Travel Plans – How you become innovative

Strange things happen when you’re abroad. But before the trip we’ll have to do some planning – sometimes in a group.

01 TARGETS

Create and support a constructive atmosphere within your group. This enables you to grow your ideas. So they can get good and big.

02 INGREDIENTS

• A group or team with several people who want to work on something together.

03 PROCEDURE

STEP 1: SELECT A DESTINATION FOR YOUR TRIP OVER THE NEW WEEKEND AND PLAN THE TRIP

Choose a destination for your trip, e.g. a well-known city like Madrid. Image you want to travel there together. The first person in the group makes a suggestion what you all could do during that trip. The second person reacts to this by saying “Yes, but…” and adding their perspective on the suggestion. The third person continues, etc. So each person adds their own perspective with “Yes, but…”.

STEP 2: SELECT A NEW DESTINATION FOR THE TRIP OVER THE NEXT WEEKEND AND PLAN A NEW TRIP

In the second round you plan your trip to another destination (e.b. Paris). The first person in the group makes a suggestion again what you could do during the trip. The second person reacts to the suggestion but this time adds their perspective by saying “Yes, and…”. Plan the trip by saying “Yes, and…” and adding a suggestion one after the other.

STEP 3: SHARE YOUR OBSERVATIONS AND INSIGHTS

Which trip planning went better? What have you observed during the two trip planing rounds? Possibly the second trip turned out to be more attractive – but this might not have to do with the destination… Which conclusions can you draw from this game when you consider your innovation endeavors? In the future, how would you react to ideas that you don’t sound convincing at first sight?

04 BOOSTER: YES-BUT-WATCHDOG

To have constructive innovation workshops you could name a “Yes, but…” watchdog in your group or team: this person shouts out loud each time somebody says “Yes, but…”. Thus, everyone will be reminded to switch to a “Yes, and…” attitude that will bring ideas further.