

“It’s easier to be a result of the past than a cause of the future.”

—Ashleigh Brilliant

As a leader, the culture you establish is crucial. You have the most control over encouragement

of a culture of creativity in your area of influence. Most workers have a wealth of creative ideas

to improve their work and the organization, if only they are give a chance to express those

ideas and work them through. In our experience, 3M is one organization that is working hard

at creating a culture that lives up to its innovation motto.

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THEINNOVATION ASSESSMENT AND ACTIONPLAN

Part 1: Encouraging Innovation in Your Area of Influence(workgroup, team, busi-

ness unit, or organization)

Rate yourself on these questions and plan action as required.

190 SECTION 6 TOOLS FORCRITICALTHINKING ANDINNOVATION

Using Metaphors

Blue-Skying/

No Constraints/

What if ...

Using Humor

Six-Hat Thinking

Mind Mapping

Using metaphors helps

people explore novel

approaches and new options.

Imagining how the issue

could be dealt with if you

had no constraints or barriers

to deal with.

Because it is based on unex-

pected twists, humor is a

great way to loosen up, in

order to generate new ideas.

Another of de Bono’s tech-

niques places creative (green

hat) thinking in the context

of legitimizing other modes.

Taking a situation, especially

a complex issue, and map-

ping all its interconnections.

✔ Sports metaphors are commonly used to describe situations:

kick-off, coach, and heavyweights.

✔ To help create more options, use a new or novel metaphor,

like “Suppose our customers are fish ....”

✔ Ask people to set aside all the barriers, impediments, and

problems and think of the ideal solution. “What if we had all

the money we need ....”

✔ Then take this idea and make it work as best you can.

✔ Use humor to break out of conventional thinking (e.g., “How

many management consultants does it take to change a light

bulb?”)

✔ Be careful. Sarcastic humor can shut down creativity.

✔ Six-Hat Thinking is particularly effective in equalizing various

group members’ thinking.

[☛6.6 Six-Hat Thinking]

✔ On a whiteboard, name the complex issue in the center, place

all related items around it, then connect these issues with

appropriate arrows.

[☛6.8 Mind Mapping]