Add This Exercise to Your Innovation Toolkit

By Mark Howell |
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I don’t know about you, but I love a good group exercise that will get a team talking about the way things are going.  As we’ve talked about recently, it’s one thing to vaguely know that you’re not where you need to be.  It’s an entirely different thing to acknowledge the truth about where you actually are.

I was at a Leadership Network Innovation Lab this week and was introduced to a great exercise.  Just knew you’d want to add it to your innovation toolkit.  Here’s how it works:

Start by identifying a process that is part of the way your ministry functions.  For example, you might think about the way you identify and recruit potential coaches.

In the stop quadrant, you’ll write down the aspects of your process that you know is not working and you just need to stop.

In the start quadrant, write down any new methods or ideas that you want to start.

In the tweak quadrant, write down steps that are working but aspects that need to be adjusted or changed slightly.

In the continue quadrant, write down the aspects of your current process that are working and just need to be kept intact.

The value is in thinking through the quadrants and talking about what fits where.

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Posted in GroupLife at Crowd's Edge, Strategic Thinking

6 Comments

  1. Frank Chiapperino on September 30, 2011 at 6:42 pm

    Mark I like the exercise, I’ve done something similar with teams I lead. However, in my own personal experience, I’ve found that often groups that need significant tweaking are often better off throwing in the towel. It is often better for everyone to start something new to gain momentum. Just some thoughts I had while reading 🙂



  2. Anonymous on September 30, 2011 at 8:10 pm

    Thanks for jumping in here, Frank! Agree totally that significant tweaking is rarely advisable. But…sometimes even just listing ideas unclogs the system.

    mark



  3. Marshall_wally on October 1, 2011 at 12:18 pm

    Thanks Mark, this is an exercise I have done in the past and it worked really well for that 30 minute span, but it was left it on the shelf. I wish I could find that from 18 months ago and do it again to see the difference over time. Thanks for the reminder of this great tool.



  4. Anonymous on October 1, 2011 at 12:26 pm

    Wouldn’t that be something for all of us to do? Great idea!

    mark



  5. Larry Baxter on February 23, 2012 at 9:59 am

    Love it!! I’ve already made a handout on this to share in staff meeting today 🙂



  6. Anonymous on February 23, 2012 at 11:15 am

    Awesome! It’s great stuff!

    mark