Get your business growing by NOT Knowing

In Employees First, Customers Second Vineet Nayar describes his first “Mirror Mirror” meeting with team members.  He had recently accepted the role as CEO of a highly successful IT company that in spite of growing at 30% was falling behind industry leaders.   Instead of spouting his vision for the future he said “I don’t know all the answers, in fact I probably don’t even know the right questions.  The answers will have to come from you.” What difference did putting HCLT employees first make?

In the first five years of their transformation (2005-2009)

• The number of HCLT customers grew fivefold.
• Employee attrition dropped nearly 50%
• Employee satisfaction increased 70%
• Both revenues and operating income tripled

Apply this same “not knowing” philosophy to your next meeting and light up your teams creative fires.  The Cubic Thinking™ process is designed to turn our traditional “group think” process upside down by following a process of mutual discovery.

This short article is an update to the first of six steps in the Cubic Thinking™ process.  Use this link to download the complete Cubic Thinking: Creativity³ eBook FREE.

Like most journeys the first step is the most important.  As with the nine faces on each side of a Rubik’s Cube most ideas include many components each of which needs to be considered following the same process.  After presenting your initial idea allow each member of the group to look for the pieces that make up the idea.  Continue that process in as many rounds as necessary until you have exhausted the

Let’s say your goal was to develop new ideas for increasing the number of members in an association.  You could do this by adding more new members or by retaining more of the members you already have.  You might further consider that it is not the number of members that is really the issue, but the net revenue per member which could include discussions of both income and expenses.  Don’t shortchange this process.  Deciding the most important question to address is critical.  Let go of your need to know.  Uncertainty can be uncomfortable but it is allowing us to explore uncharted territories that often reveal the greatest rewards.

List all the ideas as they are presented without judging them.  When your list is completed prioritize the pieces.  This can be done by giving each member three colored stickers representing their first, second and third priorities and ask them to place them next to their top three picks.  Get people off their seats and moving.  There are few positions less creative than sitting on our butts.  We are designed to think while moving.  In his ground breaking book Brain Rules developmental molecular biologist John Medina reminds us that our ancestors walked an average of seven miles every day.   Get moving to get thinking.