The following are 20 qualities of an innovator*. Take a read through each behavioral description and rate yourself on a scale of 1 to 4 for each description:
1 = I don’t believe this describes my behavior at all
2 = I believe this describes some of my behavior, but not much or at least not most of the time
3 = I believe this describes much of my behavior, at least most of the time
4 = I believe this describes my behavior extremely well, all of the time
Be as honest with yourself as you can! The maximum overall rating is 80.
I am:
1. Self-motivated – I proactively initiate new projects and receive intrinsic reward for my efforts.
2. Visionary – I maintain a future orientation and think in mental pictures.
3. Committed to learning – I am continually seeking knowledge, synthesizing new input quickly, and balancing information gathering with action.
4. Flexible and adaptive – I am open to serendipity and change, and am able to adjust my game plan as needed, entertaining multiple ideas and solutions.
5. Challenging of the status quo – I am dissatisfied with current reality and actively confront current assumptions.
6. Risk taking – I go beyond my comfort zone, am experimental, nonconforming and willing to "fail" but learn from feedback.
7. Curious – I actively explore my environment, investigate new possibilities and honor my sense of awe and wonder.
8. Connective – I see relationships between seemingly disconnected elements, synthesize new combinations and distill odd ideas down to their underlying principles.
9. Persevering – I am hardworking and persistent and champion new ideas with tenacity; committed to follow through and bottom-line results.
10. Both intuitive and analytical – I alternate between divergent and convergent thinking, entertaining hunches before analyzing them, trusting my gut as well as using my head.
11. Resilient – I bounce back from disappointment, learn quickly from feedback and am willing to "try, try again."
12. Pattern recognizing – I am perceptive and discriminating, noticing organizing principles and trends. I see (and challenge) the “Big Picture.”
13. Situationally collaborative – I balance individualism with political savvy and am open to coaching and input. I rally support as needed.
14. Ambiguous – I am comfortable with chaos, able to entertain paradox and not settle for the first "right idea."
15. Reflective – I incubate on problems and challenges; ponder, muse and contemplate.
16. Entertaining of the fantastic – I see possibilities with the seemingly impossible and honor my dreams and outrageous scenarios.
17. Self-acceptant – I withhold compulsive criticism of my own ideas and understand that perfection is not really the goal.
18. Playful – I appreciate incongruities and surprise and am able to appear foolish and child-like.
19. Articulate – I communicate ideas effectively and translate abstract concepts into meaningful language.
20. Wandering – I change work environments as needed and am given to movement and interaction.
Have someone who knows you well go through this same list and rate you based on their perception of how well each description matches your behavior (don’t show them your ratings before hand). Encourage them to be brutally honest and not just be nice to you.
Together compare the two sets of ratings. Find similarities and differences between how you think about your own behaviors and the way the person who knows you well perceives your behaviors. Discuss specific examples of your behaviors that relate to a quality.
What’s the significance of you rating a certain quality higher than the perception of that quality?
What’s the significance of you rating a certain quality lower than the perception of that quality?
What might you want to do differently that would encourage you to be more innovative?
What could that look like?
* Based on “Qualities of an Innovator” ©Mitch Ditkoff, 2004, ideachampions.com
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Do You Have the Qualities of an Innovator?
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Creating Communication Strategies Guided by 4-Quadrant Models
We are all both senders and receivers of communication messages. PS: RESEARCH! & Consulting has for several years used various 4-quadrant models to: better understand the communication needs of both senders and receivers; and to develop approaches to improve interpersonal as well as group communication and organized messaging between senders and receivers.
What has evolved is an easy to use synthesis of a variety of 4-quadrant behavioral models into what we now call the Communication Style Preference Model (CSPM).
CSPM is a useful tool to better understand the communication needs of an audience, thereby allowing more effective message preparation for:
What has evolved is an easy to use synthesis of a variety of 4-quadrant behavioral models into what we now call the Communication Style Preference Model (CSPM).
CSPM is a useful tool to better understand the communication needs of an audience, thereby allowing more effective message preparation for:
- Individual conversations
- Group discussions
- Formal and informal presentations
- Education and information delivery
- Marketing
The following SlideShare presentation presents the basics of CSPM. Please contact me if you would like to find out more about how CSPM can benefit your next qualitative research study or team ideation and brainstorming session.
Practicing The Art of Continual Change Using Improvisational Theatre Skills
The skills of improvisational acting are the same skills needed for effective strategy building and good communication in the rapidly changing world we live in. Virtually every business function can be enhanced by adapting theatre inprov's forceful tools and principles that teach people how to:
- Build trust and support in teams
- Foster better communication
- Promote creative and adaptive problem solving
- Manage challenges with quick decisive responses
- Improve change management
Explaining the process of business improvisation is a little like trying to explain how to ride a bicycle; the actual experience is much more meaningful than any description. The following SlideShare presentation can only provide an overview. I invite you to take a look, and then contact me if you have any questions or want to know how business improvisation might benefit your team.
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