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Design Thinking

By 218Matt | September 18, 2009 - 10:09 AM | Design Thinking, future Leave a comment

For several months now I have been on a quest to pull the best information together on the topic of Design Thinking. I was first introduced to the concept through a Nightline story on IDEO, an Industrial Design and Engineering company in California. As I watched to story almost 10 years ago, I was fascinated with the ability that this company had to create very cool and effective products. They were on to something that could change the way companies developed products.

Over the years, I have followed IDEO as they have moved from creating products to teaching other companies how to create. The success they have had has opened the doors to an international audience that is hungry to find new ways to do things. Eventually, the big focus was on HOW they did things, not WHAT they did. The IDEO process became known as Design Thinking and is now hitting the business world as a new way of getting results.

So is Design Thinking just another business fad…the lasted “flavor of the month”? Maybe. But it is also one of the most legitimate shifts in thinking over the past 20 years.

We as humans seem to have this odd desire to look for extreme solutions to the problems that we face. For a generation, the solutions came from our ability to dream and create. Then for a generation, it was our ability to analyze and engineer. For a new generation, it is about personal experience. So which of these extremes is correct? D. All of the above.

Tagged design, design thinking, Future

Leading versus Managing

By 218Matt | September 5, 2009 - 11:36 PM | leadership Leave a comment

OK – this is not a new topic by any stretch of the imagination. If you Google the topic, you will get a bajillion results. Ultimately it comes down to how you relate to the people that are in your area of influence. I had a great conversation with a church leader the other day on this topic. We talked about people that think they are Leaders, but are really Managers. And of course, there are people who think they are Managers, but they really are Leaders. So what makes the difference and does it really matter?

Yes.

It matters because some of the people that you are leading/managing can work for one, but not the other. Here is what I mean.

There are people that need a large vision cast that captures their attention and motivates them to look for ways to make that vision into a reality. They will ask general questions to see what the boundaries are for the task, and then make things happen. They need to be checked on through out the project but given lots of room to make it happen. Give them a “Why” and watch them do incredible things.

There are other people who really don’t care about the big picture, but simply want to know exactly “what” it is that you want them to do. They want very specific instruction with a list if possible. They want feedback on each and every step.

This first person needs a leader.

The second needs a manager.

Look at the people that work for you and seem to be very content with how you lead/manage them. If they are in the first group—congratulations, you are a leader. If they fall into the second group — congratulations, you are a manager.

So which is more important to a church or organization? The one that is effective.

Tagged Leading, managing

Church Leadership is Boring (sometimes).

By 218Matt | August 11, 2009 - 10:10 AM | change, leadership 1 Comment

I recently sent out a tweet that said “Sometimes, Church leadership is boring”. It got a lot of reactions!

Here’s the deal. Every job is boring on occasion. There are no exceptions. Even when you are serving the most Holy and Awesome God.

When you think about it, you know that it is true. “Bored” is literally a state of mental being. I have been in incredible places with my boys, where opportunity and adventures abound – and I still hear the phrase ” I’m bored.”

I have met with some incredible, cutting edge, type “A” leaders in both the church and business worlds and heard the phrase “I’m bored.”

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Tagged boring, challenges, leadership

Tough Leadership Decisions

By 218Matt | August 7, 2009 - 10:46 AM | change, leadership Leave a comment

There is a great story (probably true) about a leadership decision that Mike Slaughter of Ginghamsburg Church made several years ago. The church had been meeting for worship in a gymnatorium kind of space and as the church grew, so did the quality of the worship service. That quality was one of the big draws for people who attended.

As many churches do, Ginghamsburg decided that it was time to build a large “state-of-the-art” worship center. When they were in the meeting to finalize the blueprints, as the story goes, Mike Slaughter took a step back and made a tough call. “We have always said that we will focus on youth and children. This expensive building does nothing for them. We need to abandon this project and put up a youth center instead.” And that is exactly what happened.

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Tagged challenges, Difficult decisions

Tim Brown from IDEO

By 218Matt | July 12, 2009 - 12:05 PM | change, Design Thinking Leave a comment

IDEO has long been considered the “founder” of the Design Thinking movement. Tim Brown is one of the thought leaders on this topic. In this interview with Business Week, he speaks to several questions about how design thinking can help businesses. The first question “What are the steps” is a very basic steps in the Design Thinking process. Tim explains these in detail.

1. Approach problems as if they were projects

2. Look outside your organization for possible solutions

3. Create “tangible” solutions early

4. Wrap a story around your solutions

Tagged Creative Leadership, environment, IDEO, Tim Brown

Change in the Church

By 218Matt | July 7, 2009 - 3:13 PM | change, Design Thinking, future, leadership, Uncategorized Leave a comment

I spend the majority of my time working with leaders of local churches. Talk about a group that struggles with change!! One of the most significant ongoing “challenges” that these leaders face is that they have experienced success with something in the past, and are having trouble adjusting to the currently reality.

Churches have a great deal of trouble distinguishing between their “methods” and their “work”. No product or service delivery “method” is effective forever, but the “work” of the church never changes. When it is being effective, suffering is being relieved, people are finding hope, and lives are being changed for the better. It is vital that the church finds ways to be effective.

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Tagged challenges, change, Leading change, vision

Kevin Carroll interviews IDEO Tom and David Kelley

By 218Matt | July 5, 2009 - 9:50 PM | Uncategorized Leave a comment

Great interview by Kevin Carroll (Rules of the Red Rubber Ball) of brothers Tom and David Kelley (founders of IDEO).

Tagged Creative Leadership, culture, IDEO

21 Rules of Innovation… numbers 15-21

By 218Matt | July 1, 2009 - 9:47 PM | change, Design Thinking, leadership, Uncategorized Leave a comment

15. A good team is always an active learning team.

16. Be aware of the balance and flow of polarities that exist for your team. Remember that too much team can be just as bad as not enough. Allow for individual self-expression within the team. Teams are not problems to solve, they are a mass of polarities to manage (see Bruce Johnson’s “Polarity Management”)

17. Your team is a strong as its weakest link. A good team makes efforts to cover, improve, or strengthen its deficiencies. Read “The Goal” by Eli Goldratt to understand more about the “theory of constraints.”

18. Effective teams engage in constructive disagreement around content with a ‘yes and not a ‘yes but’ attitude.

19. Listening is key.

20. Know thyself – what you can contribute to the team and what others can contribute that doesn’t come naturally to you.

21. In teams, seek to ‘pull in’ the outliers, the mavericks, those who we tend to exclude. Everyone has something important to offer the team – find it.

Tagged Innovation

21 Rules of Innovation…numbers 8-14

By 218Matt | June 30, 2009 - 10:17 PM | change, leadership, marketing Leave a comment

8. Trust is not blind. The more you seek to understand the motives of your team members, the better.
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9. All teams go through rough patches. As Dean Kamen says, if you don’t encounter big problems or surprises, you’re not innovating. When it “hits the fan”, be an example in keeping the faith and remaining positive.
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10. Vince Lombardi won a lot of championships by focusing on, and repeating endlessly, the most basic plays and fundamentals. Basic fitness and clarity of jobs and roles were the rock he built his teams on. So, when in doubt, return to the basics.
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11. Sometimes a person simply shouldn’t be on a team. Be very careful in making this judgment, because sometimes the mavericks are exactly who you need. Still, sometimes people can’t be brought into the fold and focused on the goal at hand. If you are dead sure, cut out the “cancer”. It’s a very tough call, but when you make it you are often thanked for doing it by other team members.
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12. Celebrate, celebrate, celebrate. Celebrate victories, even the small ones, and celebrate learning even in failures or setbacks. Edison was of the philosophy there is no failure; be like Edison.
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13.Kick-off’s are important. Do them with energy and style.
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14.Communicate unselfishly, share your knowledge, and share honestly in a way that the person can hear.

Tagged Innovation

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