Innovation Excellence
NOVEMBER 3, 2019
How to Get and Measure Strategic Thinking As leaders, we know that it is critical to today’s changing times to think differently about what’s in front of us. Change collaboration Creativity culture Innovation Leadership Decision Making High performance strategic thinking Teamwork
BrainZooming
JANUARY 11, 2017
I jotted down the questions since I saw them as a strong strategic thinking exercise. A Strategic Thinking Exercise for Determining Trustworthiness. Applying this Strategic Thinking Exercise Broadly. This is a great example of a simple strategic thinking exercise to speed and sharpen decision making. What’s even better about these four strategic thinking questions?
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BrainZooming
OCTOBER 11, 2016
Yesterday’s post on using a new type of SWOT analysis to stimulate bolder strategic conversations in strategy meetings garnered quite a bit of attention. It received enough attention that we decided to share an additional strategic thinking exercise that puts a twist on the typical SWOT analysis. To add depth and breadth to the strategic thinking exercise, however, we add four probes to each area of the SWOT analysis. Faster Strategy through Collaboration.
BrainZooming
OCTOBER 24, 2016
Here’s the strategic thinking question I saw in that moment: Where are your mirrors? Creating Strategic Impact” Leaders are looking for powerful ways to engage strong collaborators to shape shared visions. They need strategic thinkers who can develop strategy and turn it into results. Download this free, action-focused mini-book to: Learn smart ways to separate strategic opportunities from the daily noise of business.
BrainZooming
OCTOBER 10, 2016
Here is a way you can turn a typical strategic thinking exercise into something new and fun that both adds variety to your strategy meeting AND could trigger some new ideas to get our strategy out of a rut! Use a New SWOT Strategic Thinking Exercise Nobody Expects. Go into your next strategy meeting with a different spin on this important, yet tired old strategic thinking exercise. 10 Keys to Developing Collaborative Strategy.
BrainZooming
MAY 8, 2018
5 Strategic Thinking Questions to Engage Employees in Reorganization. I offered him five strategic thinking questions: When is our organization at its best in performing the variety of activities we do? All five strategic thinking questions avoid anyone needing to game the answers to protect themselves or expose anyone else. Whether you are just starting your strategy or think you are well down the path, you can use this eBook to: Engage your team.
BrainZooming
OCTOBER 6, 2016
9 Strategic Thinking Questions – Innovative Ideas from Experts. Many of the strategic thinking questions we share help people imagine things that have never happened. Related posts Strategic Thinking Questions – What defines an Idea or a Product Name? Brainzooming - All Posts Collaboration Creativity Innovation Performance Strategic Thinking Tools innovative ideas strategic thinking questions
BrainZooming
MARCH 30, 2016
In its “Inside the Executive Suite” newsletter, Armada Corporate Intelligence featured a recap and expansion on a Wall Street Journal article called “Win Over a Remote Boss.” The prevalence of remote collaboration (and the new strategic thinking and other challenges those situations can create) prompted sharing the “Inside the Executive Suite” story here in an edited format. Strategic Thinking – 4 Strategies for Successful Remote Collaboration.
BrainZooming
OCTOBER 22, 2015
We use strategic thinking exercises and questions as “detours” around organizational thinking that is in a rut. Asking questions in a different way than is typically done forces people to look at new possibilities and actually think before blurting out the standard answers. We have previously shared strategic detours for getting to new thinking about an organization’s threats and opportunities.
BrainZooming
NOVEMBER 18, 2015
7 Strategic Thinking Questions When Things Aren’t Working. When things took an unexpected turn the other day, I mentally flew through various strategic thinking questions trying to comes up with ideas to adjust what we were doing. When you have solid planning (maybe even over-planning), good strategic thinking questions to identify ways to adapt, and an appreciation for flexibility, unexpected events become a wonderful opportunity for learning and developing.
BrainZooming
MAY 19, 2016
While that might be a comforting perspective if you’re fond of business isolationism, it’s rarely true once you start to explore the business strategically. But given our unwillingness to settle for that easy answer, we created a rapid fire strategic thinking exercise to push for ideas. Strategic Thinking Exercise – 17 Questions to Find Innovation Case Studies. Who are our strategic partners?
BrainZooming
SEPTEMBER 12, 2018
Nook and cranny strategic thinking exercises. The nook and cranny strategic thinking exercises term popped into my head during a Brainzooming client workshop. Each strategic thinking exercise poster had four or five brand dimensions on the Y-axis. You do the math with this strategic thinking exercise. You’ll quickly see why we love the productivity of nook and cranny strategic thinking exercises so much! – Mike Brown.
BrainZooming
MARCH 9, 2017
What could you do to your boring office so you and others are thinking strategically more readily and effectively? Someone searched and came to the Brainzooming.com website looking for strategic thinking in the office examples. While we have a post on doing thinking strategically without leaving the office , we don’t have anything on how the physical surroundings of an office can boost strategic thinking. Strategic Inputs.
BrainZooming
FEBRUARY 15, 2017
You and others on your senior management team are beginning to see that strategic reality. How, if you are facing this situation, can you initiate a conversation with strategic thinking questions safe enough to raise the issue? 5 Strategic Thinking Questions to Start Reimagining the Organization. Using today as a starting point, reimagine specific strategic aspects, one at a time, to initiate the conversation. Stimulate fresh thinking.
BrainZooming
APRIL 5, 2016
The objective was to help them become better strategic thinkers and marketers. It seems ridiculous to help a company become better at strategic thinking and marketing without being allowed to tell them how to do it. Strategic Thinking Exercises – 3 Responses to New Ideas. The answer could suggest their strategic thinking wasn’t effective in this situation. 10 Keys to Engaging Stakeholders to Improve Strategic Results.
BrainZooming
JANUARY 10, 2018
Since The Brainzooming Group launched, we have developed many strategic thinking exercises and models applying our methodology to diverse clients and business situations. We are further along and can even more easily customize these strategic thinking exercises to your needs if you face comparable situations. That is a major benefit if you want an outside, strategic perspective and need to start right now! 16 Strategic Thinking Exercises Ready to Go Right Now!
BrainZooming
AUGUST 28, 2017
How can you develop strategic thinking exercises to envision the future when it’s so easy to let previous experience cloud your imagination? Romano shared an important insight into the challenge of developing strategic thinking exercises to envision future strategy: “Until you drive an EV, you are colored by 135 years of going to the gas station. 4 Strategic Thinking Exercises to Envision Future Strategy.
BrainZooming
NOVEMBER 25, 2015
The previous Brainzooming article was on listening for strategic insights in order to not waste strategic conversations. If you understand the types of information you need to develop a strategic plan, you can often get a jump start on completing it simply by listening closely to strategic conversations for valuable input. If you have the right people present , and they are in a chatty mood, how can you morph the gathering into a strategic conversation?
Idea Drop
JULY 20, 2017
We’re driven to collaborate, challenge and create. There are two distinct (though complementary) ways to work through a problem and develop a solution: we might label them ‘creative thinking’ and ‘strategic thinking’. Creative thinking focuses on capturing the unusual, unique and unchartered. Focus on the big picture : think big and challenge any old ideas you’re holding on to. How does this creative idea fit into our larger strategic vision?
BrainZooming
JULY 18, 2017
5 Strategic Thinking Questions to Answer Before Making a Decision. Here are five strategic thinking questions you should identify well before you are on the verge of making a decision: Who owns making the decision? If you answer those strategic thinking questions early, your decision making will likely be more simple, clear, and streamlined. 9 ideas for introducing your strategic plan with style and impact to engage your organization.
BrainZooming
JULY 20, 2018
I suggested another one: Go ahead and ask a great strategic thinking question. The next natural question in our conversation was about what types of strategic thinking questions to ask. While I think there’s a Brainzooming blog post for this, it was almost faster to write a new, updated list of questions than to find the post. 21 Strategic Thinking Questions When You Have Nothing to Ask. Creative Thinking Help Is on the Way – Idea Magnets!
BrainZooming
MARCH 2, 2016
9 Strategic Thinking Questions for Helping Teams Execute Strategy. When it comes to helping teams execute strategy, we recommend leaders ask themselves these strategic thinking questions before convening the team to launch a new initiative. Were serious, strategic people involved in creating the strategy? 10 Keys to Engaging Stakeholders to Improve Strategic Results. Many organizations are in the early stages of executing new strategies for this year.
BrainZooming
APRIL 20, 2016
I asked them to engage in some strategic thinking about innovation opportunities for the company. They used that as a justification for opting out of strategic thinking. I disabused them of the idea, however, that their narrow job descriptions were synonymous with narrow strategic thinking roles. I reminded them (in case no one ever had) that they had a HUGE brand role no matter how narrow everyone thinks they are as a group.
BrainZooming
MARCH 30, 2017
Along with the recap, Inside the Executive Suite offered sixteen strategic thinking questions inspired by the Fanatics case study that you can use to explore agile strategy options within your own organization. We thought the list was intriguing, so we secured the go ahead to share the strategic thinking questions with you here. 16 Strategic Thinking Questions to Explore Agile Strategy and Disruptive Innovation.
BrainZooming
FEBRUARY 22, 2016
During in-person and online strategic planning workshops , we regularly use a strategic thinking exercise that helps leadership groups quickly identify a shared future vision statement. Participants assess where they think the organization currently is and where they want it to be in the future on multiple “strategic dimensions.” We place each strategic dimension on a scale having multiple written descriptions of ways to approach it.
BrainZooming
DECEMBER 1, 2017
His keynote got us thinking about how today’s ten-year-olds (the Class of 2025) will change the landscape for brands, following in the wake of the impact millennials have created. A Future-Looking Strategic Thinking Experiment. Reviewing the copious notes, here are strategic thinking starters for thought experiments as you imagine your future organization and market. They are developing collaborative projects online in grade school.
BrainZooming
AUGUST 15, 2017
We mentioned how frequently we’re being asked to incorporate uncertainty into Brainzooming creativity and strategic thinking presentations. We have considerable content on moving forward amid uncertainty (including the 4 Strategies for Implementing in Uncertain Times eBook), and we’re developing additional strategic thinking pieces on uncertainty and flexibility.
BrainZooming
OCTOBER 6, 2015
We, however, routinely share how we do things via our methodology, tools, and learnings from Brainzooming strategic thinking workshops. Why Do We Give Away So Many Strategic Thinking Exercises? And by the way, here are the most frequently referenced compilations: Strategic Thinking Exercises – More than 200 Strategic Planning Questions. Strategic Thinking – Exercises and Tools for Creative Thinking and Strategy.
BrainZooming
JULY 6, 2016
This time of year, preparing for upcoming strategic planning exercises may seem like something far in the future. Whether strategic planning is months away or close at hand, however, it’s always smart to get a head start tackling big strategic thinking questions that warrant in-depth consideration. As we look ahead to clients’ strategic planning processes, we’re developing new strategic thinking questions to freshen our Brainzooming strategic planning exercises.
BrainZooming
JUNE 8, 2016
Last week, we presented a creative and strategic thinking workshop for a Brainzooming reader who leads the national sales division of a global industrial manufacturer. We integrated the Brainzooming strategic thinking workshop into their annual sales meeting. While we did that, an early exercise during the strategic thinking workshop shaped the rest of the day. 13 Unexpected Benefits of a Strategic Thinking Workshop.
BrainZooming
NOVEMBER 11, 2015
We have been working with a client that had done a lot of strategic thinking about a new initiative. Because of this, the list was worthless for doing what I suspect everyone hoped it would do: provide a starting point for the strategic thinking needed to back into a definition of and explanation for what the new initiative would turn out to be. Those are six starting places to use when you are doing strategic thinking about big lists.
BrainZooming
JANUARY 11, 2016
Here’s an idea for a new strategic thinking exercise that can be a big help. 4 Ways to Examine Brand Performance as a Strategic Thinking Exercise. It struck me how a comparable concept (an Examination of Brand Performance) would be helpful as a strategic thinking exercise for monitoring your organization or brand progress throughout the year. This is definitely a strategic thinking exercise idea from the Brainzooming R&D lab.
BrainZooming
DECEMBER 9, 2015
From a facilitation standpoint, it was the most arduous couple of days of going through strategic thinking exercises I recall. With groups changing out every few hours, there was a continual, tight window to get all the input we’d need to build out a strategic plan and timeline for our client’s strategic initiative. Are the people having fun with the strategic planning activities , or do I need to do more funny stuff to keep their heads in the game?
BrainZooming
APRIL 15, 2016
Interestingly, the most challenging situation for Brainzooming strategic thinking workshop success is when it includes TOO MANY individuals viewing themselves as creative. Having TOO MANY strong creative perspectives can tank the actionable results coming from a strategic thinking workshop more than having too few creative individuals. Talking with someone about the most difficult Brainzooming strategic thinking workshop EVER inspired the blurb below.
BrainZooming
APRIL 4, 2016
A New Add to Our Extreme Creativity Strategic Thinking Exercises. Thinking about the statement further and the audacity of trying to do “the impossible with nothing” suggested this idea was the ultimate in extreme creativity. ” Why are we adding this strategic thinking question? The right combination of outside perspectives and productive strategic thinking exercises enables your brand to ideate, prioritize, and propel innovative growth.
BrainZooming
FEBRUARY 4, 2016
I’ve been thinking about what strategic thinking questions could help me stay more focused. Kate’s strategic thinking questions resonated with me, and I asked her for permission to share them here. Related posts Strategic Thinking Questions – 21 Tips for Reading Someone Else Making Challenging Content Accessible: 5 Steps to Creating a Nick Cave Fan Strategic Thinking Questions – What defines an Idea or a Product Name?
BrainZooming
MAY 6, 2016
At the 2016 Brand Strategy Conference, Antonia Dean, Director – Marketing, Brand Development, & Strategy at The Estée Lauder Companies covered the strategic thinking ideas behind creating an entrepreneurial environment in a large company. 16 Strategic Thinking Ideas for Creating an Entrepreneurial Environment Inside Your Company. When creating the new culture, think “lowercase b.” 10 Keys to Engaging Employees to Improve Strategic Results.
BrainZooming
JANUARY 17, 2018
We’ve written about the importance of signaling collaboration strategy preferences when you and team members are working remotely. Talking with someone who is struggling with identifying the best ways to signal the appropriate collaboration strategy approash, we hit on a variation on the Sergio Zyman decision levels. A 5-Level Collaboration Strategy Approach. LT – The leader will start developing ideas, then will collaborate with the entire team to figure it out.
BrainZooming
SEPTEMBER 28, 2015
The week included: Large scale community collaboration workshops – Nearly eighty students from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale gathered Monday night and a comparable number of Carbondale, IL residents assembled on Tuesday for community collaboration workshops to imagine the community’s future with Gigabit Internet capabilities. Switching among so many ways we facilitate community collaboration and learning for organizations keeps us at the top of our game.
BrainZooming
MARCH 17, 2016
We put this infographic together for a client today to distill The Brainzooming Group approach into a few images depicting what we do to pave the way for a great strategic thinking workshop. 6 Guidelines for a Great Strategic Thinking Workshop. If you would like to go deeper on any of these topics, here are links to articles for each of the six areas: The Value of Strategic Thinking Questions.
BrainZooming
OCTOBER 1, 2015
In nearly every Brainzooming community collaboration workshop, we conclude with a Plus-Minus-Interesting-Recommendation-Question exercise (a PMIRQ for short). Based on the large number of responses to the individual PMIRQ handout sheets at the Southern Illinois University and Carbondale, IL community visioning session workshops, we wanted to share what people found “interesting” about participating in a community collaboration workshop. Small unknown group collaboration”.
BrainZooming
AUGUST 30, 2016
I mentioned upcoming business collaboration opportunities for Brainzooming yesterday , including co-presentations, creating content, and developing new workshop and training offerings. What to look for in a business collaboration? Shame on me, but I’ve never put the criteria I look for from a business collaboration into the type of strategic decision making tool we develop for clients. There is a mutual commitment to learning from the business collaboration.
BrainZooming
DECEMBER 1, 2015
How do you gain the best advantage from the expertise, experience, and ideas inside your organization as you pursue strategic planning? Success factors in strategic planning and creating collaborative strategy were the central topics we tackled on an edition of Smart Companies Radio, hosted by Kelly Scanlon, the owner of Thinking Bigger Business Media, Inc., Creating Strategic Impact mini-book. 10 Keys to Collaborative Strategy and Strategic Planning.
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