competitive competencies

1Creativity & Strategic Thinking Herrmann International • www.hbdi.com 1-800-432-4234 1-828-625-9153 Lake Lure, NC 28746 USA

withAnn Herrmann-Nehdi

Ann Herrmann-Nehdi is CEO of Herrmann International, publisher of the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI) which is based on extensive research on thinking and the brain. Multiple applications of whole brain technology include creativity, strategic thinking, problem solving, management and leadership, teaching and learning, self-understanding, communication and team/staff development. Ann seeks to apply the principles of whole brain technology to her varied responsibilities: from day-to-day operations, to sales, to workshop design and presentations. Having resided in Europe for 13 years, Ann brings a global perspective to the company. Since joining Herrmann International USA 18 years ago, Ann has expanded the network of international offices to 16, spanning Europe, the Pacific Rim and Latin America.

Her personal goal is to promote better understanding of how individuals and organizations think and become more effective, as well as enhance learning and communication technologies worldwide through the application and development of the whole brain concept. Ann is an advisor to the American Creativity Association, and has served such clients as Bank Of America, Coca Cola, General Electric, Girl Scouts of America, Hallmark, IBM, MTV, Nortel Networks, Purdue Pharmaceuticals, the US Forest Service and The Wharton School, as well as many educational groups. A powerful and highly energetic speaker, Ann has designed and delivered keynotes and programs covering a wide variety of applications to both large and small groups. Ann presents regularly to the ASTD on both a regional and national level. Keynotes and major presentations for the American Planning Association, Training, The American Creativity Association, Creative Training Techniques, The International Alliance for Learning and The Innovative Network round out Ann's extensive speaking experience.

The founder of Herrmann International, Ned Herrmann was Manager of Management Education for General Electric where he began his groundbreaking study of the brain, creative human development and learning which resulted in the formation of the HBDI. Herrmann developed and validated the HBDI and the Whole Brain Model while at GE, and designed several workshops that are internationally recognized for their use of cutting-edge creativity-learning models.Herrmann authored several books outlining his findings, including The Creative Brain published in 1986; The Whole Brain Business Book, published in 1998. Ann Herrmann-Nehdi is currently working on a book titled Getting to People Head First. The work of the North Carolina company has been featured in OPRAH, Business Week, USA Today, Discover, Scientific American and the Harvard Business Review. Herrmann International, with affiliates world-wide, continues to research and develop products and applications in the fields of thinking creativity, and learning.


Ground Rules

1. Turn off e-mail and phones2. Participate and be prepared to be called on

by name3. Raise your hand if you have a question or

comment4. Be patient waiting for response to your

chat messages5. If you leave the program, please send a

chat to your trainer when you leave and return


STRATEGIC &CREATIVE THINKING

INNOVATION

CONTINUOUSIMPROVEMENT

2000

90's

80's

Business Era: Requirements:Management Era:Summary of Eras

© 1989-2005 The Ned Herrmann Group

“ADAPTIVE”ENTERPRISE

LEADER & TEAM

TOTALQUALITY

(TQM)

E-VOLUTIONRADICAL CHANGE

RE-ENGINEERING

QUALITY

Decade


Rank from most important to least important: 1--------------2---------------3----------------4

Most important-------------------------------Least important

Creativity is:For you For your organization:

___ Getting solutions to tough problems ____

___ Making ideas happen ____

___ Getting the best thinking out of everyone ____

___ Out of the box, new thinking for the future ____



THE WHOLE BRAIN MODEL

7239886.65377.225

ROI: Return on IntelligenceWe all have brain power we don't use.

BETAAlert: 13-26 hertz

ALPHARelaxed: 9-12 hertz

THETAFree-flow: 5-8 hertz

DELTAAsleep: 1.5-4 hertz

BRAIN "STORMING"(Conscious hyper activities)

BRAIN "CALMING"(Relaxed activities)

BRAIN "DREAMING"(Unconscious activities)

THE FOUR BRAIN STATES


Heterogeneous groupsare capable of significantly greater creative output than

unbalanced or homogeneous groups.

Whole brain teams are 66% more effective.

Leverage the Creativity That Emerges From Difference:

IDEA FINDINGSELF

IDEA SENSING

SELF

PR

OB

LEM

FINDING SELF

IMPLEM

ENTINGSELF

InterpersonalAestheticSpiritualSensualTactile

FactualRigorousResearchAnalyticalFinancial

DisciplinedOrganizedCapturingVerifyingPlanning

HolisticPlayfulIntuitiveVisionaryExperimental

Our Creative Selves


vs.


A

A

A

A

B

B

B

B

D

D

D

D

C

C

C

I MPLEMENTING SELF

IDEA FINDINGSE LF

IDEA SENSINGSE

LF

P ROB

LEM

FINDING SELF

Stage 1 – Think A-Blue

Stage 2 – Sense C-Red

Stage 3 – Play D-Yellow

Stage 4 – Act B-Green

The Whole Brain Creative Thinking Process

© 2005 The Ned Herrmann Group

A

B

D

C

C


Much of the solution often lies in the definition of the problem.Define your problem/opportunity in the form of a statement:

How to (H2)__________ so that / in order to_______________?

Example: H2 get to work on time in order to save my job.

This process will clarify the issues that are the source of your problem.

Define What You Are Working On!

©2005 The Ned Herrmann Group

Some Helpful Tools….

Sometimes our subconscious knows more than we do. To get in touch with your subconscious do the following exercise.

Relax, take a few deep breaths, close your eyes and ask yourself:

What does ‘the problem’ look like?

What does ‘the problem’ feel like?

What does ‘problem’ taste like?

What does ‘problem’ smell like?

Write down any thoughts you haveNow draw a picture of ‘the problem’. When you have finished, describe it to someone else.

The Picture

9Creativity & Strategic Thinking Herrmann International • www.hbdi.com 1-800-432-4234 1-828-625-9153 Lake Lure, NC 28746 USA© 2005 The Ned Herrmann Group

What is Tempting about this idea?

TLC for Ideas

What is Lacking?

What could I Change

to make it work?

Magic wand thinking: Putting "crazy" ideas into action

Ask…….WHAT IF..…I had a magic wand and were able to solve this problem with no constraints on what the solution might look like or how off the wall it might be, what would the solution look like?

Tip: Explore the underlying concept of your solution or idea... What makes it work?

Turning “Crazy" Ideas Into Actionable Ideas:


LYONS POLYGON

Divide this figure into five (5) equal areasExample:Figure divided into four (4) equal areas


Anticipatory:Future Focus

Reactive:Past Focus

Where Does Your Organization Live:In The Past Or The Future?

Place a check next to the most appropriate response for each category:

Culture: ___Conventional and Reactive ___Distinctive and Far-sighted

Better at: ___Operational Efficiency ___New Business Development

Change efforts: ____Largely Driven by Competitors ___Largely Driven by Our Vision

Among employees: ___Mostly Anxiety ___Mostly Hope

adapted from Competing for the Future; Hamel and Prahalad 1994


What is Strategic Thinking?

Strategic Thinking is a mind set and array of thinking skills that allow you to:

look into the future

Strategy is devising a specific direction that one believes will lead to advantageous conditions that will ensure the successful accomplishment of the objective - the one that will allow you to beat the competition.

Strategic Planning is the development of a comprehensive roadmap of steps needed to get to the desired objectives once the vision, strategy and goals have been determined.

Tactics are the small-scale, short-term actions involved in each step that make incremental progress towards reaching the desired objectives.

create alternative scenarios

determine the direction to get there on a winning basis

decide on your specific objectives

understand your options



1. REALITY CHECK -Defining where you are today: Analysis and description of the current state based on relevant data as a future outlook is considered.

2. HELICOPTER UP - Beyond Conventional Thinking: This phase uses modeling techniques to shift the mind set away from "today" and "conventional wisdom" to a more open, future oriented and creative approach, an essential step in preparation for the next phase. Without it, results are limited to a simple projection of today's reality to tomorrow.

3. SCAN THE ENVIRONMENT -Discovering the Scope of the Opportunity Through Broadening the Current View of the Business: Here the process is moving and broadening perspective to include all external factors. The scope of the opportunity emerges through scanning the environment.

4. HEADLINING - Anticipating the future- “What if?”: This phase "leaps" out to the future and imagines what could take place. This is only possible to do after the three preceding stages which shift the mind set and open up the thinking process to new, fresh, future perspectives. Simultaneously, the previous stages have also provided "practice" in the right mode thinking processes which are keys to the ability to successfully anticipate the future. Emerging patterns and trends provide the basic for anticipating the future.

5. TELL THE STORY - Developing Scenarios and a Vision of the Future: Having ramped up the thinking skills and mind set, future possibilities and opportunities are then explored and scenarios are created to describe them.

6. DECIDE ON YOUR OPTIONS Verification, Feasibility and Building the Strategic Plan: This pulls from the future options and, working backwards from the desired end result, doing a gap analysis from where you are today providing the basis for the development of tactics and implementation of the resulting strategic plan.

Steps to a Whole Brain Strategic Thinking Process:



Environmental Scanning

HOW???Watch for key emerging issues, trends and conditions that, if

continued, would have a significant effect on the company's operation, markets, products, and services in

the next 1-5 years and beyond.

Look around, talk to teenagers, read widely, seek out “futurists”viewpoints, seeking information

you would normally not seek.

Think in pictures, listen to your intuition.


ECONOMIC

POLITICAL

TECHNOLOGICAL

ECOLOGICAL

SOCIAL

EDUCATIONAL

S.T.E.E.E.P.

Competitors

Banks

Suppliers

StakeholdersGovernment

Customers

ConsumersOrg.

Culture

Your Team

You


HIGH

HIGHLOW

LOW LIKELIHOOD

FIT

Rank and sort your scenarios into the above categories based on the likelihood and fit factors. Those ideas that have high likelihood and fit are most relevant.

© C. Prather -Adapted by Ned Herrmann Group 1996-2005

TREND AND SCENARIO SORTER


Steps:• Ask “What if_____________ occurred in the future?”• Imagine that has actually happened. Play it out in your mind. Use your visual

processing mode; avoid censoring !• Capture the story as you create it. Use dictation, drawing, mindmapping, stream

of consciousness writing.• Once the story is captured, read it and think through the implications for today.

What might you do differently today if you knew this were going to happen?• Ask more “What if’s” and repeat the above process with others, engaging them

in strategic dialogue.

Scenario Building :

Not about predicting the future, rather perceiving futures in the present.

Peter Schwartz

(A means) to gather and transform information of a strategic

significance into fresh perceptions. Pierre Wack

Scenarios are…..

Intentionally created stories aboutwhat we believe might happen.

Ann Herrmann-Nehdi

David IngvarMemories of the future



20142013201220112010200920082006 2007

2015

______________________________________________


A

B C

DWhere do we want to be?(i.e. our ends, outcomes, holistic vision)

Where are we now? (i.e. today's issues and problems)

How do we get there? (i.e. close the gap from D--> A in a complete way)

Who needs to be involved? (i.e. the customers' needs and wants, vendors, staff, sr. mgt.)


Four Key Questions


Play chess (or other strategy games) and think three-five moves ahead.

Visualize the events of the day or week ahead. Are you optimistic? Pessimistic? Knowing your default view can help you become more adept at thinking strategically.

Read widely. Seek out sources different then your “normal”magazines and books. Talk to younger people, people from different cultures, people who think differently than you do.

Ask yourself: “What if _______ happens?” Imagine it has. Practice building mini-scenarios that respond to your possible alternatives.

Look for patterns in all aspects of your life.

Scan the environment, looking for social, economic, ecological, educational, technological, and political trends (STEEEP). Introduce a trend component to your strategic planning process.

Look to global nature of your industry as a resource to “stretch”your thinking beyond borders and find resources.

Ask your self : “What if_______happens in the market 3 - 5 years out?” Imagine that has happened. Develop scenarios describing impacts to market(s), products, channels, solutions etc.

Create “headlines” for the outcome of your challenges and work backwards from the future to plan. Cut your project time in half...then cut it again.

See yourself (in your minds eye) in the year 2015. What are you doing? Where are you living? What is happening? What has changed between today and that future?

Ask yourself: “What if_________happens to me (us)? Imagine that has happened. What scenarios would emerge? What can you do now to deal with implications?

Create a one-page personal time line starting at the end of your life and working backwards to today. Develop several scenarios that might lead you to that future.

Ways I Can Develop a Strategic Mindset

DayDay--toto--dayday LifetimeLifetimeProfessionalProfessional



Recommendations from 15 Years in the Field of Creative and Strategic Thinking:

UNDERSTAND WHAT IT IS: Do not confuse creative thinking with “artsy stuff” or confuse strategic thinking with traditional strategic or operational planning.

USE BOTH SIDES OF YOUR HEAD: The brain is the source! Everyone has potential to become morecreative and strategic, but our preferred thinking styles get in our way.

EXPAND YOUR TOOLKIT: Diverse thinking greatly enhances creative and strategic outcomes. Different tools work for different people and styles. Hire/enlist people who make you uncomfortable: they can help you get out of your own thinking box.

ASK WHAT IF, WHAT IF, WHAT IF ?: Use crazy ideas, stories and scenarios as a means to explore your options.

HELICOPTER UP: To open up your thinking, “chunk up” to look for patterns, use your intuition and expand your peripheral vision.

LIGHTEN UP: Have fun! Unconventional approaches free the brain and allow for new ideas and perspectives, essential to creative and strategic thinking.

EMBRACE THE UNKNOWN: The unknown should be your ally, not your enemy: Change presents a great opportunity for new thinking.

MAKE YOUR FUTURE HAPPEN: Decide what you want and go for it. Creativity and strategy are about making your desired future outcomes become reality.

MAKE IT A MENTAL HABIT: Creative and strategic thinking are essential elements to competitive advantage. They are here to stay. Practice and use them to make them part of your mental toolkit..

competitive competencies

Documents