Businesses generate wealth by creating systems that meet human needs. They could be systems that produce better products, like OXO, better services, like Zingerman’s, or better experiences, like Cirque du Soleil. From time to time, those systems fall out of sync with the changing world and need to be transformed.
But how do you do it? How do you transform the way a company delivers training for 10,000 employees around the globe? How do you develop a new business model for a 55-year-old manufacturing company?
It’s not about having the right process or the right technology, argues James Macanufo, a senior consultant at XPLANE. “It’s about understanding people” and “unlocking the things in people’s heads.”
The way to unlock people’s imaginations is to lead them through a series of brainstorming exercises, as Macanufo demonstrated during D+B’s first Lab session at the Innovatrium on Friday, February 4, 2011.
More than 30 graduate students from the Ross School of Business, the School of Information, and the School of Natural Resources & Environment participated in eight brainstorming techniques over the course of three hours.
After this D+B Lab with James Macanufo, it’s pretty clear that with good facilitation, you can elicit transformative ideas from the people you work with. That seems like a good place to start your business transformation process.
We thank James for coming to Ann Arbor and sharing his expertise with us!
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