Creative Solutions for Business & Education

If you read my last blog entry (below) you’ll remember that I discovered what is perhaps my key skill, making complex things easy to understand, following a long period of working with people whose background was very different to my own and thought very differently to myself.
This discovery didn’t come overnight and it was only after working in often difficult and frustrating circumstances that I was able to find my talent, even if it did have to be confirmed by people around me before the ‘light went on’ and I realised what it was!

In reality, the little phrase I now use to crystallise my skill, Making the Complex Easy was only finally formulated a couple of months ago whilst talking to my business mentor about it. Thankfully, Sandra is very persistent and also very perceptive and the phrase eventually fell out as I tried to capture what I did in less than a paragraph!

We were discussing my experiences whilst studying for my PhD; whilst working in the pharmaceutical industry; whilst working in schools; with friends; in church. Time and time again the examples we discussed had the same repeating theme:

How can I make it easy for others to understand what I’m saying?

This was important to me becasue I have always been someone who has had to work hard to understand things. Combine this with a severe lack of contentment if I couldn’t really ‘get inside’ and understand what I was trying to learn. Knowledge for me has more to do with its application than knowledge for knowledge’s sake.

By understanding something I can use my knowledge in how I decide to move forward and use it in my own life and situations.

So, I suppose it was a natural progression that I should want others to enjoy the same opportunities. Here are a few of the instances we discussed of how and when I’d made complex things easy:

• My PhD was focussed on pain relief and what was involved in helping us control painful stimuli, so important in conditions like malignant diseases. More than once I was asked to explain what I was investigating by friends who had no science background. So, I was often trying to explain complex pharmacological and biochemical processes in simple terms like opening and closing gates, keys in locks, motorways and side roads.
• One of my tasks whilst working in the pharmaceutical industry was training sales representative, many of whom were from a marketing and selling background and without any science input, on the decidedly unsimple process of our body’s immunological response to infection by viruses. Here terms like cavalry, snipers, secret messengers and chewing and spitting were used to demystify the process.
• My last role in the pharmaceutical industry before I accepted redundancy was to provide technical and information support to physicians and researchers on the data available to support the use of a specific drug in difficult-to-treat and potentially life-threatening conditions. The problem I was faced with was that I had over 600 slides in my presentation with a usual time slot of a lunch break (i.e., between 10 minutes and 1 hour). My solution was to reverse the process and devise an interactive presentation where my audience told me what they wanted to talk about and we ‘dipped-in’ and ‘dipped-out’ of the presentation and information available. This seemed a revolution to many of my audience and I spent hours discussing how they could put together a similar format for their own work, thereby enabling the passing-on of important information in a more targetted way: reducing a complex array of slides to easy-to-digest, smaller segments.
• Whilst working I often took time out to visit schools and help children to understand what they were learning in the science of sound arena. As a drummer and percussionist I was used to making sounds (noise some would call it) and as a scientist I understood some of the principles behind the sounds I was making. So I took samples of my drums and percussion into schools and we experimented together and began to understand what made some sounds high, some low; some loud and some soft. What amazed me after these lessons was that I received a lot of feedback on how the children had used some of the more socially orientated skills (listening, talking, thinking together) and the reasoning and experimental approaches in their other subjects and in generally working together in other lessons. Making it easy in one subject had been transferrable to other areas of school life (and hopefully in their wider life).
• My daughter, who is no scientist, was revising for her GCSEs and needed to understand the basics of the electrophoresis of DNA for DNA profiling. Saying the word is difficult, let alone understanding it. So I explained that the long strand of DNA is cut into lots of smaller pieces by enzymes (chemical saws). The result is a bit like a shoal of fish: some very small; some larger; some longer; some big and some huge. The plate onto which the sample of ‘chewed DNA’ is placed is like lines of fishing nets and when the electric current was switched on, it was a bit like a river or the tide flowing, taking the fish with it. Little fish was pass easily through the nets and the longer and larger fish would get stuck more quickly or have to work harder to swim through the nets. The huge fish wouldn’t be able to get through at all and would stay where they were. At the end of the experiment when the electric current is switched off, it is like taking a snap shot or photograph of where all the fish are. The ‘bands of fish’ are like the bands of DNA on the plate: smaller fish/pieces of DNA have travelled furthest, largest fish/pieces of DNA haven’t been able to move at all. My daughter understood this more pictorial, less scientific approach and manged to answer questions on her GCSE paper, getting a Grade B which was a true miracle.

… and I guess that’s why I’m so passionate about making difficult things easy to understand … once we understand them we have chance to use the knowledge and achieve more than we thought possible.

There will always be those who like to keep things complicated because it gives them a sense of power and importance; they are the only ones who know. But in a world where increasing co-operation is becoming a key factor (especially in business) and clarity of understanding paramount, the sharing of knowledge in an easy to understand way is, I believe becoming ever more crucial, not only for success, but for survival.

Labels: explaining science to children, making complex easy, schools, science for non-scientists, survival in business, teams, teamwork, transparent communication

I don’t know about you, but one of the biggest hurdles I’ve had to overcome (and still fight daily) is the idea that others know more than me, especially in areas where I am dubbed an expert.

I think a lot of it goes back to when I was younger, especially in my teen years where, although I was in the top set at school there were those around me who were like a cerebrum on legs: they oozed ability, knowledge and were more concerned with where they’d lost two or three marks in their exams than with where they’d gained them!

The problem with hanging out with these guys wasn’t anything to do with their personalities: most of them were really great people to be around. It was the toll that it all took on my self-confidence and self-esteem. My mind had a field day, reinforcing all those doubts that had ever dared to enter my thinking, or had been placed there by others.

It wasn’t until I was in my 40’s that I was forced to go back and revisit these difficult and confusing times when recovering from serious illness. During the long, slow, often painful process that was called recovery I was forced (in the nicest way possible) to see these things in their true perspective and identify the lies that I had taken on-board and made an integral part of my life and psyche.

One of the biggest mistakes I had made was when I started looking at my abilities in comparison to others. We live in a competitive world where we are continually compared to others BUT there is no need for us to do it to ourselves. When we go for a new job, invariably our skill sets, talents and background will be compared to those of others competing for the same job. That is the interviewer’s job.

HOWEVER, we want to be at our best in those situations, showing others our true self and abilities.

If we focus on what we don’t have and what we can’t do as well as others, then we will never see our own unique talents; our own unique skills and the things that we CAN bring to the table that others can’t.

Here’s a couple of examples from my own life that may help:

• When I left school, I went straight to university but was so clueless and dispirited about what I wanted to/could do that I gave up after a term (though I did return with my first drum kit … but that is another story!). I worked for 3 years and then decided that I would go back to studying as I had a much clearer idea of where I wanted to go (and where I couldn’t go at that time without a degree). I entered the first year of my degree expecting to be worse than the fresh young things entering straight after their A-levels. I looked to the brightest of them for encouragement and help but I was always aware in my own mind that I wasn’t as good as them. That was confirmed in my exams at the end of the year. For some reason and I still don’t know why, I decided over the Summer holidays that I would really work for myself and make sure that I understood what I was doing. This meant re-learning a lot of what I’d not learnt very well during my first year. The second year was different. Nothing changed in my ability to work with others, but my internal focus was now on what I could do rather than what I couldn’t. I really WANTED to learn and understand to the best of MY abilities. I came top of the year in my second year exams, something I could never have dreamed of. I wasn’t the brightest on paper (my A-level results wer mediocre at best) but my focus had changed and I’d achieved my potential (albeit with a lot of hard work). I passed my degree with a higher grade than I would ever have expected and then went on to higher study. The point I’m trying to encourage you with is that if we look at ourselves it’s very easy to see what we lack. But we have so much to offer that others don’t, and others rarely see the failings in ourselves that we do! I’m definitely not trying to propose some self-help mantra but I am suggesting that a change of focus can bring a change of attitude and facilitate us reaching our fuller potential.
• Another example was when I was working as a member of a Medical Department’s clinical research team in the pharmaceutical industry. I knew some of my strengths: people skills, patience, generally up-beat and good to be around etc. But, it took several years of working with the Dark Side, i.e., members of the Marketing Department, to really bring my core skills to the fore. Medical Departments generally work to a dinosaur type time-scale; it takes a long time to design, set-up, run, and report clinical trials. Marketing work very much in the here and now and want results today (or yesterday if possible). Initially I worked to set-up a Medical-Marketing Interface, a group of people from both departments who could get together on a regular basis to discuss what their priorities were at that time, what they were for the next year and the reality of what information was likely to become available or be wanted in that time. These were not easy meetings but they gradually evolved into a broader set of discussion forums that really helped the two departments work together more effectively. They opened the way for more constructive interaction rather than shooting at each other from the parapets. Through them there was also much closer collaboration in the construction of sales and marketing literature and this is where I discovered something that had probably been obvious but I’d never seen it! My personal ‘gem’ was an ability to make complex and highly technical scientific and medical ideas easy to understand by all, including those from a non-technical and non-scientific background. This did two things: a) It boosted my confidence; I did have something special to offer and b) it paved the way for my last role in corporate business, that of communicating and building professional relationships with members of the medical and research communities and providing fora in which we could openly discuss data supporting the use of specific drugs in difficult-to-treat-conditions. It was also interesting that when I left my job, many of the most moving ‘good-bye’ messages came from these same people.

It took me a long time to realise that it’s not always simply how much we know, it’s a lot more to do with recognising our own skills and talents, developing and using these to the best of our abilities, whilst never missing the opportunity to hear what others are saying about us. As we refine our path, we will be amazed at what we have to offer and as with my university exams, we may just move from being one of the crowd to being a leader.

Even if we don’t, I can guarantee that you’ll feel so much better about yourself and be more confident with what you can offer.

Labels: making complex easy, medical marketing interface, personal skills talents, pharmaceutical industry, reaching full potential, self-confidence, self-esteem, teams

Innovation and creativity are not entities and they do not happen spontaneously.

They are the fruits of people, people interacting and working together, complete with all of the friction and personality clashes. Innovation is analogous to a musical writing partnership or team sports. If all roles are performing well, we get a positive force for innovation. And just with sports teams, it is not essential to have total excellence in every area. Some of the most effective and innovative teams have true excellence in one or two areas combined with strength in many others. There may be stars in our team, but the team is the powerhouse.

Perspiration, dedication and hard work are also at the centre of creativity and innovation, honing skills practiced and developed over long periods of time, until they really work. Here are Some basic principles for success:

Stretch for Strength: Flexibility is more important than strength, size or power. Many 'giants' of the business world have disappeared as smaller, more nimble companies stole the market through exercising their flexibility and operating according to new business models.

Go for distance: Innovation is less about a programme and more about a way of life; a culture. It is a culture that should be at the centre of every part of an organisation and one which continues to evolve and develop with time, and over time. It is about longevity rather than fad.

Never give in: Wherever there is innovation there are obstacles and these must be overcome. Personalities within our teams will be able to see ways around whatever obstacle is in the way or objection raised. At these times close collaboration and problem sharing are essental for going the distance.

Fight the mental battles: One of the biggest obstacles or hurdle to our progress looms in the battle of the mind; our psyche. To quote Tom Kelley, 'Innovators have the uncommon sense to pursue ideas long after others give up.'

Celebrate the coach: Behind every great sports team there is a geat coach. Behind every great project team there is a great coach. They may not be in the limelight, but they labour tirelessly in the background making sure everything and everyone stays together. The right coach brings out the best and we notice the difference

The most successful teams comprise a rich mix of different types of people with different personalities or personas, different talents and abilities, different temperaments. The correct mix will produce sufficient innovative friction to push forward the team and push forward the innovative process.

When innovation is experienced, it is a mighty force to inspire further innovation. Perhaps the most important step is to make a start, no matter how small, get the innovation engine turning over, see the benefits and build on them. And these benefits will be pretty obvious when they occur, hopefully enough to overcome politics and convert even the most cynical as they see a turn-around in their group, department, business unit or company.

And innovation doesn't just turn companies around, it becomes a way of life.

Labels: commitment, creativity, dedication, innovative process, long term success, personalities, perspiration, politics, stronger teams, succes, successful business strategies, successful companies, teams, teamwork

Perhaps one of the most eloquent and engaging speakers I have heard is Sir Ken Robinson. he has this style which instantly puts one at ease whilst totally drawing us in to what he has to say. If you want an example, pour yourself a coffee and Watch Ken Robinson Talk to see him in action (opens in a new window ... use the 'Close Window' button after viewing).

In one of his more recent appearances he continued to present some uncomfortable facts which will impact us all unless things change. Here is a sample of out-takes from his talk. Full article here (opens in a new window).

• The world is facing a crisis of human resources ... "I believe that fundamentally we have both underestimated and continue to misuse - if not actually abuse - many of our most important talents; our talents, our children's talents, and the talents of the people who work with us. And unless we fix [this crisis], I feel we're not going to make much progress fixing the other one."
• Both crises are the result of our "industrial mindset," which is incompatible with modern society and modern business. Both manifest themselves in terms of imbalances. In the natural world it is the imbalance of gases in our atmosphere, although human activity is also disrupting many other ecosystems. In society we have legions of people dislocated from their own talents, legions of people suffering from all kinds of anxiety, legions of people in dysfunctional communities. And there is an enormous cost of handling this.
• In California (Robinson's new home town) spends $3.5bn a year on the state university system; it spends $9.9bn on the state prison system. Similar figures exist for other Western countries, as well as other US states. The UK spends millions of pounds a year on remedial education, to try to get kids through a system which many of them are bucking against. And we spend millions of pounds a year on career counselling, because people have not found their way.
• The result for educators, employers and HR professionals is that it is vital to have an understanding of "the ecology of human resources.
• As a society, we must improve our understanding of human capabilities. We believe mistakenly that creativity and intelligence vary in inverse proportion to one another. The things we take for granted as being true are the real problem; the enemy of making the best of ourselves is common sense.
• Thankfully creativity is not dead but merely latent, in most adults.
• Work by Land and Jarman showed that in a smaple of 1,500 children aged 3-5, 98% ranked as "geniuses" in divergent thinking. In children aged between 8 and 10 years the figure fell to just 32% and by the time children had reached between 13 and 15 years it had declined further to a mere 10%. In other words, children become less creative as they grow older. What coincides with this period of development, aside from hormonal changes and socialisation, is that they enter formal education where they have learnt a) there is one answer to every question, b) don't look, because that's cheating and c) don't copy from anybody else, because that's cheating too ... even though outside of school we call this collaboration.
• This mindset goes well beyond school and college. Land and Jarman also performed a control test of two-thousand adults (aged 25+) where only 2% ranked as geniuses. We don't grow into creativity, we grow out of it, because of the ways in which we become institutionalised and socialised. Education is a big piece of this, but work is an even bigger piece.
• Creativity is most frequently associated, in the workplace, with innovation but it is equally important in helping society cope with, and harness, technological advances. No matter what we do or where we do it, technology is going to swamp us: new information systems are going to subvert all the things we take for granted.
• The over-25s think we're OK, but we're not that great. We have learnt digital technology like a second language, so we kind of speak phrasebook digital compared with our children. IT systems are becoming more and more pervasive, but they're not fundamentally avoiding the powerful need for better and better use of human resources. To the contrary. Human resource is the only way we can engage with these things properly ... and at this moment we are locked into an industrial mindset about our own capabilities.
• Business people can help to nurture creativity and imagination by thinking of organisations as organisms rather than organisations A better metaphor is from agriculture. A farmer can't make a plant grow. A plant grows itself. A good farmer provides the conditions for growth. And a great plant doesn't just grow from the top, it grows everywhere simultaneously, as do healthy organisations, which have a reciprocating relationship among the parts.
• There is a huge difference between a creative team and a committee: great creative teams require real expertise among managers and leaders to work. It's a skill-set that we need to be teaching managers and leaders.
• Great teams, large or small, are deliberately diverse: they have people from different backgrounds, experiences, ages and responsibilities in the organisation. The processes employed by these teams ensure that their diversity is not an impediment but a resource.
  The best senior managers are those who are not afraid to let teams congregate for specific tasks and then disband, to form other teams as necessary, perhaps one of the best ways to spread cultural information around the organisation.
• It is essential to create the right habitat, in terms of culture and environment. Anyone who is serious about making more of people must be serious about the environment in which they work. And not just the colour of the walls: innovative organisations have a rigorous approach to questioning algorithms of behaviour and changing the environment as need be.
  Challenging stuff.

What I think is obvious is that we have a long way to go. BUT we need to make a start, no matter how small to change the inertia of creative decline. and just perhaps some of our organisations and social structures will be rebuilt into healthy living cultures.

Until next time ...

Labels: adults, business, children, creative crisis, education, emotional intelligence, genius rating, industry, ken robinson, teams

Hi! I've not written anything down for a while because I have had my nose in books researching for my business. My entry for today is short and basic.

I never cease to be amazed how many of the triggers that release creativity are so simple. Nothing deep and complicated; nothing highly theoretical; nothing special really ... just a gateway to looking at the same problem in a different way. For example, take a problem, look at the key elements in that problem and then start thinking about the effects of opposites: What would be the situation if that wasn't to happen?

And as I looked at these tools, it struck me that some of the greatest stimulators of creativity are when opposites meet; when we are placed in situations, or with people who take a different, possibly contrary view to our own.

And I wondered whether we lose creative opportunities because we are afraid to engage in open, honest, frank debate and in some cases take an opposing view. I'm not suggesting that we look for every opportunity to put people together who go for each other's jugular, but I am suggesting that by encouraging honest debate between people or departments which don't naturally fit together, we may be able to stimulate some new, otherwise unidentified solutions to our problems.

I also think that some our meetings would also be more fun and productive!

Labels: business, business success, creative triggers, creativity, creativity in business, debate, honesty, ideas generation, impact on work, new ideas, office, stimulating creativity, teams