25 Minutes to More Creative Teams

Five audio essays that will change your perspective

This item includes a podcast and an ebook. Check out the bargains on MP3 players .

This collection of five short audio essays will stir you up. Each one, in its own way, tries to jiggle your firmly held beliefs about creativity in teams. They're short, but I recommend that you keep a notepad handy — as you listen, you never know what will come to you that you'll want to remember later. It's sure to be something.

Skip to the Details: How To Orderhat groups need when they attack the really difficult problems depends, of course, on the problem. But it also depends on the composition of the group, and how the members of the group interact with each other.

Managers — and group members too — need insights that help them determine whatÕs needed at the right time. Do we need a break? A change of scenery? A fresh idea? A new way of looking at what we've already looked at a dozen times already? And what do we do about patterns of difficulty? Do we often get stuck in the same ditch?

These five essays address these questions. They're short, but they do focus on the big ideas that give you what you need to make your teams more creative.

Ebook included This item includes both an audio program and an accompanying ebook, in Acrobat format. As you listen, and you hear an idea or insight that seem especially intriguing, make note of the thought and the time marker. Then, in the ebook, you'll easily find the corresponding location using the bookmarks at the approximate locations of 1:00, 2:00, and so on. Here's a quick summary of what you'll find in 25 Minutes to More Creative Teams.

The Shower Effect: Sudden Insights

Ever have a brilliant insight, a forehead-slapping moment? You think, "Now I get it!" or "Why didn't I think of this before?" What causes these moments? How can we make them happen sooner?

Bois Sec!

When your current approach isn't working, you can scrap whatever you're doing and start again — if you have enough time and money. There's a less radical solution, and if it works, it's usually both cheaper and faster.

Abraham, Mark and Henny

Our plans, products and processes are often awkward, bulky and complex. They lack a certain spiritual quality that some might call elegance. Yet we all recognize elegance when we see it. Why do we make things so complicated?

Make Space for Serendipity

Serendipity at work is rare, in part, because we're under too much pressure to see it. If we can reduce the pressure, wonderful things happen.

Finger Puzzles and "Common Sense"

Working on complex projects, we often face a choice between "just do it" and "wait, let's think this through first." Choosing to just do it can seem to be the shortest path to the goal, but it rarely is. It's an example of a Finger Puzzle.