Michael Michalko, in his book1 Cracking Creativity—The Secrets of Creative Genius, shares an anecdote from Toyota. The company was grappling with the problem of improving workers’ productivity. Initially, the management asked employees for ideas on how they could become more productive. This question was confined to a frame, namely efficiency, which appeared to be serving management’s interest. The employees were not interested. The management received very few responses. Then management decided to shift the focus to the employees’ needs and asked a different question — How can you make your
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