Team building activities can range from the bleak to the awe-inspiring. The goal, of course, is to bring team members together in a way that inspires them to grow and develop as individuals and as a team, ultimately produces better, more meaningful results from the collective output. However, the extent to which any given team building activity recognizes success often hinges on the amount of innovation infused into it. If…
How To Fold A Fitted Sheet
Last week, I surprised a group of several hundred people by taking the stage, not with my piano, but with an unfolded fitted sheet. I don’t know how to fold a fitted sheet and that’s a problem. So I asked this group of highly skilled sales executives if anyone knew how to fold a fitted sheet. I was was met with silence. Finally, I noticed someone in the back of…
Innovation Management
The practice of creativity and innovation management should be closely linked. But too often they’re not. Too often, organizations create innovation management teams but they don’t empower them with the culture, freedom or confidence to engage in creative play, to experiment and fail. I recently spoke with a client who said his team was hampered by the proof they had to submit, before even engaging in new product ideation. As…
Time Off To Innovate
The following post was written by Tony nominated songwriter, Lauren Lucas. Lauren is our CRD (chief razzler dazzler). Has your boss ever told you that they’d like to pay you to slow down and take time off every week just for thinking? Mine has. In fact, it caught me so off guard that I actually pushed back and argued that I needed to be working more. Perhaps it should also…
An Innovation Mindset
I’m in overdrive this morning, buzzing about my to-do list and buzzing on caffeine; about to dive into this blog post with an eye on the clock so I can cross this off my list…Does that sound familiar to you? As my fingers fly across the computer keyboard typing meaningless words, I realize what a hypocrite I’m being and I STOP. Breathe, relax, slow down and re-focus….ahh, now I’m in…
Learning, Leaping and Team Building
Even though it was quite some time ago I remember the phone call from one of my daughter’s friends, Aliza. She said she was ‘no good’ at soccer. She really wanted to join the team but she was afraid. Context here: This girl was about ten years old at the time. (Did I mention I was the soccer coach…) Without even thinking I responded to Aliza, “Aliza, at your age…
Something New
I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions. In fact, I haven’t made one in quite some time. I recently asked a friend of mine, whose wisdom I respect, what he does. He told me he doesn’t make resolutions either, but he assigns himself a task. Every year he sets out to learn something new. So rather than resolving to change an existing habit, he’s setting out to create a new…