Hello again.
Please send me any comments or suggestions that you have.
Pleasant reading,
Amir
In this issue:
(a) Announcements
(b) Creative ideas for...
(c) Creative tool - "Reduce"
(d) New on Best100Ideas.com
(e) Recommendation of the month
(a) New Forum and Preview of next E-book
A couple of announcements in this issue:
A. New Forum:
Best100Ideas.com is happy to announce a new discussion forum available on the website.
Full details in the “New on Best100Ideas” section below.
B. Next E-book: In the previous issue I invited those of you who wished to become reviewers of the next e-book. I was happy to receive several applications, and have already sent the first draft of the e-book for their review.
I have already been working on the cover for the new e-book - and you can all see it and send me your comments.
I would also like to thank the reviewers that already joined this effort, and invite anyone who still wants to review the book to contact me.
See the previous issue of the newsletter for details on how to become a reviewer.
(b) Creative Ideas for Team Building
In the past few months I have been working on several project at the same time. One of these projects is the "100 Creative Team-Building Ideas" book. The book is still in the writing, but I am offering you a sneak preview of some of the ideas in it.
These ideas can be used by managers, facilitators or consultants, youth instructors or teachers, or anyone else looking to build a team.
Here are some of the creative ideas for team-building:
- Lands of Many Colors: This idea promotes the concept of team-diversity and respect towards the other.
Divide the team into several small groups, with 3-4 people in a group. Give each group materials for creating or constructing their "land of the group". The materials you give to a group should be made of a single color only (each group gets a different color).
These materials could include colored dough, paints, colored papers, stickers, etc.
Encourage the groups to make there land the most beautiful manifestation of their chosen color - make them proud of their color.
After a few minutes of building these "monochrome" lands, quietly take one person from a small group, and ask that person to take with them some materials of their original color. Move the person into a different group and tell that group that this person has just joined their group. Wait a while and see how things develop.
Repeat this color mix-up process a few more time and watch and record the team members' reactions carefully. Sometimes - group will reject the newly-offer colored. In other cases, they will cease the opportunity to make their lands creative and colorful. Discuss these reactions with the team and demonstrate the results of acceptance of diversity by showing the beauty of the more colorful groups.
- Hobbies Festival: This idea can be used to make personal relationships and acquaintance within the team stronger.
Announce a Team Hobbies Festival Day (or week), during which team members share their special hobbies with other members in the team.
You may organize a special event, with team members showing their hobbies in booths, walking around and seeing other people's hobbies, or participating in mini-workshops that teach the basics of the hobbies the people have.
- Collective Breakfast Cooking: Cooking a meal may seem a simple matter, but it may be turned into a complex assignment, requiring effective team communication, decision-making and action.
Buy various groceries of various kinds - vegetables, fruits, flour, eggs, spices, cheese, etc.
Ask team members to come to work that day without having breakfast, and with a simple change of clothes.
The team would get a task to prepare the best breakfast for a senior management team, the school board or any other important group of guest you can arrange.
They have to decide by themselves on the dishes that are to be served, the mode of preparation.
Their time should be limited so that they have to divide responsibilities and keep track of their advancement towards the goal.
This experience can offer a lot of ground for discussion later on - who took charge of things, how were decisions made, how did they perform under pressure, what kind of atmosphere was prevalent during the preparations, and so on.
(c) Creative Tool: Reduction
I have mentioned the "Eliminate" tool, which is one of the SCAMPER creativity tools, in the creativity tool described in July 2006 - Issue 7 of this newsletter.
However, I think it is quite an interesting tool, and will elaborate on it this time. I will call it "Reduction" this time (and offer a "twist" - partial reduction).
Here is the tool and how you may use it (as usual - along with an example):
- What are the important elements of your Product or Service?:
Try to think what makes up your product or service. These may include physical materials or parts, methods, production processes, people involved in providing the service, features or options of the product or service, and so forth.
Example: A breakfast at a hotel restaurant -
Food - eggs, breads, butter, vegetables, cheese...
Drink - coffee, tea, milk, hot chocolate, juice...
People - cook, waiters, guests, children...
Environment/tools - chairs, tables, plates, glasses/cups...
Other - menu, breakfast start and end hours, price...
- What happens if you take some things out?:
Come up with creative ideas by taking some of the things you just thought of out of the product or service. The trick is doing it in such a way that creates a new experience or an unique advantage for the product or service.
Examples:
1. A breakfast with no children - quiet, food and drink appropriate for adults only.
2. A breakfast with no tables, chairs or plates - just walk around, grab and eat as you go.
3. No start or end hours - a 24-7 breakfast.
4. A breakfast without spices - for those with delicate stomachs.
- Elaborate on your ideas and make them real:
Some of the ideas you will come up with in step 2 will seem impossible to realize at first. However, you should invest some time and thought in coming up with solutions that will make the most of these ideas.
Example:
A breakfast without children - special hotel staff receives the kids at the restaurant entrance and takes them to a different room for children activity and kids-food. Parents are then free to enjoy a quiet meal.
- Special twist - Partial Reduction:
You don't always have to take out the entire component from your product or service. Sometimes, it may suffice to take just a part of it to achieve an innovation.
Example:
Instead of have no tables at all, have some table spread around the hotels restaurant, and let people experience various types of cooking in different parts of the space. Let them walk around, sit down at one area, and then move on to another to taste other types of dishes.
New discussion groups have been opened on Best100Ideas.com website.
You may now join the Creative Ideas community and share your ideas, your suggestions and thoughts on creativity tools, your recommendations on creativity resources, and much more.
You may also request that Best100Ideas.com offer articles and newsletter items on specific creative ideas subjects or creativity tools.
Registration is simple and free.
Be among the first to join and contribute.
Here is a direct link to the Best100Ideas Creativity and Innovation Discussion Group.
The Innovation Tools website is a massive source of innovation articles, products, services and innovation news.
It offers articles on business innovation, brainstorming tools, idea management and mind-mapping software, innovation book reviews, a newsletter, and many more resources.
Chuck Frey, the founder and man behind Innovation Tools, has recently republished by Six Hats of Creative Communication article on the Innovation Tools website. So if you still haven't read it on Best100Ideas...check it out on innovationtools.com: Six Hats of Creative Communication - at Innovationtools.com.
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