Idea Work sets out to understand and enable the extraordinary in the most innovative and value driving aspects of work in organizations.
Much organizational research and development efforts focuses on that which does not work, on problems and deficiencies, lack of learning, or resistance towards change. However, looking at deficiencies does not enable you to capture the seeds of above average knowledge, extraordinary practice.
The approach in Idea Work is the opposite of such deficit thinking. We take positive deviance as our point of departure and ask: What do such practices look like when at their best? What characterizes those events and moments that lead to real success? What differentiates an extraordinary project from a mediocre one? What drives people in organizations when they function at their best? How can we leverage that?
Through the project, the partners have developed a set of methods that contribute to understanding and strengthening Idea Work:
- approaches for pitching ideas and maximizing creative dialogues
- systems for capturing and ranking ideas
- workshops for idea generation (from 1 hour to 2 days) with or without clients and other collaborative partners
- strategies for making ideas stick, keeping them alive in the organization and pushing them towards completion.
- interview methods and observation strategies to capture the extraordinary, including extensive use of film and visual aids