Andre Ivanchuk

A variety of reasons play a role in the behavior of an individual within a group context. Through the lens of Psychology alone, factors like fear, rejection and self-esteem significantly stifle a person’s ability to contribute value. Corporate stigmas like bureaucracy, hierarchy and personal agendas dramatically alter the immediate and the long-term performance of a team, and the organization.

A study (PDF) conducted by the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and INSTEAD Business School revealed that traditional group brainstorming sessions yield ideas that are both lower in quality and quantity. Allowing time for participants to individually generate ideas, then bring the ideas into the collaborative environment proved to be ideal.

Based on this research, I’ve developed a Dynamically Hybrid Group Brainstorming method. This approach allows for the ideal time and setting needed for optimal individual thinking by allowing members to approach the challenge individually in their own environment under terms that stimulate creative thought and ideas.

Setup:

• The Brief – Write down the challenge or the objectives. Make sure the brief is concise, and general enough as not to imply any ideas or directions. Your challenge needs to be well thought out and clear, preferably written in an Invitational Stem format (“In What Ways Might We______“). Establish specific deadlines.
• The Participants – Select the participants. The facilitator will distribute and collect the ideas.
• The Exchange – Set up a way to anonymously exchange the ideas. It could be through email, online or paper. Setting up a online password-protected publishing platform using WordPress is a great location for the exchange to happen. Publish your brief as a post and allow commenting. Advise each participant to submit their ideas as comments using factitious names. And, make sure that all comments are held for moderation by checking the option “administrator must always approve the comment” (located in the Discussion settings). This way, participants will not see other participant’s ideas. Once all ideas have been submitted, the administrator will approve the comments, thus making the submissions viewable by the group.

1. Distribute Brief – Make the brief public to the participants. Instruct them to come up with ideas and submit the results by a specific deadline. Advise everyone not to spend too much time elaborating on each idea, simply note the idea or thought, and move on. Quantity is more important than quality at this point. Encourage the individuals to work in their desired environments (cafe, bookstore, etc.)

» Read the rest of this entry «

The Culture of an organization is a set of beliefs, a way of thinking, a way of allowing, a way of doing, a way of respecting and honoring – it’s the fabric that holds and shapes forward momentum. But, Culture cannot exist in a vacuum. Culture cannot just happen and continue to happen without something constantly supplying and shaping it (The Vision). Also, Culture cannot exist without shaping and influencing something else (Strategy & Creative).

The Vision – Behind the operation of any organization (the daily routines, the returns, the balances, etc.) there is a purpose that pushed the business forward. This purpose never changes.

The Culture – The Culture is the Vision-shaped and Vision-influenced space in which the Strategy and Creative can thrive. It is the intangibles in the environment.

The Strategy – In order to fulfill the vision, methods need to be implemented (hire staff, lease an office, launch an advertising campaign)

The Creative – For the Strategy to be relevant, valuable and engaging, it needs to be packaged and implemented in creative ways (an impressive compensation package, an office with a view, a mobile and Facebook marketing campaign targeted at the 18-25 year old’s who live in southern California)

The Culture fosters the Strategy & Creative, and ensures that the Vision is property executed.

Takeaway – Alignment can be more effective and precise if the organization’s Culture is continually reassessed. The Vision can then have a greater level of impact on the way it’s implemented.

Mediocrity is intimidated by that which is better. Mediocrity does not strive for improvement. Mediocrity does not believe in change. Mediocrity loves the comfortable. Mediocrity attempts to silence the more excellent. But the best will always rise to the top.

The future belongs to those that trample over mediocrity.

A simple theory of input-output in economics states that as more resources are added (the input) such as staff, raw material, time and technology, then productivity (the output) will increase as well.

There does come a tipping point when the production curve makes a downward dash. As input is increased beyond the tipping point, it will begin have an adverse effect on productivity, causing production to decrease quantitatively and qualitatively.

If 5 workers are assigned to lay shingles on a roof of a single-family home, they will get the job done much quicker than with 2 workers. If 20 workers were assigned to the same project, productivity would decrease as communication becomes more complex, task assignment is unaccounted for, worker mobility is limited, etc.

The same holds true in any other system and context.

» Read the rest of this entry «

Every organization needs a strong team. Every progressive organization needs a dynamic team that will lead the organization forward. Without a dynamic team of unique personalities, likes and interests the creative culture and the life of an organization grows bland and stale. Individuals who are nontraditional create a healthy tension in the way ideas are generated, shared and executed by offering unpredictable perspectives. Some of dynamic individuals include:

Freaks – As Tom Peters put it, freaks are the only (only) ones who succeed – as in, make it into the history books. Jeremy Gutsche states that Nontraditional thinkers offer the maverick ideas and the personality a company needs to adapt.

Crazies – Hire Crazies and avoid moderation (Kevin Robers, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi)

T-Shaped – Tim Brown of IDEO, fills his company with individuals that posses this quality. As Tim puts it… » Read the rest of this entry «

The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which.

He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing.

To him he’s always doing both.

~ James Michener, Author

Complacency and apathy are the beginning of a downward spiral; for individuals and organizations. In the context of productivity and accomplishment, a forward tension exists between two factors; Skill Level and Challenge Level.

Skill – the ability to do something well; expertise
Challenge – a task or situation that tests someone’s abilities

Both factors are organic, ever-changing and expandable. Therefore individuals and organizations have the ability to maximize the output of ideas, innovations and productivity by identifying and intentionally balancing the Skill and Challenge levels.

Flow theory, coined by Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, is the mental state of performance when an individual with a task at hand experiences energized focus, complete involvement, and achievement.

Flow is focused motivation. It is a single-minded immersion and represents perhaps the ultimate in harnessing the emotions in the service of performing and learning. In flow the emotions are not just contained and channeled, but positive, energized, and aligned with the task at hand. To be caught in the ennui of depression or the agitation of anxiety is to be barred from flow. The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while performing a task. (Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman)

According to Mihaly, three condition must be present to achieve Flow:

1. One must be involved in an activity with a clear set of goals. This adds direction and structure to the task.
2. One must have a good balance between the perceived challenges of the task at hand and his or her own perceived skills. One must have confidence that he or she is capable to do the task at hand.
3. The task at hand must have clear and immediate feedback. This helps the person negotiate any changing demands and allows him or her to adjust his or her performance to maintain the flow state.

If one possesses highly developed and unique skills, and applies the expertise in a non-challenging context – feelings of relaxation, boredom and dissatisfaction will accompany the task, ultimately leading towards apathy and complacency. Similarly, if one places themselves in a highly challenging situation without having the right skill set, feelings of anxiety and worry will arise – also resulting in apathy and complacency.

Therefore, by balancing high levels of Skill and Challenge, an individual and organizations are able to generate high output of ideas, productivity, satisfaction and forward momentum.

Given the organic nature of Skill and Challenge, one must continually strive to develop skills, and apply the skills in highly challenging situations.

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” Steve Jobs quotes

Design is solving problems. When a problem is solved, progress is made. As creative leaders, we are in positions to contribute solutions to our society; whether we are freelancers, working in corporate or non-profit organizations, or manage our own creative groups. From the moment we make the decision to take up the role of a designer, either in leadership or entry-level, graphic or furniture, advertising or consulting, we are marked with a social responsibility to better our society locally, nationally, and globally. It becomes our responsibility to question existing solutions and provide better, clearer, and more effective answers to the every-day problems. It is creating a more successful approach for an organization to communicate to its employees. It is designing a more intelligent method of conserving energy in a thirty-story office building. It is designing a brochure that communicates a product’s benefits more clearly. Every undertaking that a creative professional pursues, or is entrusted with, is an opportunity for him or her to take the ordinary and make is extraordinary.

I challenge all creative professionals to question every decision that is made in your line of work. Please understand, there are always elements of accident, surprise, and play during the creative process that yield valuable and interesting results. But, there should be a strict discipline to make every choice, every decision, and every step count. Why are you choosing a particular typeface? Why are you choosing to use a particular fabric for the upcoming fall collection? Why are you choosing a specific window size for the new building project?

During the creative process, if your decisions are based on the merit of ‘what looks cool’, and ‘what you like’, I strongly suggest you reconsider your decision-making method very quickly, or reassess your career path.

Your are responsible for making things better, more interesting, easier to use – not the other way around. You are responsible for contributing to the progress of the organization or individual you create work for.

If you’re in fifth grade, I suppose it’s perfectly OK to critique with terms like “I like it” and “I Don’t Like It”. But if you hold a position as a creative professional and your vocabulary is comprised of these selfish statements, please – get out of this industry. Are are by no means contributing anything useful to the world of communication.

You are a problem solver. Problems are never solved with a subjective mindset. Your personal feelings, tastes and opinions are fruitless.