Business Challenges

Why not look at change even if there are no problems?

All valuable creative ideas will be perfectly logical in hindsight. If they were not logical in hindsight, we would not think of them as 'valuable'. They would be crazy ideas. All this is due to the nature of assymetric patterns formed by self-organising information systems.

A simple example I use in my seminars is that of an ant on the trunk of a tree. What are the chances of that ant reaching a specified leaf? At every branch point the odds improve. In the average tree the chances are no better than one in 8,000. Now imagine the ant on that specified leaf. What are the chances of that ant reaching the trunk of the tree? One in one. There are no forward branches in the reverse direction.

HINDSIGHT
In exactly the same way a brilliantly creative idea may seem very obvious and logical in hindsight - but not so obvious when you set out to find the idea. That is why we have not paid serious attention to creativity in the belief that hindsight logic could be reversed.

I am going to invite readers of Thinking Managers to submit examples of what they consider creative ideas. I will then examine these and comment on the creative approach that may have resuulted in the idea. It is never possible, in hindsight, to be sure whether such an approach was the one actually used.

Dell is one of the biggest computer vendors in the US. There seem to be several creative components in the success of Dell. One aspect of its success is cutting out intermediaries, with direct delivery of computers from the company to the customer. This involves the use of agencies like Federal Express.

The growth of fax communication (and now e-mail) meant that documents no longer needed to be sent by courier, which reduced Federal Express's business. This made the courier company more willing to deliver larger goods.

VALUATION
Then there was the idea that you could phone up and specify the configuration of your computer. So you got exactly the computer you wanted. I do not know how many buyers actually do this - I suspect a very small minority of personal buyers. But the concept is powerful. There seems to be good 'customer valuation' here (note that this 'valuation' is different from customer service).

I also note that very much of the production for Dell is outsourced. This reduces production and inventory costs and allows for quicker changes of model. All these ideas could be seen as results of the basic 'challenge' process...

...you challenge the normal distribution system through retail outlets
...you challenge the ordering process
...you challenge the need for multiple configurations and give customers tailoring options
...you challenge in-house production.

CHALLENGE
The challenge process can be very powerful, but it is not easy to use because we are reluctant to challenge something which works well as it is. It takes courage to suggest an untried alternative. Yet the cost/benefit analysis of the alternative may turn out to be very effective.

I am never too happy with the word 'challenge' because it may imply that something is wrong. What we really want to say is; 'This may well be the best way of doing things. This may indeed be the only way. But I want to explore alternatives. Not because there is a need, but because I want to'. Because there is no more suitable word to convey this intention, we have to use the word 'challenge'.

ASKING WHY?
The operating word in the challenge process is 'why?'. Why do we have to do it this way? Once again, the word is not satisfactory, because we are not really looking for reasons or explanations. There may be very good reasons or explanations, but those do not interest us. We are looking for change. We make the change, and then we explore both the feasibility and benefits of the change.

As I have indicated so often in my writings, language is very deficient when you want to describe a process that is not the usual one.

Why do the pages of a book run from one to (say) 200? Why not have the pages run from 200 down to one? Now, there are very good reasons for the pages to run from one to 200 - but those are not of interest. We explore the benefits of having the pages run the other way. One benefit is that you know how much more of the book there is to read - which may be more useful than knowing how much you have read! We then examine this value and see if the value can be delivered in another way. Perhaps we can have both numbering systems at the top of the page.

PROBLEM-SOLVING
We are usually so obsessed with 'problem-solving' that we never get around to challenging things which are not problems at all. That is another difficult aspect of challenge: focusing on something in order to challenge it.

So what I would like readers to do is to submit examples of what they consider to have been creative changes, whether from their own experience or through observation of the world around. Readers can apply their own comments. I shall also add mine.

Examining actual examples of creativity can often illustrate the fundamental creative processes. It can never prove that such processes were used in a particular example, but it can show how the processes might have led to such an outcome. This in turn builds up the creative 'attitudes' that accompany each formal technique.

CODE BOOK
The De Bono Code Book is now available (Viking, £16.99). Something of what it describes is inevitable - if not now, then in 50 years' time. Language is simply too slow in embracing complex situations. Unless such situations are 'coded' somewhere in the brain, we cannot perceive them. Description is not the same as perception.

If you start using some of the codes in your own organisation, I would welcome feedback on what happens. There are very applicable and easy to use codes like the 'frantic code' (in which '6/7' means 'Cut the crap, what do you want? Never mind the preamble and the background, what it is that you actually want?') and the 'meetings code' (9/4 means 'Could you summarise what you have been saying? Could you repeat the main points? Could you please bring your talk to an end?'). Then, the 'relationship codes' could be used equally well by individuals or corporations.