Thinking Strategically (Pocket Mentor) by Harvard Business School Press

Author:Harvard Business School Press
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2010-12-06T16:51:00+00:00

Use mind maps. On blank sheets of paper, draw pictures representing your thoughts and the ways in which they can be connected. You may generate more connections than if you merely listed ideas on a lined sheet of paper.

Gathering others' perspectives

Deliberately inviting people who work in other parts of the organization to share their views of a problem or challenge can help you see that there is more than one way to perceive a situation. For instance, imagine that you're an account manager for a product line that has experienced flat sales. You believe that the product's price may be causing the problem. You call together a group of peer managers to discuss pricing strategy. At the meeting, you present your thoughts: "As I see it, we've got three alternatives: leaving the price as is, lowering it, or raising it. Is that how you all see the situation?"

A manager from marketing responds, "You know, these aren't the only options. Have you thought about changing your promotion of the product to give it a more sophisticated image, and then using that image to justify a higher price? What about leaving the price as is and giving special discounts?" A key account manager chimes in, "You could also try lowering the price on some of the product line, or reducing it for a specific amount of time and then raising it again."

These ideas generate additional ideas from other participants in the meeting. By the end of the meeting, you've generated many more alternatives than you would have if you had stuck with your original perspective. And whenever you generate more alternatives, you stand a better chance of selecting a more effective solution to a problem than if you had considered only one or two options. Indeed, your meeting ultimately leads you to create a lowprice commodity version of the product and a high-price premium line both of which sell briskly.

Call on creative types. Identify the creative people in your company. Asl< them to get involved in brainstorming sessions and other such activities if you need help stimulating participants' creative juices.

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