Tom Kelley of the famous IDEO design firm is clearly fed up with at least one role-playing game used in organizations: the devil’s advocate. Invoking that role, he says, instantly absolves the invoker of any personal accountability for their criticism (it’s not me criticising that idea, I’m just speaking on behalf of Satan). The resulting unaccountable criticism can be death to a great idea, and can keep a group of otherwise creative people from being creative.
Kelley was so fed up, in fact, that he wrote a book (okay, co-wrote a book) suggesting 10 positive roles individuals can invoke to actually help their organizations become more innovative. The Ten Faces of Innovation is also excerpted in a recent issue of Fast Company magazine, if you’d rather have the shortcut.
What are the 10 roles you can play to actually build innovation rather than kill it? You can play one of the ”learning personas,” including The Anthropologist, The Experimenter, The Cross-Pollinator. You can play one of the ”organizing personas,” including The Hurdler, The Collaborator, or The Director. Or you can play one of the ”building personas,” including The Experience Architect, The Set Designer, The Caregiver, or The Storyteller.
For an industry that spends a large bundle of its energy creating characters and staging experiences for its audience, it sounds rather appealing to do some intentional role-playing around the staff table, as well.
