Creativity derived from a provocative operation
Lateral Thinking ‘Provocative Operation’ – A disruption strategy to inspire new and original combinations (usually) from others—an unexpected ‘out-of-the-blue’ action and/or statement that encourages creative responses/alternatives.
‘The factory is downstream of itself’
Dr. Edward de Bono
… it doesn’t make sense!
However, the statement famously provoked some important and original thinking that is widely practiced today … factories should draw their water downstream from their own outputs.
An awesome innovation of self-regulation that benefits the environment.
‘Welcome to po’
Let’s work through a couple of simple examples together …
IMAGINE YOURSELF IN THIS REAL-LIFE SITUATION
We faced a bit of a crisis in our home not too long ago—my partner, Alice (not her real name) lost her job. It was a very specialized job that inevitably succumbed to cheaper overseas competition. She’d been a top executive on a generous salary and was certain she was too old to retrain and ever find such a satisfying position again.
Alice’s depression, negativity, and inability to see herself in any other job only got worse over time … something had to break. No amount of positivity or input from me seemed to be able to break the shackles of her “blinkered thinking”.
We live on rural acreage, so I thought I might try to get her thinking about stuff she could do locally.
The provocation: I took her car (a fuel-efficient hybrid) and traded it in on a huge American V8 4WD ‘ute (‘pickup truck’ for those not familiar with the Aussie lingo).
When I got home … the ‘joy’ LOL.
“What the f#@k do you expect me to do with that thing?”
I had no idea, but I asked her to please think about how she might put the vehicle to good use and if she didn’t want ‘that thing’ after three months I’d buy her a new car.
The first thing that happened was that Alice immediately had a different mindset. I can’t necessarily describe it as positive—more like ‘confused’ LOL. But you have to understand, from my perspective, it was a huge improvement.
Alice decided that she may as well put the vehicle to good use for the 3 months and she set about cleaning up the 10 hectares we live on and making some improvements. She’s a naturally industrious sort of personality, so it was only a matter of days before our property was looking fantastic.
The second thing that happened was that Alice started to feel good about herself again. She started vegetable gardens, planted fruit trees, built a chicken coup, installed extra water tanks, and (on her own) assembled a new shed for all her activities.
The third thing that happened was that Alice loved to go to the local arts and crafts markets. She and her best friend decided to start up their own stall selling the local arts and crafts that didn’t find their way to market because the creators were too small and inefficient to justify having their own stall.
It didn’t take long before Alice had bought a large trailer and fitted the ute with a tow-ball. She had the largest and most diverse stand at any local market.
‘Success! I was so proud of my girl and the way she had turned her life around. And that’s where this story could have ended … but there’s more.’
Several doors down from us we had a neighbor who we’d never met. (Several doors down is half a mile in our neighborhood LOL). He owned and ran his own earth-moving business. We were driving behind him on a road near home one day when his truck and trailer slowly veered off the road and rolled into a drainage ditch.
Heart-attack. We finally got the chance to meet the neighbor.
The fourth thing that happened was that Alice used her huge V8 ute to help the neighbor keep his business running by towing trailers with the small to medium-sized equipment to the various jobs it was required. She couldn’t do everything a truck could, but she managed kept the business alive while the neighbor recovered.
They are now business partners. Alice loves her new job.
FYI … she kept the ute.
Some real-life examples of ‘po’:
- During a heated political debate at a dinner party, I stood up and said, “I’m leaving tomorrow to join Greenpeace in the Antarctic”. It turned the conversation towards my reasons for leaving and instead focused the group’s attention on the ails of our country that could be fixed.
- At a gathering of good friends that was winding up for the evening, I suggested, “Let’s get naked and go skinny-dipping”. It provoked some sensible suggestions that allowed the night to continue.
- During a sales meeting, I suggested we invite our key customers to spend their holidays with us. The suggestion was absurd, but some interesting activities and promotions that would make our customers feel like they were part of our ‘family’ flowed from the provocation.
- “Get in the car, we’re going somewhere,” I told the kids. I had no idea where, but when I asked the kids to guess where we were going, the suggestions proved ‘revealing’.
I’m sure you get the idea.
Provocations can be nonsensical, funny, stupid, impractical, not sensible, not business-minded, not politically correct, or just plain daft.
WARNING: In more professional (workplace) scenarios, maybe introduce your provocative statements/actions by announcing out loud … “po” … to let your audience know what you are up to LOL.
See further examples of “po” in action here.
“Sometimes disruptive creativity is all about taking a situation you aren’t happy with, and changing it”
Try this provocation. The ultimate lateral thinking disruptive creativity training available anywhere in the world is now available through AMAZON.
Take a ‘sneak peek’ of what’s inside.
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LATERAL THINKING AUTHOR
‘Turning the groupthink tide’
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