頭腦風(fēng)暴失靈之謎
|
親愛的安妮：我們公司有一款產(chǎn)品的銷量一度增長很快，不過現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)趨于平緩。這款產(chǎn)品有一個(gè)14人的品牌管理團(tuán)隊(duì)，我就是其中之一。最近我的老板告訴我，公司高層對銷量趨緩的狀態(tài)感到很擔(dān)心，他想讓我組織一場“頭腦風(fēng)暴會(huì)”，提供一些“打破思維慣性”的點(diǎn)子來提高銷量。 ????我從沒搞過這種活動(dòng)，另外還有兩個(gè)原因讓我感到壓力很大。首先，公司之前的幾次頭腦風(fēng)暴沒有得出什么成果，因此大家對頭腦風(fēng)暴的概念已經(jīng)比較厭煩了。其次，老板的話給我一種感覺，那就是這次活動(dòng)可能將成為提拔晉升的一次試金石，所以我不想把它搞砸了。你或你的讀者對此有什么好的建議嗎？——匹茲堡的帕特 親愛的帕特：很有意思，我最近剛剛讀了一本關(guān)于創(chuàng)意的有趣的新書，名字叫《在新的盒子里思考：激發(fā)下一個(gè)大創(chuàng)意的五個(gè)重要步驟》（Thinking In New Boxes: Five Essential Steps to Spark the Next Big Idea）。當(dāng)然，現(xiàn)在教人們?nèi)绾翁嵘齽?chuàng)造力思維能力的人越來越多，已經(jīng)發(fā)展成了一個(gè)小小的產(chǎn)業(yè)?？赡苣阋沧⒁獾搅?，市面上關(guān)于創(chuàng)意的書不勝枚舉。 ????不過這本書卻有些不同。它的作者盧克?布拉班迪爾和艾倫?艾尼長期擔(dān)任波士頓咨詢集團(tuán)（Boston Consulting Group）的創(chuàng)意顧問，他們的“五步法”是根據(jù)工作中接觸過的數(shù)千名經(jīng)理人的成功經(jīng)驗(yàn)總結(jié)出來的成果。而書中開篇就拋出一份很有說服力的分析，指出大多數(shù)所謂的“頭腦風(fēng)暴”都只不過是在浪費(fèi)時(shí)間。 ????布拉班迪爾指出：“大多數(shù)頭腦風(fēng)暴會(huì)都要求人們想出一些新東西，但是導(dǎo)致問題產(chǎn)生的舊觀念和舊想法其實(shí)并沒有受到挑戰(zhàn)。所以，如果你把人們召集到一塊兒，讓他們就一個(gè)問題隨便發(fā)表看法，而不去質(zhì)疑他們的舊觀點(diǎn)，那么他們通常都會(huì)回到固有的思維慣性。” ????比如以貴公司的銷量趨緩的現(xiàn)狀為例。根據(jù)布拉班迪爾和艾尼的建議，在你向人們征集意見，提高銷量之前，你應(yīng)該先退后一步，從更宏觀的角度來審視當(dāng)前的局面。要想跳出“盒子”去思考，首先要看清楚這個(gè)“盒子”是什么。比如艾尼說：“問題的癥結(jié)真的是銷售方法的問題嗎？可能市場已經(jīng)變了，或者說市場已經(jīng)飽和了。也可能是競爭狀況改變了市場格局，甚至還有可能你的業(yè)務(wù)已經(jīng)不適合繼續(xù)發(fā)展下去了?！?/p> ????有一個(gè)例子能夠證明，從全新的角度看待這些基本問題有時(shí)能夠打開一個(gè)全新的、乃至更大的盒子。布拉班迪爾介紹，上世紀(jì)70年代，BIC公司想方設(shè)法地想賣出更多的塑料筆?！昂髞砉靖邔雍笸肆艘徊剑伎甲约旱臉I(yè)務(wù)到底是什么。然后他們意識到，他們的業(yè)務(wù)遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不止局限于塑料筆，而是各種一次性塑料用品?！币庾R到這一點(diǎn)后，BIC公司開始銷售打火機(jī)、剃須刀等塑料制品，公司也由此踏上了高速發(fā)展的道路。 ????另外你還可以考慮一下當(dāng)前的一個(gè)案例：Facebook的馬克?扎克伯格正在想辦法讓全世界人民用上互聯(lián)網(wǎng)。如果他固守在過去的盒子里，他就會(huì)想：“我們怎樣能從現(xiàn)有的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)用戶身上擠出更多現(xiàn)金？”但是扎克伯格把關(guān)注的焦點(diǎn)轉(zhuǎn)移到了全球尚未用上互聯(lián)網(wǎng)的47億人口身上。 |
Dear Annie: I'm a member of a 14-person brand-management team for a product whose sales were skyrocketing for a while but have now leveled off. My boss told me that senior management is "concerned" about this plateau where we seem to be stuck, and he wants me to organize some brainstorming sessions to try to come up with "outside the box" ideas for increasing sales. ????Not only have I never done this before, but it's stressing me out for two other reasons. First, previous brainstorming efforts have led nowhere, so people here are pretty jaded about the whole idea. And second, my boss gave me the impression that this assignment is kind of an audition for a promotion, so I don't want to screw it up. Do you or your readers have any suggestions? --Pittsburgh Pat Dear Pat: Funny you should ask. I've just been reading a fascinating new book about creativity, Thinking In New Boxes: Five Essential Steps to Spark the Next Big Idea. Of course, an entire mini-industry has sprung up to teach people how to think more creatively at work, and, you may have noticed, there's been no shortage of books about innovation. ????This one is a bit different. Co-authors Luc de Brabandere and Alan Iny, longtime Boston Consulting Group creativity advisors, base their five–step method on what has worked for thousands of real-life managers they've coached -- starting with a persuasive analysis of why most brainstorming is a waste of time. ????"In most brainstorming sessions, people are told to think up something new, while the old assumptions and preconceptions that created the problem in the first place are left unchallenged," says de Brabandere. "So if you get people together and just let them loose on a problem, without questioning their assumptions, they will often be drawn right back into the same old rut." ????Take, for instance, your sales slump. Before you start asking people for ideas about how to boost sales, de Brabandere and Iny suggest you take a step back and examine the situation more broadly. To think outside the box, you first have to see the box. "Are sales approaches really the issue? Maybe the market has moved on, or maybe it's saturated," Iny says. "Maybe the competition has changed the game. Maybe you aren't even in the right business anymore." ????One example of how a fresh look at these basic questions can open up a whole new (and way bigger) box: Back in the 1970s, BIC Corp. was looking for ways to sell more plastic pens, "until executives stepped back and asked themselves what business they were really in," says de Brabandere. "They realized their business was bigger than just pens, it was disposable plastic items" -- a realization that soon had BIC growing like mad by selling lighters, razors, and other products. ????Or consider a current case: Mark Zuckerberg's campaign to bring the whole world online. Thinking inside the same old familiar box would prompt the question, "How can we wring more cash out of current Internet users?" Instead, or in addition, Zuck is turning his focus to the 4.7 billion people on the planet who aren't wired yet. |
最新文章