Over his 30 years as a strategy consultant, Martin Reeves has noticed that managers are usually adept at grappling with the analytical side of developing a course for the future, but adrift when it comes to the imaginative element. To help, the senior partner at Boston Consulting Group invites them to unlock the creative side of their brain at the start of strategy sessions by playing various games that push them to address the entrenched mental models that may be preventing new thinking.
One favourite is the Maverick Game. Every industry has its mavericks, those who try unusual approaches. The tendency is to dismiss them – but in this game, you can’t. You must list all the competitors, large and small, that are making a bet against your business model. Then pick five that represent the range of alternative business-model assumptions and imagine the implications of each becoming successful to the point of challenging your business.
In the Wrong Meeting Game, you start attending meetings you wouldn’t normally join – perhaps being part of the marketing group’s huddle, or the purchasing manager’s check-in, or sitting in with a technical group working on a major project. Turning up in unexpected places may unearth equally unexpected ideas that intrigue you.
Yeah, right – “No Friction” may seem like fiction. But the key is to observe where your business departs from this ideal scenario and then determine which sources of friction are the largest – and most susceptible to reduction or elimination. Mr. Reeves points to how Amazon and other companies have gone from delivery within a few days, to a day, to now often just a few hours. “Customers weren’t asking for such speedy delivery, but they did it anyway by taking out friction,” he says.
Yes more white boy nerd culture saves the day again