Cultivating Curiosity 'If I had only 1 hour to save the world I would spend 55 mins defining the problem and 5 mins finding the solution' - Albert Einstein;

Communal toilets! Can you imagine the surprise when the international athletes arrived in Sochi for the Winter Olympics and discovered that the toilets had been installed side by side in the bathrooms?.

The Russian Olympics organisers have been criticised for their inappropriate bathroom design. In particular, for the strange way the toilets were positioned. Despite being the most expensive Olympics ever, it looks like the designers may have simply failed to ask the right questions. One of the least expected images to emerge from the Winter Olympics in Sochi has been the loos – yes, side by side like thrones – spreading across social media.



It surely gives a whole new meaning to going for a number two. One reporter said new sports at these Olympics included "competitive pooping" and "I know several sports now do synchro … BUTT …" Remember, though, there's even a strict code of conduct for how to behave in the Sochi toilets: including a "no fishing" sign.

Asking questions is vital to understanding the real needs in any situation and ultimately finding the best and most workable solutions. You would think most bathroom designers would almost subconsciously ask simple questions such as: ‘Who will use it?', ‘How will it be used? – What will the users want?'

Questions can not only open up possibilities, but if used well can also provide focus and direction for providing real creative solutions. Perhaps Putin forgot to ask when building his $50 Billion Olympics venue – ‘What am I trying to achieve?', ‘What do I want this Olympics to be remembered for?' All that money designed to showcase his achievements, and yet the media had a field day on something that could have been easily avoided.

A tale of two designs

When an architect designs a building s/he first goes to site and asks questions: What is special about this site? What is the site needing / crying out for? What response is it demanding from me/the building? Who will be looking at and using this building? What will these people want/expect from it?

In the case of the famous Sydney Opera House design in the 1950s, the architect who won the competition to come up with the best design was the one who considered these sorts of questions most carefully. To Jorn Utzon, the site was saying a few things that inspired revolutionary creativity. John noticed that there were a few elements about the site and purpose that were significant:

The waterfront location and great weather meant that sailing was popular on Sydney Harbour, so he considered creating a design element that would fit in with the surrounding watercraft. The city front location raised an awareness that this building would be viewed from above (from skyscrapers) almost as much as from the side (land and sea), so he coined the idea of the ‘5th elevation' to describe the view of the roof, which needed to be as beautiful as the other 4 elevations. It needed to be a beautiful artistic venue for world renowned creative acts, so the interiors needed to reflect this grand and ambitious purpose.

The combined answers to these questions led to the famous sails solution, and an iconic building of creative genius. In contrast, while the original Denpasar airport in Bali, Indonesia, also sits in a beautiful waterfront location with the runway projecting out into the ocean, it looks like the architect failed to ask the same questions. From the roof (if you can get to it) there are 360 degree views of spectacular blue lagoons and white sandy beaches, with waves rolling onto famous surf breaks on either side of the runway.

The failure to ask the right questions resulted in a closed-in building from which it was almost impossible to see the beautiful view. Fortunately in the new 2013 airport the architects changed all this by finally asking the right questions and producing a building with natural light and wonderful views!

The inquisitive spirit

There is a well-known saying that, ‘You know your children are growing up when they stop asking you where they came from and refuse to tell you where they're going!' While it might drive their parents crazy, that wonderful inquisitive stage in childhood helps children to rapidly learn and grow. Sadly as we move from childhood to adult status we too often leave this positive stage behind. We stop asking questions and we start wanting to provide answers.

Jim Force, from The Banff Centre for Management believes that asking good questions is a learned competency based on motivation, know-how and experience. He even says that we need to learn to ask ‘dumb' questions that come from a desire to be curious, not from expectation. If creativity originates with a question, then it is the art of asking dumb questions that can lead to enhanced creativity.

The paralyzing problem here is that most people want to jump straight to the answer. It's almost like they are too afraid to ask the question if they don't already know the answer, so they won't ask. The important thing to remember here is that the first step is simply asking the question – without needing an answer – yet. To ask, ‘Why?' or ‘Why not?' and ‘What if' can simply get us thinking and exploring beyond the immediate.

How to ask the right questions: the beginning of a successful design thinking approach

1. STATEMENT: Write a statement about the issue to be addressed (eg: ‘We don't have enough resources to fulfil our vision'.) Note that statements like this can limit our thinking and shut down creative possibilities.

2. QUESTION: Turn the statement into a question starting with, ‘How can we….?' (eg ‘How can we get enough resources to fulfil our vision?') The question challenges the assumptions and turns the issues upside down – leading towards open creative and solution focused thinking. Don't just ask questions that you think have answers, but be courageous enough to ask questions without answers.

1) STUCK ON ASKING THE BEST QUESTIONS? HERE IS SOME MORE ASSISTANCE….

Some questions you might ask to define the problem better and lead towards practical solutions:

• Why: Why do we do what we do? Why does this need to be done? (To help reach an understanding of basic needs and objectives) Why not approach this differently?
• Who: Who is involved? Who is impacted? Who can implement this? Who can be part of the solution?
• What: What procedures can I substitute? What can I combine with other procedures? What can I magnify or add? What can I eliminate? What is the reverse? What can I rearrange? What can I scale? What can I deny? What can I invert? What will happen if I don't invent? Which criteria are essential?
• When: When did the issue arise? What has been the timeline to date? When do we need solutions by?
• Where: Where can innovation take place (areas / locations / focus points)?
• How: How can we modify or alter what already exists? How can we produce something that will benefit all?
• Are we asking the right questions? Are we missing anything? (Research shows that most good ideas emerge in the last 30% of a brainstorming questioning session!)

2) THE BIGGEST DISRUPTORS OF THE MUSIC INDUSTRY MIGHT NOW BECOME VICTIMS THEMSELVES

Is ITunes dying? Ask your teenagers…. According to Tyler Hayes Music services keep popping up promising a new era for digital music, but no one has been able to fix the downward trends that hurt the most: that is, people's increasing unwillingness to pay money for music. Maybe it's time we questioned some of the assumptions that underpin the music industry. Music is now fundamentally a digital form of media and needs to be treated as such.

There are a lot of things that need to be addressed and rethought, including:

• Is Copyright still a relevant form of protection for the content owner?
• What does it mean to own the right to copy something (i.e., the copyright) when everyone has the power to copy it?
• Who makes money every time a song is played?
• Should anyone get paid per play anymore?
• Do consumers have to pay for music?
• Should a third party subsidize it?

Imagining the music industry did actually crash and burn: What does a new music industry look like? The answer might lie in businesses from other industries. Whether through advertising, marketing, original content, or simply art-making, the companies have the money to pay for music for commercial purposes. And since music forms such an emotional link with consumers, it's awesome for selling products. Perhaps consumers should pay for songs indirectly when they buy products whose manufacturers use those songs in their marketing.

The multi-billion dollar video gaming industry. Video consoles were driven by several clichés. First, that the world is split into "gamers" and "non gamers." Second, that gamers mostly care about faster chips and more realistic graphics. Third, game consoles are expensive. And fourth, that people play video games sitting down, barely moving anything but their fingers. With the Wii, Nintendo turned the gaming industry's clichés on their head but now they struggle.

• Product clichés: What are the cliché features and benefits?
• Interaction clichés: What are the cliché steps a customer experiences when buying and consuming their products and services? Is the interaction face-to-face? How frequently do customers purchase or use?
• Pricing clichés: What are the typical ways companies price their products and services and charge customers? Are they packaging products and services together or pricing them individually? Are they charging the customer directly or through a retail partner? Are they offering discounts or other incentives

Disrupt: Think the Unthinkable to Spark Transformation in Your Business.

3) INNOVATION IMPLEMENTATION

As we move in to the start of the Year of the Horse Robin Speculand of Bridges (Based in Singapore) predicts this is going to be a colossal year for many innovation's implementation. There is an optimism in the market that he has not seen since 2007 and this is going to be an amazing year for business growth as well as a make or break for many technologies. The horse is not only a symbol of traveling, but also a sign of speedy success. Will the following technologies speed to success this year?

I. Wearable – will they take off or are they just a fad? How any people in the last few years have stopped wearing a watch as it has become obsolete (because of smart phones) and now we are being asked to start wearing a tech strap? Will smart glasses deliver an unbelievable experience that leaves you trading in your branded frame? It is estimated 200 million will be sold in the next five years.

II. Bitcoin – is the digital currency you can use for personal transactions or business at high speed and low cost. Some predict that the most interesting Bitcoin uses are yet to come. Others that it is a Ponzi scheme. Mt. Gox Bitcoin exchange in Japan is in tatters, Apple just removed Bitcoin app and it has plunged as major exchanges halt withdrawals. The jury is still very much out on this one.

III. BlackBerry – it now has a US market share of… zero percent according to Consumer Intelligence Research Partners. It is targeting emerging markets over the next few years but I believe it is too little too late. The fastest growing area of smart phones, of which one billion were sold last year, is units under US$100 that bring the internet to parts of the world that otherwise would not have it. But the competition is ferocious and BlackBerry's ship has sailed.

IV. Crowdfunding – banks have been reluctant to give out loans and this has fuelled the growth of crowdfunding. It can be fast and easy to acquire which supports today's innovations, which are happening faster than ever, and this is good news. Just think about how fast Samsung has overtaken Apple in smart phones as an example of today's innovative speed. Crowdsource design and microtasks (breaking work up into tiny tasks and sending the work to a crowd of people) are also becoming popular.

V. 3D printers – The 3D printer was invented in 1983 by Chuck Hall but like the invention of the fax machine, it has to wait for its time. Today a 3D printer can be smaller than your home computer and as the price drops below US$1000 it is going to revolutionize the manufacturing industry. Printing exactly what you need 3D from sweets to car parts to medical devices, these printers are ready to take off this year and most of us will be just hanging on.

VI. Space travel – 100 years ago it took 100 days to go from Singapore to London. Very soon it could take not 13 hours by aircraft but four hours as your space ship goes 100km straight up, the earth rotates and then straight back down (hopefully to London). Virgin Galactic is leading the way and may start offering commercial flights this year. By the way Virgin Galactic is now accepting Bitcoin.

VII. Comparing Shopping – have you ever gone into an electronics store or a clothes store and scanned the internet for the product you are looking to buy? Then after checking it out in the store you buy it cheaper online! This is happening more and more. In fact it is happening so much that some stores in Australia are now charging you for trying on outfits when you don't buy them! Zara are now a common high street retailer but amazingly their products are cheaper online than in the store, which encourages consumers to buy online. This is good for Zara as they own the site but bad for Zara's franchise owners. Amazon recently hit the news with its drone delivery. Google is testing same day delivery. All this is changing shopper's behaviour.

Retailers are hitting back by offering greater shopping experiences, for example BestBuy in the US offers connectivity between your TV, smart phone and tablet. When video was launched many predicted the end of cinemas but cinemas survived.

This year retail shopping will continue to redesign itself through turbulent times but it will find its new positioning. Apple stores earn considerably more revenue per per-square-foot basis in the U.S and have led the way in creating a shopping experience. This year other retailers must revisit their value proportion. After all if McDonald's can sell fresh salads then anything is possible.

With markets accelerating and consumers spending more, this year is pivotal for the speedy success of many innovations. What have we missed? What do you see as great innovation implementations? Robin Speculand (Bridges) (Cultivate Curiosity is Step 1 of a 7 step process from the CSI design thinking workshop & the book ‘Who Killed Creativity?… And How Can We Get it Back?'.

By Andrew & Gaia Grant) More info about this workshop and facilitation tool at www.whokilledcreativity.com/program-options/the-7-individual-rescue-strategies Contributing writer: Lloyd Irwin (Tirian)

Andrew Grant is the CEO of Tirian, author of ‘Who Killed Creativity?', and creative designer of Tirian programs which are sold under license internationally.

Andrew has worked on leadership and team development for top executive clients in multinational companies throughout the world for more than 15 years and is a recognized leader in the field. He has been in high demand as a keynote speaker and has shared the stage with top international speakers such as Stephen Covey, Jonas Ridderstrale and Bob Nelson.
Andrew has been a keynote presenter and executive level facilitator in over 15 countries, and has successfully worked with over 30 different nationalities.

Gaia Grant, Managing Director of Tirian, is a perceptive communicator who is able to use her unique insights into individuals and cultures to enlighten groups.

Gaia is the author of several books, including: "Living in Three Dimensions", "A Patch of Paradise" (Random House) and "The Rhythm of Life" (Transworld), which examine cross-cultural principles in relationships and work.

Gaia's research and extensive travel to many unique countries has given her an appreciation of society's values and the effect these have on the individual. With a background in Education and Psychology, Gaia is able to utilise a diverse range of ideas to ensure her audience can relate to and integrate new concepts quickly and easily.

Gaia continues to write for travel magazines and on personal and relationship issues, and is regularly asked to speak about her thoughts and experiences. She is a highly skilled and creative program designer and facilitator with the ability to perceive deeper needs and find ways of exploring these positively and purposefully. www.tirian.com