- Assignment updates:
- Paper: Offered one last chance for feedback on research paper ideas. Time is getting late as its due last week of class (now 12/6).
- Pitches: You all should have watched your pitch videos by now. If you can’t access them (Or you have no clue what I’m talking about), let me know asap.
- Pitch feedback: we handed out the feedback forms. if you weren’t there, ask for them next week.
- Idea Killers
- We listed statements often said that kill ideas in their tracks.
- Group creativity index
- A quick survey was given to the class asking questions about work environment.
- Best score: 25. Worst score: 77. Average: 46.
- We discussed factors that explain the wide variance in work environment quality.
- Affinity / Wall of ideas
- The big exercise for the class. We used post it notes and a wall as a way to explore ideas.
- Everyone was asked to generate ideas for “Tactics that minimize (bad) politics”
- Anyone could write an idea on a post it note, and place it on the wall.
- When ideas were exhausted, we used different techniques for organizing ideas.
November 15, 2006 at 8:32 am
The concept of politics plays such an enormous role in creating/selling ideas in my company. My department is responsible for setting the standard of creativity. To do this, however, there are a slew of political channels for the success of any new idea. Identifying the politics involved has been a key factor in what ideas stand a chance, regardless of how good/poor the idea.
We’ve learned to negotiate our interests with various key players who are trusted councilors to the execs. We often present a near-final idea to these individuals saying that it’s rough and we’d like their thoughts. We negotiate a give-and-take to adjust the idea slightly but enough to make them feel considered.
There are then the “appropriate channels” whereby we must present the idea to a VP who then presents the idea to the other execs. There is an art to this in that we have to frame the new idea in a way that it can sound like the VPs own idea. If done correctly, he does the selling to the others, and this is supported by those councilors I mentioned earlier. If an idea works it’s way to the top, we have to be prepared (which we do in advance) to answer a dozen questions from the president, who likes to be overly involved in minutia.
In short, it’s a complex political challenge to get a new idea approved (sort of a “how a bill becomes a law” cartoon) wherein there are far more idea killers than promoters.
Does anyone else face a similar challenge, and if so, what’s worked for you?
November 20, 2006 at 10:46 pm
Yup very similar.
Hmm what has worked… sometimes if I feel that I have an idea that is great, I go out and do a “spec” or find similar proejcts that the competition has done, that usually gets them!
Show and tell is the best. Its hard for them to see from proposals, but when it is storyboarded or graphically marked up it is easier to get a buy in.
September 12, 2007 at 5:45 pm
Hello, nice post. Bookmark it.