Day 9
“Innovation....Innovation....Innovation”
“Chaos and
crisis are the mothers of innovation”
Other
than the rock project, which you will all receive tomorrow, today's activity
has always been one of my favorites. The activity is called INNOVATION. Basically,
there is one LEADER (in this case it was me) and then we group the small teams
into larger groups; so instead of groups of four they are made into groups of
eight. There are three different assignments given in each group: 1) The
observer, 2) The communicator, and 3) The builder.
The Material:
In this activity
we used a plate, a fork, a spoon, a cup, and a napkin. The objects/materials
don't really matter—it is the communication and innovation that is the purpose.
The Leader:
The Leader has the
assignment to build an object our of the material. He/She can build it however
they feel is best. The objective is to build and wait for the observers to see
the construction. Then the Leader can change the design. By the time the
Observer sees the material in the form, he/she has to share the design with the
Communicator. The Communicator then passes the information to the other
Communicator, who then passes the information to the Builder.
The Observer:
The Observer has
the assignment to watch the leader. The leader builds and the Observers watches
and reports to the Communicator.
The Communicator:
The communicator
takes the received information and then passes it to the next Communicator and
so on. Eventually the communication and instructions arrive to the Builder.
The Builder:
The Builder is
not permitted to see what the Leader is doing, nor is he/she permitted to watch
the other Builders. He/She can only go off of the words from the last
Communicator. The last Communicator, however, cannot see what the Builder is
doing.
The Objective:
As the title
indicates, the purpose of this activity is to help create innovation.
Eventually, after the observers get frustrated by the constant changing of the
materials (by the Leader), they begin to realize that just speaking to one
another is not enough. Some students innovate the system and draw pictures of
the materials set by the Leader. However, they quickly become discouraged when
they realize that their system is not efficient enough.
They begin to innovate more and
add two or three more papers so that they can draw the new position of the
materials each time it changes. Finally, once the students get sick and tired
of running around, trying to keep up with the changing dynamics of the objects,
and after 15 minutes of frustration (because the Leader is telling them that
they do not understand each time he stops them to compare his objects with the
Builders' objects). The students were given 3 minute rounds to understand the
activity. They were running around, up and down, they were drawing, gasping,
putting their bodies into different shapes to memorize the pattern and
placement of the materials, but they were not innovating their systems fast enough
to keep up with the Leader.
FINALLY, one group pulled out
their cell phone and started to take pictures and pass the phone, but then they
realized that their system wasn't fast enough when they saw another group pull
out five cell phones to follow the changing pattern of the material.
Eventually, ALL the students pulled out their phones and copied the system and
ALL of the Builders had identical placements to what the Leader had. THEY
PASSED THE TEST
What did the students learn:
1) Entrepreneurs
are like the Leaders—they constantly change their minds and want to go a new
direction.
2) Managers
are the ones stuck between the technician (the Builder) and the Leader
(Entrepreneur)
3) Technicians
(Builders) get frustrated because sometimes they don't ever get the needed
information (one of the groups at the end of the first round had still not
received any information from their Communicator) because the first two
Communicators were still discussing the material placements.
4) Innovation
is critical in our businesses—we live in the 21st Century
5) You
know you are the leader in business when the rest of the field copies your
system
6) No
one asked the entrepreneur for help or advice—why not?
7) Running
around, sweating, working hard, etc., does not mean you are getting stuff done.
8) Chaos
is the mother of innovation
9) Crisis
is the mother of innovation
Story of the Day:
Samuel Teoyotl
and Rodrigo Jimenez (a current bishop) were walking to class this morning when
they found 9 rolls of carpet outside of the hotel near the chapel. Seeing the
worth in the carpet, they went and asked the hotel owner if they could take the
carpet... “Sure, why not?!” the owner said. So, Samuel and Rodrigo picked up
the roll of carpet and during the lunch break and time to work on their
business (a total of 2 hours) they sold the carpet for about $700MXN (about
$70USD). They came back and were just amazed! The bishop, Rodrigo, said, “I
couldn't believe what I saw. Samuel went out and we hustled the work. We
searched for people—EVERYONE was our possible client. EVERYONE was a person
that we knew WANTED to buy carpet. This experience was just one that I needed
to learn. I had to see that it is HUSTLE and DESIRE that helps with sales.”
Well, another day
down and more families touched. The Lord is with the people. We feel His love
each day. Thank you all for what you do. Thank you for your support. Tomorrow,
you will receive a detailed report of the amazing Rock Project.