This post is about another creative thinking tool, this time applied to designing programs for nonprofits. I want to walk you through a few ways that NGOs can design or improve programs with a bit of applied creativity.
Edward De Bono (yes, him again) developed the use of “provocations” or “provocative operations” to help people break away from normal patterns of thinking. De Bono also invented the word “po” to introduce provocations. I’ll use po here as if it were a word people use every day so bear with me a moment.
De Bono created several types of provocations, the “stepping stone” being the one I want to focus on today. A stepping stone provocation helps us move from our current thinking to a radically different way of thinking, by way of an interim step. The interim step is a provocation is a forced switch to a different way of thinking. The end point is, we hope, a creative new way of doing whatever the program does.
The first stepping stone provocation is called a reversal because you force yourself to reverse the usual process in some way. In program design, a reversal provocation might look like this:
Po, programs are designed with no possible client base.
This reverses the usual process of investigating who needs what services then designing a program to meet their needs. Think about that provocation and your organization, or interests and see if a new program design comes to you.
An exaggeration provocation is a maximizing or minimizing of the characteristics relevant to a program. Nonprofits often have three or four programs, and a few dozen to a few thousand clients/consumers/customers. Most programs have one major goal, like getting teen mothers ready for job hunting. Exaggeration would have us thinking something like this:
Po, each client has 1000 programs.
The fact that this is absurd is actually the point. You can’t get anywhere by thinking about having five programs on offer instead of three. But, if there are 1000 programs you start to think about how this could be done.
Maybe there is a kiosk that walks clients through many options at each of several steps in getting off welfare. There could be as many as 1000 customized programs at that agency, once all possible combinations of options get counted. Program assistants or counselors could help clients use the kiosks and complete the activities in their customized program.
A distortion is a stepping stone provocation that involves changing the normal relationship or the normal sequence of events. Here is the only distortion that came to mind tonight:
Po, clients and staff design programs.
That idea just might be strange enough to prompt a useful idea. What do you think?
A wishful thinking provocation is simply a fantasy statement or question. The point is to be wildly unrealistic. Here is a statement obviously out of touch with reality:
Po, welfare recipients get rich.
That’s not likely to happen. It is possible that this provocation could yield a useful idea. See if you can come up with something. It might help to think about what it means to be rich. Consider how welfare recipients could meet their needs without money or credit.
Edward De Bono (yes, him again) developed the use of “provocations” or “provocative operations” to help people break away from normal patterns of thinking. De Bono also invented the word “po” to introduce provocations. I’ll use po here as if it were a word people use every day so bear with me a moment.
De Bono created several types of provocations, the “stepping stone” being the one I want to focus on today. A stepping stone provocation helps us move from our current thinking to a radically different way of thinking, by way of an interim step. The interim step is a provocation is a forced switch to a different way of thinking. The end point is, we hope, a creative new way of doing whatever the program does.
The first stepping stone provocation is called a reversal because you force yourself to reverse the usual process in some way. In program design, a reversal provocation might look like this:
Po, programs are designed with no possible client base.
This reverses the usual process of investigating who needs what services then designing a program to meet their needs. Think about that provocation and your organization, or interests and see if a new program design comes to you.
An exaggeration provocation is a maximizing or minimizing of the characteristics relevant to a program. Nonprofits often have three or four programs, and a few dozen to a few thousand clients/consumers/customers. Most programs have one major goal, like getting teen mothers ready for job hunting. Exaggeration would have us thinking something like this:
Po, each client has 1000 programs.
The fact that this is absurd is actually the point. You can’t get anywhere by thinking about having five programs on offer instead of three. But, if there are 1000 programs you start to think about how this could be done.
Maybe there is a kiosk that walks clients through many options at each of several steps in getting off welfare. There could be as many as 1000 customized programs at that agency, once all possible combinations of options get counted. Program assistants or counselors could help clients use the kiosks and complete the activities in their customized program.
A distortion is a stepping stone provocation that involves changing the normal relationship or the normal sequence of events. Here is the only distortion that came to mind tonight:
Po, clients and staff design programs.
That idea just might be strange enough to prompt a useful idea. What do you think?
A wishful thinking provocation is simply a fantasy statement or question. The point is to be wildly unrealistic. Here is a statement obviously out of touch with reality:
Po, welfare recipients get rich.
That’s not likely to happen. It is possible that this provocation could yield a useful idea. See if you can come up with something. It might help to think about what it means to be rich. Consider how welfare recipients could meet their needs without money or credit.
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