Most, if not all of us have either a fixed way of doing things or a fixed way of thinking about things. These fixed patterns are known as mindsets and they can severely limit our actions in both business and private life. Imagine that you take the same route each day when you walk to your place of work. Each day you buy the same newspaper and the same sandwich for lunch. Over time you begin to get a little fed up with your choice of sandwich and the newspaper does not seem to engage you as it once did. If
Getting Your Organisation Creative Fit
Did you think that this article would be about creative techniques and training courses? That would be too simple! First of all let us think about training to be an athlete. We have to put in lots of effort – hours on a bike, in a boat or maybe the gym. Then we have different types of training where we train for intervals and have short breaks or perhaps we do something completely different. Finally we might think about tapering our training before a major competition. Most coaches will tell you that to get the best out of our bodies
Customer Service – do you deliver?
My area of experience is creativity and alternative thinking, not customer service. However, I was inspired (or perhaps driven) to put pen to paper after recent experiences with several large organisations here in the UK. I will not name them directly but the two worst offenders provide my telephone and banking services. Large organisations just want to give us what they think we want or they might be so arrogant as to be saying “this is what you are going to get”. Recently I wanted answers to some questions regarding banking so I checked the company’s website for possible answers
Getting To Grips With Metaphor
Keen followers of Agatha Christie’s fictional character Miss Marple will be familiar with her technique of mapping happenings of the wider world with things she could understand that occurred in her own village of St Mary Mead. So already we have a list of things that metaphors can help us with: Giving explanations to those unfamiliar with a concept Examining problem situations from an alternative perspective Reframing situations Communicating concepts to a wider audience Learning or making sense of a concept that we are not currently familiar with Another interesting use for metaphor is within stories and for use as
Challenging Boundaries The Banksy Way
Street artist Banksy is well known for challenging the establishment. Below is his take on PR and advertising. Whether you agree or not it should make you think. People are taking the p**s out of you everyday. They butt into your life, take a cheap shot at you and then disappear. They leer at you from tall buildings and make you feel small. They make flippant comments from buses that imply you’re not sexy enough and that all the fun is happening somewhere else. They are on TV making your girlfriend feel inadequate. They have access to the most sophisticated
Does the light stay on when your refrigerator door is closed?
This has always been a topic for debate amongst those propping up bar counters or for day dreaming types. How do you know what goes on inside your refrigerator when the door is shut? We all assume that the manufacturer has done their job correctly but you can not be sure, unless of course you climb inside (definitely not advised). Not long ago I had a similar experience with my car. Like most people, I assumed that when I shut the doors and locked the car all of the interior lights went out. Sadly this was not the case and
How to become a Jedi Master of Creativity
Have you ever wanted to be the person who has all the new ideas? Some people think that creativity is something that you either have, or you don’t. The fact is that everyone of us is creative and the creativity that we have can be boosted. Here’s how! Learning to think creatively is a lot easier than you think. The left and right hemispheres of your brain work together like a two man soccer team, and it’s natural for them to try out new tactics every now and them. With just a little bit of effort, you can be bending
Leading Public Sector Change
In the current economic climate the public sector in the UK is under extreme pressure to continue to deliver the services that we need while cutting budgets. The remedies adopted by those who class themselves as leaders seem to fall into two categories: slicing thorough the organisation undergoing some form of ‘transformational change’ The first remedy is easy to implement. If we need savings of 10% then let us trim 10% from everything. This takes no account of what we do, it is just simple belt tightening and when services start to suffer our leaders just cry ‘we had to
