Reflection – Storytelling     Challenge     Driving Innovation in the way we work is a key value of the start up consulting firm that I work for, as  a Senior Business Intelligence Analyst. As a young player, the company is always looking for fresh,  innovative ideas to promote it‘s brand in the IT market. The latest challenge was to come up with  innovative ideas for the Company’s Promotional products and merchandise. At the Company‘s Annual  meeting, I was asked to present an Innovative Problem Solving Framework, that I was recently trained  on, which could enable the Team to colloborate and come up with new ideas on the products.     Selection     Interestingly, since this is a challenge of innovative thinking to enable Innovation, Storytelling was the  tool of my choice. Storytelling is a tool that puts the audience and their experience at the front and  center and takes them on their journey. As Andre Martin reflects on Module 2 - It is not about a list of  things that we do but it is about the connection that we give to people about a piece of information  that we are trying to share.     The group I was presenting to was truly a diverse group ranging from junior consultants , senior  technical experts to top management. Storytelling is a great tool to connect to the diverse audience,  keep their attention for the limited time of 20 minutes while explaining the different phases of the  Innovation Framework that could easily be understood by everyone present in the room in the same  way.     Application     The Innovative Problem Solving Framework that was presented has 3 phases – Problem Phase, Idea  Generation phase and Implementation Phase. The goal of the presentation is to bring awareness about  the framework to the audience and provide them with enough information in order for them to be  able to decide if the framework can be used to solve a particular problem in their area of expertise.     I used two stories one each for the Problem Phase and Idea Generation Phase. To keep it interesting,  to explain the Problem Phase, I told them the story of the car that won’t start when buying vanilla ice  cream. This was based on a complaint received by Pontiac from a Customer who wrote to the  dealership that his car refuses to start each time he buys Vanilla ice cream but when buying other  flavours the car started just fine. The problem was later found to be the vapor lock. The whole story  can be read here: http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/icecream.asp     To explain the idea generation phase, it was important to explain the idea of simplicity and minimalism  and I found the story of how two toothpaste manufacturing companies solved the problem of  preventing empty toothpaste packages in very different ways. While the big company employed a  precision weighing technique amounting to thousands of dollars, another company used an industrial  strength electric fan to blow away the empty toothpaste boxes.     Insight     Storytelling served a two-fold purpose. It captured the audience’s attention and brought awareness  on a new topic. There was positive feedback from the colleagues and many of them were excited about  the topic and expressed interest in learning more.  A couple of days later, as a result of the presentation  a new thread on idea generation was posted from the marketing team on the Company’s Colloboration

website to all the employees and Ideas are currently being exchanged on the design of the Company’s  new coffee mug.     Approach     An internal workshop is being organized for the colleagues who are interested to learn more about  Innovation and Design Thinking framework. Although Storytelling will definitely be a part of the  workshop, I find that Journey map could be an excellent tool to enable a customer centric thinking  process and create a product that will bring value to the customer while serving as an interactive tool.


Reflection – Storytelling Challenge Driving Innovation in the way we work is a key value of the start up consulting firm that I work for , as a Senior Business Intelligence Analyst . As a young player , the company is always looking for fresh , innovative ideas to promote it‘s brand in the IT market . The latest challenge was to come up with innovative ideas for the Company ’s Promotional products and merchandise . At the Company‘s Annual meeting , I was asked to present an Innovative Problem Solving Framework , that I was recently trained on , which could enable the Team to colloborate and come up with new ideas on the products . Selection Interestingly , since this is a challenge of innovative thinking to enable Innovation , Storytelling was the tool of my choice . Storytelling is a tool that puts the audience and their experience at the front and center and takes them on their journey . As Andre Martin reflects on Module 2 - It is not about a list of things that we do but it is about the connection that we give to people about a piece of information that we are trying to share . The group I was presenting to was truly a diverse group ranging from junior consultants , senior technical experts to top management . Storytelling is a great tool to connect to the diverse audience , keep their attention for the limited time of 20 minutes while explaining the different phases of the Innovation Framework that could easily be understood by everyone present in the room in the same way . Application The Innovative Problem Solving Framework that was presented has 3 phases – Problem Phase , Idea Generation phase and Implementation Phase . The goal of the presentation is to bring awareness about the framework to the audience and provide them with enough information in order for them to be able to decide if the framework can be used to solve a particular problem in their area of expertise . I used two stories one each for the Problem Phase and Idea Generation Phase . To keep it interesting , to explain the Problem Phase , I told them the story of the car that wo n’t start when buying vanilla ice cream . This was based on a complaint received by Pontiac from a Customer who wrote to the dealership that his car refuses to start each time he buys Vanilla ice cream but when buying other flavours the car started just fine . The problem was later found to be the vapor lock . The whole story can be read here : http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/icecream.asp To explain the idea generation phase , it was important to explain the idea of simplicity and minimalism and I found the story of how two toothpaste manufacturing companies solved the problem of preventing empty toothpaste packages in very different ways . While the big company employed a precision weighing technique amounting to thousands of dollars , another company used an industrial strength electric fan to blow away the empty toothpaste boxes . Insight Storytelling served a two - fold purpose . It captured the audience ’s attention and brought awareness on a new topic . There was positive feedback from the colleagues and many of them were excited about the topic and expressed interest in learning more . A couple of days later , as a result of the presentation a new thread on idea generation was posted from the marketing team on the Company ’s Colloboration website to all the employees and Ideas are currently being exchanged on the design of the Company ’s new coffee mug . Approach An internal workshop is being organized for the colleagues who are interested to learn more about Innovation and Design Thinking framework . Although Storytelling will definitely be a part of the workshop , I find that Journey map could be an excellent tool to enable a customer centric thinking process and create a product that will bring value to the customer while serving as an interactive tool .