A recent post on the TED blog addresses cross pollination. We are quite keen on cross pollination and describe our method of social enterprise development as cross pollination because it takes the best from pure private sector methods and applies social aims to create robust social enterprises.
Tom Kelley, GM of IDEO and author of "Ten Faces of Innovation" talks of the cross-pollinator, who "can create something new and better through an unexpected juxtaposition of seemingly unrelated ideas or concepts". (Not sure we have made it to this level, but we continue to experiment)
For example: one of the latest cross pollinations making rounds in Europe is that of the emergency room staff and a Formula 1 pit crew.
This is interesting because it suggests managers can find robust and relevant examples outside their immediate world to improve the performance of their social enterprise. Much has been made of developing ideas for products and services via brainstorming with wacky objects and context. How about getting better customer service by thinking about your customer service process and how that might relate to a similar process in another field of work or play? Could there be examples that may help your team? Can you help performance by looking at group actions in nature (bees)?
I suggest application of this cross pollination approach may help solve your organisational performance issue and keep you thinking about your enterprise in a fresh and imaginative context.
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