This story appears in the
September 2003 issue of
Entrepreneur.
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By consciously shifting your perspective, you counter normal
tendencies to stick with what you know either because you believe
you're the expert or out of comfort with the familiar. This
technique has two benefits: It can generate a solution to an
immediate need and cultivate a new habit of mind. The goal is to
find several alternatives in any situation.
To begin, start idea meetings with a quick exercise to help
people practice looking at things in different ways. Take a picture
from the newspaper, and ask people to come up with different
explanations of what's happening in the picture. Though
it's usually a fun exercise, the message is serious: You're
signaling to your team you want them to behave differently and to
practice generating more possibilities.
Then take one of your products or services. Think about its most
central feature or what makes it successful. Then reverse it. For
example, one of the basic assumptions about restaurants is that
they sell prepared meals. What would a restaurant look like if it
didn't sell prepared meals? What if the customers cooked the
food? Another assumption is that restaurants are housed in a
building. Maybe offering picnic baskets would be a good business
idea.
Reversing current beliefs could lead to new ideas about how to
develop your business. And generating several options to meet each
challenge gives you greater flexibility.
Juanita Weaver is a creativity coach and consultant. Tell her
how your company sparks creativity at juanita@juanitaweaver.com.
