Thanks for posting all the resposnes. I just joined the group today or I
would have sent you this exercise earlier. Also, I suggest that you
modify your statement about how often a response is affected by our
template. Our response is always affected by our template.
Exercise 1. Brainstorm with a group the answer to "What is a quarter?"
Hold up a 25 cent piece and ask them what is a quarter? Record all their
answers. Their will be categories like tools, metals, money, uses of the
money to buy things, and so on. Then you can ask them to go back to a
time in their memory when they were children playing in the back yard and
they found a quarter. Tell them that when you were a kid the quarter was
a space ship that brought alien freinds to your back yard to play with
you. Now ask them to brainstorm again what is a quarter? This will open
up some new associations for them.
Now ask them if they can see how the quarter could actually be turned into
a real spaceship into whihc they could enter. Brainstorm how this could
happen. One answer is that you could use the quarter to call NASA to get
an interview for the astronaut program which could lead to you flying in a
spaceship. Then ask them how could they turn a carrot into the same
spaceship? Answer: sell it for a quarter and ...
The point of the exercise is that the only thing that limits what
something can be is how we see it. The only thing that limits what we can
do, have and be in life is how we see the world of resources around us and
the limits we place on ourselves in accessing those resources.
Exercise 2. Create a transparency with the letters
SVIIXLSEITOTENRS
Instruct them to cross out six letters to discover a common word.
Most people will read the instructions to mean cross out 6 letters. In
fact the instructions mean cross out the letters" s i x l e t t e r s."
When you cross out these letters, you are left with the word VISION.
Until people make the paradigm shift to see the answer, they cannot solve
the puzzle. As soon as someone sees the answer, the solution takes a few
seconds.
You can then lead them into exploring a problem in their current work
environment. Have them define the outcome they would like to achieve and
then have them describe the current situation. Have them brainstorm how
what they are assuming about the current situation that leads them to see
it as a problem. Then have them identify all the assumptions they are
making about the current situation. Then challenge the most limiting
assumptions and ask what they could do to create the outcomes they want in
the presence of the broken (challenged assumptions). You and they will be
pleasantly surprised at the creative solutions they develop.
-- Willard Jule <75272.3452@compuserve.com>