The Innovation Placebo

Pill tablet

I’m sure that you are all familiar with the word “placebo” and how it is applied in the medical world to make a patient think they are having some type of “treatment” when they actually are not? Without getting too caught up in the psychology of the whole medical process…..this got me thinking!

What if we could utilise the placebo effect to improve a business’s creativity? The process could be termed the “Innovation Placebo”.

To do this, one possibility could be to develop a range of “Innovation Placebo” signs strategically located throughout the business workspace. Some potential ideas:

The Building Entrance Sign
“This building has been architecturally designed by an award winning international company to enhance the creativity thought processes of the occupants”.

The Décor Sign
“The unique colour scheme and office furnishings have been carefully selected to provide an inner peace and reduce worker stress”

The Air Sign
“Through a sophisticated and patented air flow process in the building, oxygen concentration levels have been strategically maximized above all employee workstations to ensure optimum thinking potential”.

The Desk Sign
“All employee desks have achieved the 5 star ergonometric rating for maximum comfort which is the standard required by astronauts travelling in outer space”.

Etc, etc…

If only…..however, just imagine what could be achieved should it be successful?

Sold, For Sale, or Open for Inspection?

For Sale

When you have outgrown your current home, you then start the process of looking for a new house. As part of this process, you typically have a list outlining the criteria that your new home must have (eg location, number of bedrooms, bathrooms, garage, etc). To complement this list, there are also the “nice to haves”, which could vary from a spa and sauna to a star gazing observatory in the loft, plus more!

As you progress through the searching process, for those houses that you are interested in pursuing further, there are three real estate signs located outside the front of these homes that typically catch your eye, “Sold”, “For Sale” and “Open for Inspection”.

“Sold” – forget this one, too late……but how much did it sell for?
“For Sale” – this looks interesting, I wonder what it’s like inside?
“Open For Inspection” – yep, let’s go in and have a look around and check it out.

This house searching process got me thinking……how do we promote ourselves in our place of employment and externally in the market from an innovation and creativity perspective?

Do people also view us with us with these “real estate” signs?

“Sold” – no new ideas, no interest in thinking differently, go away and stop bothering me!
“For Sale” – you have a range of valued creative ideas that you would like to share and promote within your workplace and the broader market.
“Open For Inspection” – you have some innovative thoughts that you would welcome feedback from your work colleagues which can then be modified as appropriate.

So…..what sign are you displaying?

Consider the FONT

Font Bureau002

Do you recall when you first learnt to hand write at school with a pencil, pen, or even a fountain pen?

I can recall spending many hours practicing to get the lettering perfect with the right loop, size, angle, colour, all of which lead to the formation of a unique writing style which became a part of my character and personality.

However, these days we all write our E-mails, presentations and documents on the computer with a common font, colour and format. This might be fine for business consistency, but why not elect to explore some different and unusual fonts which you change on a regular basis? Those reading your correspondence will notice the difference, it may also result in them thinking just that little bit differently themselves and they may even adopt your creative approach in communication?

So before you start your next E-mail…..first consider the FONT and claim your own little bit of creativity rebellion!

Mood Glasses

_gucci-designer-gg3069s-d28jj-6016-105-sunglasses-

I’ve always been of the opinion that it would be brilliant to have some glasses that change colour to reflect your mood. But, what if we reversed this idea so the colour of the glasses dictated how we felt and thought? Now this would be interesting!

To achieve the following states of thinking, let’s consider some examples of the coloured glasses that could be used:

BLUE: Innovation and Creativity
RED: Critical Thinking
GREEN: Sustainability and the Environment
PURPLE: Romantic
YELLOW: Assertive
ORANGE: Physical strength
CRACKS in the glasses: Danger and warning
OTHER COLOUR VARIATIONS: Endless possibilities!

When the wearer takes off the glasses they go back to their usual state of thinking so the effect is only temporary.

Some potential scenarios for using these coloured glasses:

Scenario 1: Blue Glasses
The objective is to initiate a brainstorming session. Those participating would all wear their BLUE glasses. All participants would be really creative…..even those who are typically rather boring!

Scenario 2: Red Glasses
The output of the brainstorming session needs to be reviewed by the team.

Scenario 3: Yellow Glasses
It is appraisal time at work and you need that extra confidence to tackle a few issues with your boss. Putting on the YELLOW glasses gives you that extra assertiveness and self belief.

Scenario 4: Orange Glasses
You are about to start a game of football and you are a little out of physical shape. You put on the ORANGE glasses and you become a peak athlete!

The next thought then becomes, what if you had RAINBOW glasses???

The need for plant diversity in the corporate garden

A mowed lawn

In most organisations there is a corporate identity that defines the culture of the employees and the way that they think. This has its benefits, but it may also limit innovation and creativity.

Let’s consider the analogy of a green lawn. The identity is all “one team” with a large number of identical green blades of grass (the individual employees). Each single blade of grass reacts in a standard way to the same sunlight, water and fertilizer, even when you mow it, it all grows back with uniformity awaiting the next scheduled gardening session.

But what if you introduce some strategically placed coloured flowers into the lawn? Visually, they would make a significant difference, but they would not disturb the overall functioning of the lawn.

However, these coloured additions also attract other plant life, insects, birds and other creatures that would contribute to the overall functioning and diversity of the lawn.

So let’s go and plant some flowers in the corporate garden and cultivate some innovation and creativity!

Stop….I’m thinking!

Globes Of Mystery

Working in an open planned office has its creative hazards…..if you need quiet thinking time it is almost impossible to obtain.

But what about the use of different coloured lights above your desk. Green would indicate “happy to chat and be disturbed”, however red would mean “leave me alone, I’m working on my creative genius qualities”.

And if the light is not on….well as the saying goes, “nobody is home” (meaning I’m out of the office).