Nothing turns a concept into reality faster than a prototype, Paul observes. Some rule-breaking can initially seem counterintuitive or even controversial, eg. Lateral thinkinga term first coined by Edward de Bono in 1967refers to a person's capacity to address problems by imagining solutions that cannot be arrived at via deductive or logical means.. Ask just about any leader to offer you a set of best practices they use in their company and they probably can do it. . GU15 2DS
But you have to be willing to take those initial risks and be willing to change. Joel Holland, CEO of Harvest Hosts, grew the company's membership from 6,000 to more than 250,000 since 2018. Last month, Waitrose was named best supermarket at the Which? A student society you were involved in that was struggling financially. By being willing to embrace and promote change, you'll naturally inspire the kind of lateral thinking that's at the heart of innovation. Why lateral thinking is the innovative approach - Marketing Week Are You Too Trusting? We cant undercut our retailers so we have to think creatively, says Dicks. All rights reserved. With 80 per cent of its travellers UK-based and travelling on leisure, Sheen has stocked the airport with key lifestyle brands beyond the usual airport fare. That's where you double down. A tool which is designed to ask the question, "Why? You won't see opportunities, after all, unless you look at all the different aspects of your industry or life and see what you can apply in totally different domains. | Eric D. 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In times of old, many marketers would identify them as their chief source of advertising innovation. Tricky graduate interview question, 'Are you innovative?' I use cookies to give you the best experience on this website. Angela Maurer, Head of Tesco Labs, spoke on Innovation at Tesco at the recent CIO Summit in London. E: info@destination-innovation.com. In my opinion, it had a simple choice: be radical and risk failing or be conventional and definitely fail. Our entire collection is available to all registered TechRepublic members. Boots Find me a model partnership redefined the concept of media promotion. But it is anchored entirely in customer insight and born of customer trends. Are You Trapped in Black-and-White Thinking? document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Please, enter your email address in order to subscribe to our newsletter. (TechRepublic Premiums first Windows administrators PowerShell script kit can be found here.) Lateral thinking simply means finding solutions with unconventional logic or reasoning that might not be easy to see initially. The good thing about being asked about your powers of lateral thinking is that there is, by definition, no one right answer to a problem that has to be solved creatively. There is a visualiser online that is an important part of putting a look together. Most of the people that professionals tend to idolize i.e., Elon Musk, Steve Jobs make lateral thinking their calling card. Learning the lateral way - Marketing Week You can revoke your consent any time using the Revoke consent button. Tesco faces some tough competition in the retail marketplace. We'll be in your inbox every morning Monday-Saturday with all the days top business news, inspiring stories, best advice and exclusive reporting from Entrepreneur. Avoid the race to the bottom: Where the only potential product differentiation is on price, retailers need to look at what else will set them apart and attract their core customer base. These do not merely provide sat-nav and in car radio but perform running diagnostics of the cars performance post-purchase and encourage a dialogue between dealer and customer when servicing is required. Lean Thinking is a business methodology based on the history of Japanese manufacturing techniques which have been applied worldwide within many types of industries. Creativity is not limited to communications and in many cases becomes a central part of product development, shaping and often turning into an important part of the proposition itself. The last chapter describes what an innovation leadership workshop or course could look like, spanning stages from vision and product analysis to cultural design and communication. Can you give us an example of a difficult situation where you had to think laterally to get out of it? is actually two questions in one. Needing to find work experience in a profession you are interested in but know little about. This approach can help you to quickly rule out unhelpful ideas that may crop up later and it can be used as a process of elimination to lead yourself to better ideas. Get up and running with ChatGPT with this comprehensive cheat sheet. A deadline you realised you couldnt meet. I am writing to talk about customer needs, future forces and the environment. Lateral thinking can also be assessed using Sometimes, separate departments will be needed to spawn new products, eg. psychometric tests From the rise in employer branding among B2B brands to the decline in social media ad spend, its been a busy week. When you hear about students who have come up with original ways of grabbing employers attention, the ruse theyve used is often testament to their powers of lateral thinking. Lateral thinking can also be assessed using psychometric tests . Today I upgraded my phone and asked if Tesco had a reclamation programme for old phones. The culture should be open, questioning, and receptive, Paul describes. Registered office at Floor 14, 10 York Road, London, SE1 7ND. Here is my take. Enterprise There are 3 types of enterprise: Blue sky thinking, Lateral Thinking and Chance and Serendipity. It begins with the ability to ask searching questions, thus building a questioning organisation. Early failures should be carefully analysed and can be repurposed for other markets. Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own. Thank you for the opportunity to voice my suggestion. Lateral and creative thinking work hand-in-hand with critical thinking as we solve problems. My company is a good example of how lateral thinking can boost a business in the real world. A second ploy that can help you to think of solutions more laterally is to give some consideration to ideas that you would normally filter out straight away. In fact, it was hard to get our board to go along with the idea initially, because doing so required us to duplicate some resources. Do frequent, small changes that aren't as risky and see if those can be successful. Related: 5 Mental Health Powers Every Entrepreneur Can Develop. They know how to get better, but they dont know how to get different. Google solicits ideas on an intranet page. Browse our huge collection of tech white papers, case studies, downloads, and other resources here. It's built on the observation that we often lean towards straightforward . They fear the unknown. [The Turning Point] How fintech unicorn MobiKwik was started to help mobile phone users make payments on-the-go, Pivot and Persist: How this woman entrepreneur went from providing HR consulting services to launching a home decor brand, Online music learning startup Muzigal is providing a global platform for music teachers and learners, Master the Art of Negotiation: Six Effective Strategies for Success, How Floatr is simplifying Personal Finance of 100 million households in India, Zypp Electrics annual revenue jumps 459% in FY23 as it gears up for expansion in Bengaluru, On This Day: Celebrating the Life and Legacy of Leonardo da Vinci, the Eternal Genius, [Morning Quote] Be the change that you wish to see in the world. Why Tesco looks to Bangalore for lateral thinking by Saritha Rai in CIO Insights , in CXO on June 14, 2010, 9:27 PM PST Low-cost innovation and quirky ideas help power Tesco's India operation. Try to think of situations that were heading for failure until you came up with a new approach that turned them around. With a company as large and diverse as Tesco creating two distinct marketing roles creative and customer it will be interesting to see if the two streams can work together effectively. Determined not to come across as another tone-deaf bank, Starling Bank decided to bring substance and consumer-first thinking together to show it is taking business seriously. Recognising that shopping has become a central activity for air travellers, the hub has set about turning itself into what could be described as Bluewater shopping centre with an airport attached. Every project is 'timeboxed' - given deadlines. The more skills you and your employees have, the more you can offer to your clients and customers to gain an edge over competitors. Why does retail need a 'creative' officer? Topps Tiles is a large, out-of-town tiling and wood flooring brand. PURPOSE When you evaluate cloud platforms, you need to compare features, costs, benefits, limitations and implementation details. In times of old, many marketers would identify them as their chief source of advertising innovation. Examples of lateral thinking: first, unpick your tricky interview question 'Can you give us an example of a difficult situation where you had to think laterally to get out of it?' is actually two questions in one. Learning from failures is key for those who want to take long-term chances. It's all about using reasoning that is not immediately obvious and involving ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic. Welcome the unexpected, Paul advises. Lean Thinking: Its Origins, Pillars and Principles | Kanban Zone The concepts are validated with customers. Any graduate who takes up a management role is likely to need to draw on lateral thinking skills to solve problems and take forward the work of the team. Wouldnt it be fantastic if you could virtually walk the isles, and have the shopping experience without entering the store. Beats scrolling through lists and as you do this walk through the store you could create alerts for special offers etc. Some retailers will even ensure onward delivery to resort hotels to seal the deal. Complete openness in the teams. Different evaluation criteria are used by companies like Synectics (novel, attractive, feasible), Tesco (better, simpler, cheaper), and GSK (35 gates). For smaller purchases, they want to know they are getting the best deal or the best version without having to check. Ted Pawela Lateral thinking simply means finding solutions with unconventional logic or reasoning that might not be easy to see initially. The purpose of movement techniques is to produce as many alternatives as possible in order to encourage new ways of thinking about both problems and solutions. It shows how Tesco's senior leadership made a simple but game-changing decision to focus the . by opening a dictionary to find a random word and apply it to the problem). Copernicus (sun as centre, not earth), Marconi (radio waves across the Atlantic despite earths curvature), and Fosbury (high jump flip). Lateral & Creative Thinking | Educational Planning - Lumen Learning Hudson is a mid to premium shoe maker and online reseller. There are mutual benefits. For leaders and entrepreneurs, it means taking a creative leap and foraying into areas that . Lateral thinking puzzles are designed to truly test your creative thinking skills. It is what we think we know for sure. In other cases, you might look and get the sense that what you're doing actually is working. Has Lidl scored an own goal in its victory over Tesco, or does this signify a change in how brands . Low-cost innovation and quirky ideas help power Tesco's India operation. Allow marketing to drive added value: As the representative of the customer internally, marketers must show how propositions can be altered, added to or complemented to fulfil customer needs. It got me thinking about your on line shopping. Alternative scenarios should be explored where some decisions are reversible, Paul cautions. Tricky graduate interview question, 'Give an example of a time when you handled a major crisis.' De Bono gives an example of considering river pollution and setting up the provocation, "the factory is downstream of itself", causing a factory to be forced to take its water input from a point downstream of its output, an idea which later became law in some countries. How do you cope when youre up against a challenge youve never previously experienced? With the development of its revamped pan-partnership loyalty proposition underway, the business is hoping to encourage more cross-shopping across John Lewis and Waitrose. James Thurber, You cannot look in a new direction by looking harder in the same direction. a technique to best answer the interview question give an example of your lateral thinking. The result is a very clear understanding of "Why? Media agencies are becoming more rooted in marketers businesses than ever, with their knowledge of programmatic technology and creative thinking shaking up the ad world. Your email address will not be published. Bad Weather Won't Ruin Your Vacation Anymore , Retirees Are Earning Up to $20,000 Per Month With. Avoiding the Advice Trap with Michael Bungay Stanier, Brian Clarks Career Advice for the Unemployable, What Creators Can Learn from Adventurers with Alastair Humphreys, Good Little Wolf and Other Stories with Nadia Shireen, Peleg Top on Fear, Love, Money and Creativity, Mindful Drumming with Maria Bovin de Labb, The Essential Elements of a Successful Story with Erik Bork, Whats Your Excuse for Not Succeeding as a Creative? History is full of stories of those who successfully challenged ingrained assumptions in their fields, eg. YourStory has also published the pocketbook Proverbs and Quotes for Entrepreneurs: A World of Inspiration for Startups as a creative and motivational guide for innovators (downloadable as apps here: Apple, Android). It helps create alignment towards a shared goal. With phishing-based credentials theft on the rise, 1Password CPO Steve Won explains why the endgame is to 'eliminate passwords entirely. Several years ago, in a previous incarnation, I presented a media proposal to a corporate advertiser that was pretty radical and left the creative director choking on his Perrier. Thinking creatively in retail Each rejection was seen as a chance for refinement, Paul explains. Encourage disruption and invention. Concept showrooms slow the pace down, he suggests. Uniqlos low cost brand in Asia, GU, is experimenting with the showrooming technique to break out of the comparison shopping mould by letting customers do exactly that. In many ways, marketing is about influencing what a product is in the first place. Here are my key takeaways from this delightful 190-page book, summarised in the sections below. Required fields are marked *. Lateral thinking is a manner of solving problems using an indirect and creative approach via reasoning that is not immediately obvious. Heres why, Cloud platform spotlight: The top three contenders, Information security incident reporting policy, Windows administrators PowerShell script kit (Part 2). The management team see innovation as a key part of their rebound. 20 Examples of Lateral Thinking - Examples Lab Lateral thinking generates the notion that . due to lack of effort). Deliberately ignoring perfectly good but straightforward. In the US, Starbucks and Lands End have chief creative officers and they have been commonplace in the fashion sector for some time. The thinker creates a list of provocations and then uses the most outlandish ones to move their thinking forward to new ideas. But there may be one or two potential solutions that you otherwise wouldve discarded immediately. Keeping content fresh is about responding to customer needs. For example, one could challenge the handles on coffee cups: The reason for the handle seems to be that the cup is often too hot to hold directly; perhaps coffee cups could be made with insulated finger grips, or there could be separate coffee-cup holders similar to beer holders, or coffee shouldn't be so hot in the first place. Why Thinking Outside the Box Doesnt Work. Do you go in for off-the-wall creative daydreaming that has no particular application? You can email ideas so everyone can take a look. Tescos innovation team aims to go from initial idea to a minimum viable product within six weeks. Over 90 percent of these suggestions are implemented, according to cited research. Why Tesco looks to Bangalore for lateral thinking | TechRepublic The vision statement should be short but inspiring, ambitious but achievable. Gary Hamel. It's what people mean when they say they want you to think "out of the box" and it's invaluable. Can you do a Hackathon to invest time into the issue. Customers are shopping around anyway. Lateral thinking is the ability to use your imagination to look at a problem in a fresh way and come up with a new solution. [9] One can move from a provocation to a new idea through the following methods: extract a principle, focus on the difference, moment to moment, positive aspects or special circumstances. As Chief Customer Officer, Ted Pawela is responsible for engaging with all users within the Altium 365 ecosystem and for driving brand loyalty fundamental to the pursuit of Altiums industry transformation agenda. Marketing has to challenge the view that it is there to sell what others produce, instead of being a reflection of what customers want. TrustFord, previously Ford Retail, wants to become a service brand rather than a purely product-focused one. We are well into the digital age but retail continues to reel from its influence. And our top-line growth accelerated beyond what we would have been able to accomplish in a traditional setup. In the most recent such event 12 teams made it to the final of the competition where they demonstrated their working innovations to senior executives who could then select and resource the most promising concepts. Innovation belongs not just to the R&D department but others as well marketing, sales, HR, finance, and IT, the author explains. If you use lateral thinking, however, you might come up with a great new fundraising idea, devise a novel initiative to boost membership, or approach a contact youve made through some other means to secure sponsorship. Lateral Thinking by Edward De Bono explained - Toolshero The vision should be communicated and reinforced over and over again so everyone understands their roles. One Founder's Super-Sized Side Hustle Is Helping Small Businesses and It's On Track to Generate More Than $50 Million This Year, What Thomas Edison, Sarah Michelle Gellar and T.J. Maxx Can Teach You About Savvy Entrepreneurship, 6 Time Management Hacks to Regain Your Energy, AI Could Eliminate Millions of Jobs By 2027, but Cognitive Skills Are Increasingly Important for Employers. Launched in 2012, YourStory's Book Review section features over 310 titles on creativity, innovation, entrepreneurship, and digital transformation. This Microsoft PowerToys app simplifies the process of visualizing and modifying the contents of the standard Windows Registry file. De Bono exemplifies this through the randomly-chosen word, "nose", being applied to an office photocopier, leading to the idea that the copier could produce a lavender smell when it was low on paper.[7]. [2] Edward de Bono also links lateral thinking with humour, arguing it entails a switch-over from a familiar pattern to a new, unexpected one. And ultimately they shop with us more frequently.. + Determined not to come across as another tone-deaf bank, Starling Bank decided to bring substance and consumer-first thinking together to show it is taking business seriously. Why Tesco looks to Bangalore for lateral thinking - TechRepublic Its also a lot easier on your nerves to be asked to come up with an example of lateral thinking of your own choice, rather than to be put on the spot by an Price checking on the move means one of two things: retailers either strive to always win the race to the bottom and are therefore sure of being the cheapest on the market, or they cease to compete on cost and look for another differentiator. It is this moment of surprise, generating laughter and new insight, which facilitates the ability to see a different thought pattern which initially was not obvious. 20 Challenging Lateral Thinking Puzzles (with Answers) - Reader's Digest [8] Provocations can be set up by the use of any of the provocation techniqueswishful thinking, exaggeration, reversal, escape, distortion, or arising. ", in a non-threatening way: why something exists or why it is done the way it is. Peter Drucker, The best assumption to have is that any commonly-held belief is wrong. She said that they start with two sources of input customer needs and future forces. TechRepublic Premium content helps you solve your toughest IT issues and jump-start your career or next project. [1] The term was first used in 1967 by Maltese psychologist Edward de Bono in his book The Use of Lateral Thinking. Our entire collection is available to all registered TechRepublic members. It deliberately forgoes obvious approaches in favor of oblique or unexpected ones. This process describes a person's ability to solve problems using thoughtful solutions beyond logical and deductive reasoning. Tips for business creativity and organisational design are well-described in the book The Leader's Guide to Lateral Thinking Skills: Unlock the Creativity and Innovation in You and Your Team, by Paul Sloane. It's what people mean when they say they want you to think "out. 3. Successful innovators have been persistent in the face of rejection, as shown by Cisco (76 pitches) and Google (350 pitches) in their early investment hunt. Both are part of marketing yet separate. We broke apart what normally gets centralized and put everybody in new business units or product lines. You're motivated by alternative methods of operation, and care less about 'doing things the right way' or having to follow certain procedures to get by. Another creative technique is adapting ideas from other sectors. The most undervalued problem-solving tool? Lateral thinking. Watch TechRepublic's videos of the hottest IT events and products, interviews with tech experts and innovators, and how-to tutorials here. For some media agencies innovation is now so important that they are employing new teams to champion the cause.