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How Do Y'all Think Things Relate

Cre8ng™ Challenge 2000 - 22

This week I experienced an excellent decision making tool I instantly saw as an excellent CONVERGENT THINKING tool. It reminded me of similar graphic thinking and analysis tools I was taught as an architectural designer and planner many years ago.

As I have promised many of you regular users of the CCs I have been trying to favor Convergent Challenges more than Divergent this year. So here is a Convergent tool that has the potential of being a holistic thinking tool so that it can provide the essence of and results of converging while including some areas for diverging or at least some combined left and right brain thinking.

The tool was/is called a RELATIONSHIP CHART.

The tool was introduced to the Board I am part of as a way to determine which of several tasks or areas of focus may require the most focus in relationship to all the others.

For example imagine you had decided (individually or as a part of a team) that you had 5 things you needed to do or had 5 areas of focus you needed to work on and you needed to decide which to work on first.

First create a geometric (visual) diagram/drawing in the shape of a pentagon (5 sided figure). If drawing is still one of your under-developed skills then look for one in a magazine, such as a Chrysler logo and trace it. If necessary, blow it up on your copy machine to the size large enough to fill an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper or larger if you are working on a flip chart or board in a team or larger group.

Second assign and write down each of the five items at a separate point of the diagram.

Third begin with any of the 5 in a process of comparing it to each of the other four individually.

STOP at this point let me explain the valuing system you will use.

The relationship system you will use has 4 possible CONDITIONS of relationship

  1. the relationship is that one DRIVES the other item
  2. the relationship is that one is DRIVEN by the other item
  3. the relationship between the two items is NEUTRAL, neither drives
  4. the other
  5. a possible 4th condition might that there is no apparent or
  6. strictly no relationship

Fourth beginning with one of 5 items start determining the condition of relationship between the two items.

Decide which of the two DRIVES the other; is DRIVEN by the other; whether or not the relationship is NEUTRAL; or that there may be NO APPARENT relationship between them.

Fourth draw a line on your diagram/drawing/chart between the two items on your pentagon between the two items. Place a arrowhead on one end of the line representing the difference between being DRIVEN or DRIVING.

I was daydreaming when our retreat facilitator explained which way she used the arrowhead. Our facilitator was Kathy Dempsey, a fellow member of the Georgia Speakers Association and National Speakers Association, who is an excellent trainer, speaker and facilitator, and recently joined Bob Pike's great team of train-the-trainer consultants at Creative Training Techniques International based in Minneapolis, Minnesota (for more about any of their fantastic training programs or to receive their superb catalog of trainer materials info call them at 1-800-383-9210).

I suggest the following logic for the arrowhead placement: draw the arrowhead on the end of the line representing the one that is driving the other item. For example if the two items are placed left and right of each other on your chart and the item on the left is the DRIVER and the one on the right is the one that is the one DRIVEN then place the arrowhead on the left end of the line you have drawn (suggesting that the one item is pulling the other).

Equally an argument might be made for a logic where the arrowhead is drawn on the other end. The key is that you place your arrowheads consistently.

This would be much easier to SHOW you graphically than TELL you as I am trying. But my software and the medium I am using limits me today to words not words and pictures.

Fifth using the line drawing and arrowhead placement process with every combination or relationship on your chart, one at a time. When you are done you will have a drawing that has ten separate lines drawn creating a 5-pointed star indicating all of the possible relationships in pairs.

Sixth now look at each of the 5 items and tally/add up the number of its relationships in which it is either the DRIVER, the DRIVEN, or the relationships are neutral or non-existent.

Seventh the tally results then should show you the ranking order of the 5 items based on which drives which.

From this chart you may then be able to determine where to put the emphasis of your efforts.

Here's how I suggest you practice with this technique this week based on my C.r.e.8.n.g.™ - Solution Generating Process

C    COLLECT your dreams, wishes, projects, challenges, problems
R    REVIEW all the information you know and need to know
E     EXAMINE the possible different ways of looking at your dreams, wishes, projects, challenges, problems
8     Ide8 (Ideate) for ways to accomplish your chosen dreams, wishes, projects, challenges, problems
N     NARROW down the number of possible solutions to a single one or set of them
G     GATHER your resources and plans and GO FOR IT!

Two ways you could practice this convergent thinking tool are to choose a separate step of the PROCESS and apply the RELATIONSHIP DIAGRAM analysis to it or work on a single step with separate groups of 5 items each day.

The outcome I envision is that you will practice converging using this holistic tool.

Next week's CC (CC2000-24) will be another convergent tool from Kathy Dempsey that can help us determine specifically where to put the emphasis of our efforts and resources.

Have a creative week!

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