Imagine to gain a competitive advantage
Why nurture a ‘collective’ imagination’?
Because you might gain a competitive advantage.
An example is the LEGO® brand that flourished when the firm re-imagined its purpose in a post-World War II economic climate.
The imaginative process began when founder Ole Kirk Kristiansen noticed a new plastic injection moulding machine at a trade fair in 1946. He was curious; what else could this machine be used for, what could it produce?
Risking an entire year’s profit, he purchased a machine and set about playing, imagining, developing toys like a rocket, a car, a tractor, and more. But he always remembered the brick he’d been given to demonstrate the machine’s capability in Copenhagen.
Later, his son Godtfred who had been working at the firm for some time, met a toy buyer who lamented the quality of toys available. This conversation led Godtfred to see everything differently. He now regarded the toys being offered to children, at the time, as ‘ready-made solutions’.
And here was a major turning point; he began to imagine a system that could be built around the toys to strengthen a child’s imagination and creativity.
From there, the idea was given a name, a framework to explore, the LEGO System in Play, and shared with every employee. Their stamp is obvious in the products that have been made over the company’s long history, innovations that gained the firm a ‘Toy of the Century’ accolade not once, but twice.
This company, that began as a carpenter’s workshop and later, made wooden toys, had evolved into something entirely new. Its products were sold around the globe and spawned new imaginings like Legoland and The Lego Movie.
The imaginative process for LEGO had started with the founder’s original thought, then moved onto a collaboration between the founder and his son and later, included the entire LEGO team in an exercise of collective imagination.
At Imagination Session®, we see enormous potential for collective imagination not just because it’s fun, so much fun, but also, because it can give you a competitive advantage. Collective imagination encourages creativity and innovation. And at an Imagination Session, we also focus on breaking down the barriers that can stop us sharing our ideas with a team.
How often might we miss out on hearing the next best thing especially if we’ve built a culture that does not reward experimentation and imagination.
Fortunately, it’s never too late to imagine.
Sir Ken Robinson, a well known advocate for imagination, busted several myths on the topic in his book, ‘The Element: how finding your passion changes everything’.