Ideas. Then what?

March 7, 2010

in Creative Thinking resources

A few months ago I was initially impressed to find a new site called What Would You Like to Change – it is designed to be a catalyst for public discussion on various community and business issues.

http://www.whatwouldyouliketochange.com.au

Who’s baby?

The first thing I wanted to know was: Who is behind this? Who created it? And I’ve been confused ever since. It is the baby of PricewaterhouseCoopers. What was a big fat corporate doing creating a site like this? I asked a few tweeps what they thought and everyone was confused. On further inspection it seems PwC want to get a handle on the community conversation so they can use the information in their Change projects.

I was fascinated – and I am sure you will be too. Scroll down the left hand navigation menu and you’ll find the ‘Thought starters’ and categories. Click on a Thought starter that interests you then scroll through the comments and the thread replies. Add your own.

Falls short

But that’s about it. You start digging around for the ‘next steps’.. you want a clue about how you can use this information to actually CHANGE something.. Click : Making Change Happen at the top.

According to PwC, the way to ‘make change happen’ is by “asking the question: What would you like to change?”. This, we are told, will “open the door to new possibilities, and change change can happen.” To get us moving on this journey, we are presented with a bunch of inspirational quotes by famous people.

How about picking a few of the hot issues and facilitating a public brainstorm to get some real, tactical solutions then setting some action steps to ensure the solutions come to life? THAT would make change happen.

Good idea?

In today’s papers you will find a full page ad from Telstra with their version of the community conversation starter : ‘ideas for good’ :: http://www.telstra.com/ideasforgood . If you want to know what it’s all about, don’t bother digging around for an ‘about us’ link – you’ll have to sit through the intro video.

Then, click through the topic headings. Is it the cynic in me, or do they all seem to be related to certain Telstra initiatives? It’s a great idea to choose an actual personality to ‘blog’ about certain topics within each heading – then we’re invited to comment on the blog posts. AND – yes, it could turn out to be a great PR idea from within Telstra.

But it’s a little disappointing to see that the Future blog has not even begun? None of the blog posts has attracted more than 1 comment. Surely they should have populated it a bit more before publicising it?

What will be DONE with the ideas? There are so many sites asking for comments and calling them ‘ideas’ but they are really simply suggestions.

K. Rudd’s Ideas Summit

Reminds me of K. Rudd’s Ideas Summit in April 2008 : “an exciting initiative aimed at harnessing the bestideas for building a modern Australia ready for the challenges of the 21st century”. 10 ‘prominent australians’ [read: celebrities] led various bunches of people in discussions about certain topics.

When I’m talking about the Ideas Summit with people, the most common comment is : ‘nothing ever happened after that… what happened to the ideas?’ It seems they did a great job of publicising the actual Summit but not such a great idea of telling the world about the results.

Well, you can find out in this 405 page report :: http://www.australia2020.gov.au/final_report/index.cfm

Words like embrace, establish, empower, encourage, develop and phrases like ‘we need to’ and ‘we should’ can be found in the hundreds through the report.

What next? The report tells us that this is not the end. That we need to continue to discuss and debate ‘the issues’ and that the ideas in the report will be used to shape policy.

Are you wondering, as I am, HOW on earth the best ideas will be chosen, worked on, and how action steps will be set to ensure the ideas get a life?

Over to you

What are your thoughts? What is YOUR best technique for ensuring your best ideas see the light of day?

One page action plan

At IdeasCulture, we follow our productive creative thinking / brainstorming sessions with clients by teaching use of our One Page Implementation plan. This involves setting three action points for each idea. Say you want your great marketing idea implemented within 3 months, you’d set one action step for the next fortnight, one for the next month and one for 3 months. You can download it at http://www.ideasculture.com/downloads.

Oh, and if you want to generate some real, creative, clever business ideas for yourself – download the guided audio brainstorm at http://yvonneadele.com/video-audio/.

{ 4 comments }

Ben Elton’s clever marketing ideas

March 2, 2010

in Creative Thinking resources

Recently I’ve had cause to stop and admire various ideas in action. They’ve been arresting and clever. And each of them are superb examples of the sort of results you could achieve using a creative thinking technique called ‘Reverse Assumptions’.

The ideas:

  1. Vending Machine which requires no coins. Use your mobile phone to make your selection from the machine, paying by credit card.
    The assumption :: That you need spare change to use a vending machine.

    credit card vending machine

    credit card vending machine

    ::

  2. Hamish and Andy – Australia’s hottest radio comedy duo – ran a ‘Supermarket Wedding’ where they walked the winning bride ‘down the aisle’ of a local grocery store.
    The assumption :: That the bride walks down the aisle at a church.

    Hamish and Andy walk bride down the supermarket aisle

    Hamish and Andy walk bride down the supermarket aisle

    ::

  3. A chemist chain in Victoria is running a promotion for members. Members are sent a set of discount stickers including 10%, 20% and 30% which they are invited to bring into the store and stick on any item they like before they take it to the checkout. ‘YOU decide which items are discounted’. I am trying to track down the name of the chemist and will update this post asap.
    The assumption :: That the retailer decides which items to discount.
    ::
  4. Ben Elton’s new book :: Meltdown - has a big round yellow sticker on the front cover which compels you to lean in to read it. It says ::
    Feeling crunched? RING BEN NOW! 1300 726 265. He’ll tell you personally why you should read Meltdown. Local call charges apply. (australia)
    When you call the number you get a charming message from Ben himself chatting about the book. VERY clever.
    The assumption :: That the author doesn’t get a chance to market personally to the potential buyer.

    call ben elton for a message about his new book

    call ben elton for a message about his new book

    ::

  5. Posh books :: These pretty notebook designs caught my eye at the local Officeworks. On closer inspection I found they were all puzzle books. Posh Word Search; Posh Logic; Posh Crosswords and Posh Sudoku.
    The assumption :: That puzzles appear in newspapers and boring puzzle books.

    groovy puzzle books

    groovy puzzle books

If these ideas inspire you to create some arresting ideas for your own business challenge – whether related to Marketing, PR, Team morale, Products or such – try the Reverse Assumptions technique listed below to get your ideas sparking.

How YOU can Reverse Assumptions and create an arresting idea:

  1. Rule a blank page down the middle, vertically.
  2. On the left, list all of the assumptions about your subject/challenge.
  3. On the right, next to each assumption, list the reverse of that assumption. (ie : What is the opposite?)
  4. Then, choose the 4-5 assumption reversals you like the best. The ones you’d like to explore further. Tick or asterisk them.
  5. Now, on a blank page, list ways you could accomplish each reversal. (ie: How could you achieve it?)

Eg: How do we get our franchisees to use the new technology tools implemented by head office?

  • Assumption: They resist any new technology
  • Reversal: They embrace new technology with gusto
  • How do we achieve this? We involve the franchisees in the creation of the new tools. We make the technology so seamless that it fits very easily into their existing daily routines.
  • Assumption: The franchisees are resistant to head office offerings
  • Reversal: The franchisees will not use any new tools unless they come from head office.
  • How do we achieve this? Poach a handful of franchisees into new roles at head office. Or appoint random franchisees amongst the outlets to act as ??champions??.

Now, choose one idea and work it into a realistic/viable solution.

If working in groups

Write assumptions on index cards and put them into a bucket. Each group pulls out an assumption, works together as a group to reverse it and then works on ideas to turn the reversal into a viable solution.)

Set an action plan

Don’t forget to add time frames and delegate action steps to people. Use our one page Implementation Plan to assist. http://ideasculture.com/downloads/

{ 5 comments }

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