Gregg Fraley

Skilled Facilitation Makes a Difference Success is Determined Before a Meeting Combining tools & techniques is an art form I recently completed a really difficult and complicated facilitation. It consisted of about three weeks of planning, a very intensive two day session, and a report. Success! Getting to Clarity It was a challenge that took time to understand. The client started by saying he wanted to do a brainstorming session. Several long format conversations were had to clarify what was really desired. It wasn’t brainstorming that was needed. Nothing Is Ever What It Seems As it turns out the session was really more about idea development and elaboration. There is some imaginative thinking inside idea development, but if this session

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Experiential Learning Accelerates Innovation Innovation Session Designs Don’t Engage New Study: Drawing is the Fastest, Most Effective Way to Learn I read with interest an article stating that drawing accelerates learning. It does. Using experiential learning tools like drawing isn’t really new in innovation process. What’s new is the hard proof, and, using tools more deliberately. Sunni Brown, Dave Gray, Dan Roam, and yours truly all use experiential learning tools in innovation projects. In spite of many success stories it’s not done nearly enough. The reason? Most corporate innovators have no training in using experiential tools. They don’t know how to scaffold a learning experience. They go straight to brainstorming without preparing minds, and that’s a big reason sessions fail. The article I reference is in Inc. Magazine by

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Accelerating Teams Through Assessment and Training It’s a sad fact of organizational life that only a small percentage of teams achieve high function. Most teams muddle along, and get the essential things done — or not.  Some teams are absolute disaster zones, and are not only ineffective, are actually destructive. Imagine someone pouring crazy glue into your car engine, that’s how a bad team can affect an organization. It doesn’t matter if the team is three people in a small business, or a cross-functional team of 20 at a Fortune 100 company — all teams struggle to excel. And, all teams can improve, with training. Did You Know Diversity = Conflict? It’s a fact that diverse teams are more innovative. They

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The Classic Pitfalls of Innovation Mandates, Training, Process, Talent, Conflict, Risk Where Have Your Initiatives Failed? Innovation programs are like a labyrinth designed to have you lose your way — and die! Organizations fail with initiatives for many reasons, with lots of good intentions. I was thinking about an upcoming talk I’m giving on innovation pitfalls — and got bored looking for graphics. So, I drew this, somewhat funky, diagram. It might be the only slide I need. It’s somewhat self-explanatory but let me make a few remarks: The most important bubble is in yellow. Projects are what drive innovation and change cultures. Getting projects going can help you trump all the other pitfalls. Having a mandate might deserve it’s own

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Rural Development Hinges On The Creative Class Attracting the Creative Class is About Culture, Tolerance, and Quality of Life Where Creative Workers Locate is Where Innovation and New Businesses Happen, Site Locations Follow Richard Florida is, in my view, the top theorist in the USA with regards to economic development. His seminal book the Rise of the Creative Class should be required reading for anyone with an interest in creating jobs, and attracting companies to locate in a particular region (his other work is also notable). Florida is not without controversy, but I respect his work because it’s data-driven, and, because I’ve seen his theories play out in the real world. The skinny on Florida’s theories is pretty simple: creative

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Basic Innovation Messaging to Operational Employees Keep it Straight Forward and Clear Live Up to Your End & Keep Communicating After doing a recent short video (“Innovation Minute”) on basic innovation training for operational employees, I was asked a number of questions. Leaders asked: Where to start? The next was, how much detail should we provide? And then there was the question of what, exactly, to communicate about innovation. It depends. It depends on your goals as an organization, and on how your innovation program is structured. It also depends on your leadership style, and the current state of your innovation culture. What does not depend is if you should. If you’re a leader and you’re not communicating clearly about innovation, you’re not

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The Benefits of Innovation Training for Operational Employees 85% of CEOs put Innovation as a Top Three priority Consider a Brown Bag Innovation Training or Immersion in Innovation Concepts Why is it that organizations don’t invest in training operational employees? It’s an opportunity to improve innovation culture that few are taking up. Imagine the impact that basic training in Creative Problem Solving* and innovation concepts would have — more innovation across the entire value chain of the business. Don’t this large group of employees deserve a Brown Bag Innovation Training? Or better yet a full immersion in Innovation Concepts?  Forbes says innovation training is one of the 12 factors a company needs, to establish a more inventive culture. Companies are investing in innovation

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What You Should Be Learning in Innovation Training But you probably are not! Eleven Innovation Bullets to Dodge, in no particular order. Lack of Managment support will effectively kill any innovation program no matter how well conceived. If you don’t have Talent, superior talent, you’ll fail. Design Thinking alone will not guarantee success (or any other framework, Agile, Lean, etc.). Very few organization’s are any good at all at Brainstorming/Idea Generation. If you don’t take calculated risks, and continue to take them, you will fail. Most organization’s don’t have the guts to actually reinvent. Innovation team leaders who avoid conflict are doomed to fail. B to B organization’s need to learn what qualitative research is all about. B to C

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Idea Generation Fails How to Hose Your Next Idea Generation Project* If you want to improve , get the training This post is a self-explanatory graphic for the most part. Those who regularly do Idea Generation don’t need my text below (but don’t be smug, even one of these fails can do you in).  I posted this graphic on LinkedIn a couple days ago it got so much attention I thought I’d do a bit of explaining. These fails — and solutions — are the result of 30+ years of research and hands-on innovation consulting work. And these fails are democratic — they will hose a session or project in any industry, in non-profits, associations, or in economic development. Start-ups

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80% Of Brainstorming Sessions Don’t Work Seven Idea Generation Fails Redefine Brainstorming and Get Better Results I might be getting to old to hold back on saying this about ideation, aka idea generation, aka brainstorming. My inner skeptic and snarky soul wants to scream it. Based on my experience, about 80% of idea generation doesn’t work. It might be worse than that. In spite of the efforts of many people to train others in how it ought to be done, it’s getting worse, not better. The Failure Rate is partly because the game’s changed, again. Also partly because the lessons of how it ought to be done have simply never been learned. As the drawing suggests, please, let’s redefine brainstorming.

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