Disruptive ideas provide management alternatives that, if spread, can completely transform the way the organisation works without the need to execute a massive ‘change management programme’. Each of them, in its own right, has the potential to create significant change. The compound benefit of a few of them is a real engine of change and business transformation.

The concept of disruption in management has been applied to innovation before. A disruptive innovation is a technology, process or business model that introduces a much more affordable product or service (that is also much simpler to use) into a market with minimal or zero implementation costs.

It enables more consumers in that market to afford and have the skill to use the product or service. The change caused by such innovation is so big that it eventually replaces, or disrupts, the established approach to providing that product or service. Disruptive Innovation as a concept was created by Clayton Christensen, author of The Innovator’s Dilemma and The Innovator’s Solution.

“I have antibodies against the Big Corporate Initiative (or the Big Initiative in Big Corporations or, worse, the Big Initiative in not-so-Big Corporations that think they are Big or want to behave as Very Big). All over the world, you can see the same picture: big change projects with lots of components, stacks of PowerPoint slides and massive communication programmes. In Viral Change, I called it the ‘tsunami approach’.” – Leandro Herrero.

This Accelerator is devised to challenge you and your team(s) to adopt apparently ‘impossible’ changes, the process results in a more aligned, engaged and healthier team with a clear action plan for change.

“An intense and thoughtful day long exercise in which The Chalfont Project, through a process of critical thinking, led the team to examine the positive and negative merits of 30 controlled challenges to the status quo within our organisation. The outcome was a clear plan of commitment and accountability and great engagement within the 60 strong sales team.”

Inductive Reasoning

A total of 30 ‘ideas’ are dissected by the participants. People are asked to assess the ideas on their own merits, imagining the impact for the organisation. The intervention uses a process of inductive reasoning around the various ideas and a mechanism to challenge assumptions about the positive or negative merits of each idea.

Some people are in charge of the role of defending an idea while others are challenging the idea, explaining why “they will never work”. Even the most controversial or counter-intuitive ideas force critical thinking and prompt participants to imagine the kind of organisation which could result from introducing such management ideas fast in a general manner!

A set of ideas chosen and implemented from the next day

The outcome of the Accelerators is not theoretical. Delegates adopt a small set of chosen ideas – the ones who survive scrutiny are selected as those with the greatest potential to have an immediate impact. The outcome is a personal or team plan for immediate implementation and potential follow-up.

Powerful means of team alignment and commitment

This Accelerator is suitable for management teams, divisional groups or an entire section of the company. It has been run very successfully for groups of 10 to 15 people and up to 30 or 60. The dynamics are -of course- different depending on the size of the group, but it delivers similar innovative outcomes and has proven a powerful means of team alignment and commitment to a plan of action with accountability.

Before the event

We will discuss with you the desired impact of the Accelerator. We will send you a simple, yet structured questionnaire to make sure that we understand the environment, the context, the challenges and even the language of the organisation. We both will have a clear picture in our minds. We will discuss on the phone any points arising from this questionnaire. Depending on the size of your group and other circumstances such as whether your Accelerator is to be repeated with other groups in your company, we will send the participants a short online survey to determine The Disruptive Index© of your organisation. This is a measurement of the ‘innovative thinking’ of your organisation in management terms and its readiness to change and improve further perhaps taking courageous steps. If the logistics of time or size make this survey impractical, don’t worry, we will deliver similar high value without it and will incorporate the ‘self-assessment’ during the Accelerator
We will provide you in advance with a delegate pack for each participant. Similar to the above, during our conversations we will determine the extent of the pre-intervention reading or preparation for interventions at the work groups appropriate to your delegates. We will advise you on the physical set up, the environment and recommended facilities to maximise the success.

After the event

If desired, we will hold a follow-up session with you as a sponsor to (a) feedback on the learning from the intervention seand its dynamics and (b) to maximise the potential implementation of the Disruptive Ideas. We will be glad to discuss with you the suitability of our Accelerator and any other angle that may help you.

Address ASTON COURT, KINGSMEAD BUSINESS PARK, HIGH WYCOMBE, HP11 1LA, UNITED KINGDOM

Phone +44(0)1494 730999

Email uk-office@thechalfontproject.com