Group Genius

Even now, when the idea of creativity has been rehabilitated, corporate America still isn't sure what to do with the real thing. Workshops, books, and gurus extolling creativity are often long on metaphors and light on concrete techniques. Even the change-hungry managers who see creativity as essential still regard innovation as a mystery, a condition that a>icts only certain people.

All of which, the Taylors say, is wrong. Creativity may be exceedingly complex, but it is neither accidental nor unique. It is in fact a natural human state. The right tools and conceptual models -- and the Taylors have plenty of those -- can draw out, accelerate, and apply creativity to any problem or challenge, from the smallest office glitch to the most pressing global concern. Indeed, the Taylors are not particularly timid in explaining their mission. "Our goal," says Matt Taylor, "is to transform the model of working."

Monday, 7:15 AM two dozen designShop participants from AM Cosmetics, a $150 million personal care company, start arriving through the front door of "KnOwhere," MGT's headquarters and one of the more unusual work environments these participants have ever seen. The front half of the 5,000-square-foot space is a retail outlet, selling everything from relevant books - "The Third Wave," "The Art of War," "The Dilbert Principle" -- to distinctive, hyperfunctional office furniture.

Toward the rear of the building is the actual workshop area, a warmly lit space with curved walls, a large gathering area, and alcoves for break-out groups. Wall shelves are packed with children's toys, dolls, puzzles, and hundreds of books -- many on business but others on topics that vary from tide-pool ecology to the art of Walt Disney. Most of the walls are finished in a smooth, gray surface that can be written on -- massive notepads for brainstorming sessions. Ceiling microphones and video cameras record the proceedings, piping them back to the Knowledge Deck, a raised corner where a half dozen staffers energetically turn the DesignShop into a massive, multimedia document.

Matt, wearing jeans, an open collar, and his trademark vest, opens the DesignShop, outlining the session's two-day schedule. Participants, he says, have entered not only a new work space but also a new context, where hierarchy doesn't exist, ideas are welcome, and opinions can be expressed safely, without fear of reprisal -- guarantees that Matt always wrings from company brass before hosting a DesignShop. "There are no chiefs here," he says.

Then the first lesson begins. Michael Kaufman, a tall, friendly- looking Californian who will be cofacilitating with Matt, holds up a wooden toy airplane. "What's this?" he asks.

The point is not to test people's toy knowledge but to introduce the notion of models - a central aspect of the MGT approach. Over the years the Taylors and their colleagues have created detailed, highly graphical models of every major aspect of business: how workers absorb information, how education and training occur, how corporations are structured - and how they must restructure to survive in the next century.

The models are multifunctional, providing ways to view and correct different aspects of a business, organization, or enterprise. The Taylors' Seven Domains model (see sidebar, p. 212), for example, lays out the key dimensions of a company, from its physical workplace to its communications technology to its corporate philosophy; locates where managers are most likely to find barriers to creativity; and helps eliminate them. Another model, the Seven Stages of the Creative Process, offers an elegant description of the discovery process -- a circular route that begins with the identification of a need; moves through the envisioning, building, and testing of a solution; and winds up back with identification. MGT's models are not for the faint of heart: an advanced version of the Creative Process model, for example, has 294 steps.

Most participants usually cut their teeth on something called Scan, Focus, Act (SFA), a simple, three-part, nature-based model that anyone can use immediately. "Scan" is the information-gathering phase, where existing conditions and needs, opportunities, and options are assessed. In "Focus," options are scrutinized, debated, and winnowed down to a chosen course of action -- which is then tested in the "Act" phase. The results of that test are re-scanned, and the cycle repeats.

Though simple in appearance, the SFA model has broad applications and immediate benefits. For many program participants, it's the first time they've seen the creative process as a series of steps. And the first time they've been a part of that process.

Monday is Scan day, and AM Cosmetics executives spend much of the time gathering information and assessing options. In one exercise, each participant makes a detailed assessment of AM's status, mission, strengths, and options. Nothing is off-limits. Everything is a potential inspiration, a potential tool, a potential model. Even learning about the concept of models is a natural Scan exercise. And not only models of business.