Creativity...Motivation...Innovation

Where is this landmark?  First correct response:  Surprise!
Photo Credit: Richard Chicoine iCopyright 2011

Creativity....Innovation.... What's the Difference?

I'm not going to answer that question for you. 

In fact, we'll be spending some thinking time together on March 10, delving into the many aspects of Creativity and Innovation, for you as leaders,

and for Thunder Bay - in a community perspective.

It's going to be interesting!

To get you started, here's an e-book that links creativity and motivation. 

HEY! How's that goal setting coming along? 

This will help... (yes, 60 pages...easy read)

Enjoy!

http://media.lateralaction.com/motivatecreate.pdf

We Are Naturally Off the Wall

Photo Credit: Richard Chicoine iCopyright 2009

Welcome Home!

You might have noticed that the lights were on, but no-one was home all summer. Yes, we took a break from the Blog and Twitter and Linkedin... but that's not to say we weren't productive!

The "we" isn't the proverbial royal "we"... my sidekick Richard - or am I his? - and I team up on a number of projects. That wasn't the plan when we were married 2 years ago. Rick retired as a most loved English and Math teacher, and basketball coach and then discovered photography. Funny thing, since I grew up in a photographer's family and spent most of my childhood Saturdays posing for my dad or hand-colouring portraits of brides. That too was a family affair.

So Rick takes great pride in displaying his latest shots, while I use my specialty - creativity - to fit a story to the picture he sends me each week for this blog as well as the Leadership Blog at www.xowhat.blogspot.com.

For the next few months, our focus will be on "how to do and be innovation". My background is in strategic systems thinking, where innovation and leadership reign. We're calling it "IdeA-Z".

We hope that these tips and examples will inspire and amuse you but most of all, help you to get unstuck or un-bogged or feeling like you can solve the problem another way.

Our self-portrait in this issue is an example of just being "off the wall" and doing something which most people wouldn't notice. If you look closely at the photo, you might notice a variety of "systems" at play.

If you can tell us where we posed for this photo (not the exact location, but what kind of structure), I'll not only stand and applaud you, but send a fave surprise by snail mail. Use the comment link below.

See you Tuesdays, and thanks for being "home" with us!

- Maggie

100 Day Plan for Leaders: Duck

Photo Credit: Richard Chicoine iCopyright 2009

100 Day Plan for Leaders: Duck!

Background: How The 100 Day Plan Evolved*

Let me take a round-about, concept based journey to the real point of this week’s column. First, I’d like to share the inside track of how my blog themes emerge. If you’re interested in how innovative thinking happens - especially for leaders - then this background portion may be extremely useful for you.

How the Process of Writing Blog Articles Begins

My side-kick photographer notices "the usual" but snaps the unusual photo. He sends an unsolicited image to stir up the imagination of the creative writer (me). The end result? The innovative intersection of ideas which results in the weekly MagOhZine column.

My husband Richard is the photographer who fires up my writing.

I never know which picture he's going to send as this week's theme.

My challenge is to allow the story to unfold from the image.

As a speaker specializing in "Strategies to Think Ahead", I need to keep my mind sharp and my brain flexible. Coherent. Concise. My clients expect me to guide them to the place where "they get it". Most of the leaders I work with, aren't familiar with the intimate details of how their brains get locked into familiar patterns and expectations. They need to experience as well as learn the theory of creativity, innovation and influencing change in their organizations.

My weekly musings and writings based on pictures, are just one example of how creative thought works in real life. I simulate and stimulate my own thinking style on a regular basis. Creativity isn’t a one shot activity. How could I expect others to do the same, if I don't take the lead?

The Process

So here’s the process (in short form) of how we build the theme and the content for each article. Notice how the photo is the initial inspiration - the metaphor that serves as the foundation for the final outcome.


a. This week’s image: "Duck enjoying shower on a hot day"
b. Research (What do I know about ducks?)
c. Reflection (What do ducks and leaders have in common?)
d. Intersection of multiple ideas (What is the key question: what else happens in 100 days?)
e. Hatch: (Intersection of ideas: 100 Day Plan Duck! for Leaders?)
f. Experiment: Write draft 1 or 2 or 3...
g. Laugh! (If it's not amusing or titillating, start again.)
h. Action Plan: (Write, edit, write, edit more.)
i. Remarks - comments - thanks!

The Process at the Intersection Phase

And that's how we get to the inner workings of how I write this column. Let’s take this a few steps further.

Final Steps...

Title: The 100 Day Plan for Leaders: Duck!

Subtitle: The intersection of Duck Maturity and Leadership Thinking

The research says:

Ducks incubate for up to 30 days. Hatch.
Ducks mature - reach that independent stage - in another 70 days or so.
Total? 100 Days...

In 100 days, the egg incubates, hatches, and learns to be independent.

And so...

If LEADERS could strategically

incubate a concept and a few ideas,

reflect for 30 days, and

move to right action for another 70:

in 100 days, real change could begin, and could also be measured.

My best leadership advice?

Always think in 100 day blocks of time.

The "How To" of the 100 Day Plan: Duck!

(a) Take the time to reflect. Incubate. Don't rush. Then hatch the central core of the plan. (Let the duckling of an idea emerge slowly from its shell. Savor the first glimpse of surroundings, new environment.)

(b) Work on the action plan - who else, what else, how? Research. Connect the intersections of unlikely ideas. Write it all down.

(c) Set up the standards and measurements, loosely at first

(d) Be aware of the "red flag" moments - do not discard what is niggling...find the texture and context of the part that doesn't seem to fit. Source the danger - get out of the nest. This could be the best part!

(e) Look ahead to the 100 day deadline (duck line) and back to measure your growth as you go. Daily. Take notes.

(f) Start the next 100 days.

Ready to Start Your 100 Days?

If Canada Day (July 1) marks Day 1, then Canadian Thanksgiving could be the 100 Day closure point.

What could you and your team accomplish during this 100 point continuum of thinking and actions?

If ducks can fly in 100 days, what innovations could you move toward if you follow the “flight plan”?

Let me know!

* P.S. BONUS TIP: If you think that this version is a repeat of yesterday's Feedblitz...think again! I purposely sent out the first draft yesterday in rough format.

Always leave time to review and refine the plan.

Don't leave your best thinking to Day 99...

Give yourself time to perfect the flight plan.

##
Maggie Chicoine is a professional speaker, master coach and writer specializing in “Strategies to Think Ahead”. She collaborates with her husband photographer, Richard, to develop innovative themes for her clients. Reach Maggie at maggiechicoine@gmail.com or 1 800 587 1767 (North America). Maggie’s column, The Tuesday File, appears weekly in www.lakesuperiornews.com.

Photo Credit: Richard Chicoine iCopyright 2009

1 800 587 1767 maggiechicoine@gmail.com

Stuck? Check out I-deAZ

Photo Credit: Richard Chicoine iCopyright 2009

Need a better idea?

You may not even realize that you are stuck. Most people don't until there's a crisis, or a tough decision to be made.

As a Master Coach, I've discovered that with a gentle kickstart along with some guidance and guidelines, you can find the solutions you're looking for. The answers might be right there, but because you're not in sync with the 'how to' - you might miss an opportunity or opening.

Take this week's picture, for example. We were enjoying a slow stroll along the boardwalk in Canal Park, Duluth MN. Most of our focus was on the icy horizon of Lake Superior. That was the obvious scene we were looking to photograph. With a creative "I" in the "ready state", we noticed a refuse container. An ordinary, functional object, n'est pas? By bending down, and shooting through the space, we found another way to view the world. Interesting!

So, how do you tune in to the creative "I"?

In the next 26 weeks, I'll be posting "I-deA-Z" - ideas from A to Z to hone your thinking and problem solving skills. Hope you enjoy this crzy new series!

This week's "I DO": look for an ordinary object and see it from a different perspective.

Tweaking Your Creativity

"Keep A Close Eye on Your Candidates"

Photo by Richard Chicoine, All Rights Reserved

Tweaking Your Creativity


Want to know the secret about the way this blog is created?

We’ve received comments about the great photos that have been posted as the visual component of each Tuesday’s headlines. You might think that I find a photo to match the theme for posting. That’s traditional thinking…

At the Mag-OH!-Zine, we try to match our way of working with what we say we do for our clients. “A Twist of Ingenuity” is the un-status-quo… so the blog gets written from the belly up.

The genius behind the photos is my sweetie, Rick / aka Richard Chicoine who snaps a bunch of images during the week and then chooses his favourite for the blog. It's a secret he keeps until Monday morning, when he sends me a photo – ready to go – totally his choice. The challenge for me is to tweak my creative juices and let the image do my writing for me.

What? Quoi?

Example: If it’s a “seagull on a fence post”, what relevant message can we convey to you, the reader?

Idea 1: The seagull theory of meeting management – supposedly an aboriginal metaphor from the west coast of Canada, used as a "rule of engagement". Don’t drop anything (wet and white) on your colleagues during an agenda item. Well, from what I’ve witnessed around the Board Room table, this works in theory... but I have cleaned up some messes!

Idea 2: With a focus on the “eye” of the seagull - I chose one key aspect of the image - and with the current political scene hot and heavy in the United States, and much more polite in Canada, how about “Keeping an eye on the Candidates”? This theme could lead into a dialogue about a variety of issues, leadership styles, ethics and comedic relief.

If you’re interested, Idea 2 won out, and was written for Leadership Thunder Bay's Class of 2008; you might want to click into http://xowhat.blogspot.com/ for the post titled: "Reading for More than the Rhetoric". I included a variety of links into the vast virtual world of pre-election bantering.

The bonus, as I was researching, was to discover the first televised debate between Nixon and Kennedy in 1960. Not much phrasing between democrats and republicans seems to have changed! And of course, I had to post an eye on Saturday Night Live’s Palin/Clinton podium exchange as well as Canadian Content and "She-lections" info.

Your Turn

If you’d like to try this technique for sharpening your creative wits, this is how you start:

1. Ask a friend to tear a photo out of a magazine, or choose one out of the photo album – or send you a digital. One image only. NO CHOICE!

2. and then let the image tell its story. Choose one aspect, one impression, one take-off idea that links in any way at all to the picture. Then write - don't judge, generate - for a block of time (eg 16 minutes). Don't scrap anything - keep generating - let loose -

3. Do some research. Find examples to link with your writing/thinking.

4. Time out....til tomorrow...

5. Edit. Re-write. Read your work out loud to someone.

Imagination is becoming a lost art – and even the folks who claim that they can’t write – will find that the exercise is “interesting”.

The theory? Your right brain kicks in with the image…your left brain writes the script. Your right brain tells the story…your left brain fills in the analysis and facts.

Send me your post - picture and writing - via the "comments" below, and give me permission to post. (I do not post comments automatically.) I will send you feedback.

Give it a try! Take a look at the archives and see if you can link the photo to my decisions about content.

And remember to read to A-Z column on the right side for more inspiration and activity.

TTFN,
Maggie and Rick

RETRO-per-SPECTIVE

RETRO Per SPECTIVE

It’s all in how you see the situation. Are you moving forward or hanging onto inner conflicts from years ago? Are you really in charge or is someone else driving your buggy?

This past week’s Ideas Du Jour (on your right) featured the letter “O”! If you happen to be wrestling with issues related to Other people, Old arguments, Opposition at work, Over the top screaming fits, then scroll way down to number One on the list. Take some time to reflect on the ideas that jump out at you. And then concentrate on the “O’s”. JWSD = just write stuff down.

This Mennonite Buggy photo, a creation of our resident photographer, is an example of the power of intersections as inspiration. The visual brought to mind the details of an ugly situation at work a few years ago. Even though I loved my job and the people, I was stressed, frustrated, over-worked and hassled by a boss whose leadership style was “Command and Control”. You know, my way or the highway.

Often, solutions come to us in dreams, if we are paying attention! A very vivid picture which told the story of that working environment, surfaced in my imagination.

My supervisor was in charge of the chariot, whip in hand, and I was one of the lead horses. Every time I wanted to change paths, to find a shortcut on another road, I was reigned in. And pulled back. Told to stop. Not go there. Not to ask questions.

You know what happens next, don’t you?

Use your own retrospective to get your life in alignment. You can listen to your heart-song, draw out the bits that are keeping you up at night, find the “OH!” and then take action, you won’t have to worry about the buggies.

If you need a coach to configure your inner GPS, all you have to do is ask. No strings attached!

- Maggie

2 Notes from Mother Nature

Nature’s Leverage Lessons

“Botanists say that trees need the powerful March winds to flex their trunks and main branches, so the sap is drawn up to nourish the budding leaves. Perhaps we need the gales of life in the same way, though we dislike enduring them.” - Jane Truax



Sage advice. Been through any gales lately? Are you itching for longer days and warmer air? Me too!

1. What we know:

Nature is a system, one that has highs and lows, cycles and seasons. We do too. You have your days of calm - even though it's sunny, it's also calm and cold. The storms that blow in usually have a warning notice; are you paying attention to what's happening around you?

One of my favourite quotes is, “What’s most obvious is most invisible.”

Nature’s ways of dealing with growth, stress, frustration and flexibility could guide us in figuring out our problems…but the advice is often invisible. We just don’t stop long enough to “wander and wonder”, listen to our intuition, challenge our own ingenuity, or let go of our “I” ego.

Read that again…it’s important!

2. What Mother Nature Knows & We Need to Learn:

Mother Nature knows about her "operating system". She knows what it takes to blow down some trees in your personal "yard of thinking". She knows how much fertilizer to spread to start up in the spring... let's just say that we all need to have some poop in our lives to get on a roll. That's not such a bad thing! Especially when you know how to use it to your advantage!

What stalls you? What excites you? What's holding you back? What's got you?

#1 TIP TO DO:

I suggest that you draw your "weather map", your personal list of what ticks you off and what moves your ideas forward. You'll see some trends there - some climate changes. Yes, these are metaphors. And using metaphors takes you from what you already know, to what you don't know consciously.

#2 Tip To Do

Keep checking in, because:

Next week, you’ll see another MAG OH ZINE post about “Intersections”, the crossroads of thinking that will emerge as breakthroughs for you. But first you have to write your lists, draw your weather map, get it out of your head and onto a big sheet of paper.

Next Leverage Tuesday, I will serve you some bright thinking on a silver cloud, based on The Medici Effect. It’s all about finding those places where the odd and the obvious intersect. That’s what I help you to do as a Coach on Call, but you can learn to do it all by yourself. Kind of like seeing the moon and the stars, and then noticing a satellite whizzing past the little dipper.

# 3 Tip To Do

What you need to do NOW:

Subscribe to this Mag Oh! Zine (look in the right hand column) and you will receive a complimentary, no strings attached copy of Frans Johansson’s book, The Medici Effect. I literally inhaled it the other day – it’s not often that the whole day whips by reading a business strategy book!

Only if you subscribe, will I send you the link! I urge you to do it now.

Post your comment and let me know what nature’s telling you?

Maggie

Your Coach on Call - no strings attached

D Day

3 Design Secrets

If you’re into writing lists, or thinking things through in your head, it’s time to try a new strategy! The “D” words in the Ideas DU Jour list, all point to using a Different Design method… one that’s scared you since childhood, if you’re part of the mainstream. It’s called DRAWING. Feared by many, used by few as a problem solving technique. Get over it! Your teacher gave you that D grade how many years ago?

Drawing is part of design....think systematically like an architect. What's connected to what? What are the functions? Where are the aesthetics? Solutions are systems...let your mind work it through.

Secret 1: Buy a cheap LARGE scrapbook or use flip chart paper. Start doodling about the ideas you are trying to develop. Create a DESIGN for the DILEMMA by using a metaphor. If this situation were a moving thing, what would it be? For example, would “it” be an island surrounded by water? Draw it… don’t worry about being the artist…just doodle away and enjoy. Music helps! What is on your island? Any bugs in the sand? Look up…is it night or day? Windy or calm? Hot or cold? Who’s on shore, in a boat, who is approaching? Who is not around? What do you want on this island? Get the idea?

Secret 2: While you’re at it, Discover a new use, dig just a little deeper. Doze off, or walk away from the project for a while. If you decide to nap, pay attention to what’s happening in your mind on the way into sleep, and also when you’re re-entering the awake zone. Your mind is in Delta, moving into Theta, the perfect spot for creativity to emerge. You just might find some answers in that sleepy state!

Secret 3: Read the archives, and take a good look at the Ideas du Jour A, B and C. I’m the Coach on Call…all you have to do to get some help is email me! maggiechicoine@gmail.com There's no charge for your first visit!

PS Have fun!

Maggie

This Cracks You UP

Pay Attention to What Cracks You UP!

You know how sometimes you’re in the right place at the right time and something totally absurd happens and it turns out to be one of the funniest things you’ve ever seen and then you keep telling the story over and over again until you’re now celebrating your 100th birthday and the same thing is still funny?

OK, I broke the “Say It in Seven™” rule for the opening sentence. But here’s the HOW TO… that unplanned, seemingly insignificant episode stuck with you because you are open to the possibilities.

The “C” words in the Idea Du Jour (see column on the right) – your leverage points – all refer to the positive effects of allowing more space in your filters.

My recommendation?
1. Ask yourself more questions – that’s a coaching secret – and don’t rush with the answers. Simplify. Look for the obvious. Crack yourself UP by combining and canceling, colouring and cooling down. Don’t rush (this process)….hush………….

2. Listen. Don't talk so much. Watch as well as hear. Listen for the obvious; sometimes what's most obvious is most invisible.

3. Write stuff. Every day. Comedian Red Skelton wrote lists every single night before going to sleep. Everyday comments and happenings became his inspiration. Even if it doesn't make sense today, someday it might.

As a coach on call, all you have to do is email me and I'll send you a complimentary checklist of questions. Maggiechicoine@gmail.com .
BTW, subscribe to this feed (see below, way below!) and you'll get these leverage points automatically every Tuesday.

Keep on cracking,
Maggie
www.theideasculptor.com

7 Ways to Slap Your Forehead

Sitting in a puddle of ideas these days? Got all the right pieces but the picture on the puzzle cover doesn’t fit? What used to work isn’t working any more? Sucked out of energy by someone you work with? Or worse yet, a relative you’re living with?

Enough of the questions… welcome! Whatever your situation, there’s a way to figure things out, and that’s why we’re here, at the MAG-OH!-ZINE. Let’s chat about this blog and why it's important. (BTW, the real reason is, “I care!”)

A bit of background… for 21 years, I've had the privilege of jumping into the busy-ness of companies, organizations, relationships. Some have been looking for ways to get better at being the best. Others have been struggling, taking their last breath, or starting up a new initiative. They have all asked for an outside perspective on strategy, creativity, leverage! These requests have come from unlikely places, such as tribal leaders in Africa, board Executives in Australia, community groups in Minnesota, metropolitan convention centres and the boonies of northern Canada. Whether it was a CEO in Boston or an entrepreneur in Borup's corners, the message was the same. Help us figure things out. I do.

For my official bio, just go here.


3 Things You and I Both Know:

Whether you're a CEO or a part-timer, you have your own perspectives and perceptions about what's going on around your company. Listening to the chatter in the parking lot, everyone has an opinion about what's wrong, and what's working well. All too often, though, messages get buried under routines and criss-crossed by interference such as assumptions, unstated ideas, shakey skills and egos. Power, control, ambition, behaviors...complex stuff! Have you noticed that the same issues also happen on the homefront?



The bottom line is this:

1. We say we can do things better; yet everyday behaviors don’t support what we
say. Our intentions don't match what actually happens.

2. Important ideas are not being heard by the power brokers. Or there's a perception that ideas aren't being heard - you have no influence - that's when "we have a communication problem around here".

3. Leaders cannot expect their organizations to change if they, themselves are stuck. "THEY DON'T GET IT" is stated as, "My boss should be here to learn this stuff!"

I’ll be sharing some real stories about organizations, and how they’ve taken a slice of the obvious to turn things around, starting with their own leadership styles.

So this is STRATEGIC SYSTEMS THINKING – or, as I like to call it, Figuring Things Out. My specialty is LEVERAGE – how do you get the most from an idea, a system and its people, processes and products? How can you do this simply? How do you focus on spirit-centred intentions? How do you make work and life sweet? Yes, there is hope!

7 is The Number

This blog is about finding answers and inspiration. Here’s how it works. Every day, a new IDEA DU JOUR will be posted. Every week, the blog post will go into detail about the 7 ideas du jour. I will be offering you triggers and tidbits, so that you can slap your forehead and shout out, “Oh! I get it!!”!

You’ll notice that every idea is expressed in 7 words or less. There’s power in “Say It In 7™”, one of the most important concepts in thinking strategically. I’ll explain that next week!


My aim is to get release the chatter in your head and talk about what matters most to you. If you are stuck, bogged, muddled, write in! Let’s figure “it” out…. Welcome to the Mag!

- Maggie


You can also visit the website at http://www.theideasculptor.com/ .