“Do not hesitate to share your business ideas with others for fear they might steal them. Nobody can steal the ‘fire in your belly,’ and at the end that is all that counts and differentiates you”. So if you come up with a startup/business idea, do share it with your others for feedback, because your initial idea would need refinement and honest feedbacks. If you are still skeptical in …
I am often asked how to define innovation? Defining something like Innovation is difficult, because Innovation is a concept that needs to be comprehended than defined. Now, if you look for definition of Innovation over the internet, you will find hundreds of them and the bizarre part is that most of these definitions are right …
We often think that conversation is all about talking good. This is a misconception. As the old saying goes, we humans have two ears and one mouth, so perhaps nature designed us to listen more and talk comparatively less. However we generally fail to follow this law of nature. Specially in the corporate life, speaking …
‘Listening’ is an essential skill! So how to become a good listener? Read More »
Empathy is one of the most important skill for an individual both for personal and professional life. In an organization, culture of Empathy can act as competitive advantage that helps in better understanding of the employees, customers and end-users. This ultimately leads to more relevant and acceptable products/solutions. However, most people generally confuse empathy with …
Meetings are important part of our work, but meetings can also become tedious and counterproductive if they are unorganized or mismanaged. Use this simple discipline to ensure an effective and productive meeting every time in your teams and organization. I call it ‘TOM’. Time: Time every meeting for 30 minutes or less. If the organizer …
Want an effective and productive meeting every time, use ‘TOM’ Read More »
6 thinking hats (by Edward de Bono) It is a role-playing model for effective decision making and problem solving. This methodology is based on the premise that different personality types (optimist/pessimist/analytical etc.) think differently and therefore provide different perspective to the same problem/challenge. Process: Assign a specific hat (colour) to each member Each member looks …
Use ‘6 thinking hats’ to bring-out divergent thinking and solutions Read More »
What if you have a large team and want to solve multiple problem in a very limited time? Use the Charette method Procedure: Choose problems (multiple) for discussion ► Make sub-groups of the entire team (>15 people) ► Assign a problem to each sub-group for ideation ► Each sub-group chooses a recorder who will record all …
Charrette method for solving multiple problems in a short time Read More »
This one is interesting and tricky at the same time. In other brainstorming methods, teams try to come up with ideas and solutions for solving a problem or grabbing an opportunity. Here also the intention is same, however you do it completely reverse. It is fascinatingly based on human nature to see problems more easily …
Using ‘reverse brainstorming’ for creative ideas Read More »
Stepladder is an effective decision-making technique. It ensures that each member of the team gets equal opportunity to present their views and ideas, leading to effective group decision whilst preventing groupthink. Process: Explain the challenge clearly to the entire team. Give some time for everyone to gather their thoughts. Now, start with just two …
Starbursting is a brainstorming technique which encourages asking questions, rather providing answers or ideas. Use: It is very useful when you are trying to start or enhance something – new project, new product, new service, new features etc. Process: It is a very simple process. Everyone in the team is asked to come up with …