Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Ideas for Ideation

Not many corporate consultants today can claim to inspire positive action. At best, they are ambassadors of borrowed wisdom, perpetually adjusitng their tie-knots and poise to look intelligent enough before clients and prospects.

Vinay Kanchan is a sweet exception. His views are precise, packed with references of relevance and, most importantly, solution-centric.... like his thoughts on organizational creativity in the article:

http://www.afaqs.com/perl/news/story.html?sid=26434


He lists down the waves that seem destined to cause positive ripples in corporate ideation. If organizations get these themes right, they can take ideation to the next level:

by probing the voices of apparent dissent,

by channelizing informal conversation groups,

by encouraging individual expression and,

by discovering leadership control in its very release.


To quote him:


"Some companies have begun encouraging the use of a slice of official time towards personal projects. However, an interesting, basic step might be a culture shift in offices, towards the attitude that 'If one is really not busy, there is no need to pretend to be so'. Just not having to witness the furious typing on keyboards and the perpetually furrowed brows, whilst trundling along the corridors, might be reward enough."


You couldn't have said it better Vinay!

Scores of corporate corridors and cubicles are packed with professionals who enact their "busy status" round the clock... Sadly, a vast majority of these corporate actors begin to enjoy the fake act when they record the positive effect on their career progression.

The pretence may take many forms: whether desktop-driven (fill excel sheets, trigger google search, change outlook settings, run anti-virus programmes, clean mailbox, send courtesy mails) or in transit (make anxious trips to the loo, prolong cell phone conversations, be seen with heaps of printouts, appear disheveled in elevator journeys)

The facade may be self-defeating but in a system that rewards projections in lieu of performance, it makes perfect sense.