Challenging Assumptions Team Exercise:

1. Ask your group to list every assumption we typically make about the concept of a garden.

2. Play the video.

3. Break group into small teams and challenge them with generating ideas and designs for creating as many natural spaces as possible in urban environments.

4. Discuss the ideas.

5. Reflect on some of the assumptions that exist in your organization/industry.

80% of the idea we generate don’t have a chance of making it to the shortlist of workable ideas. Volume matters. We need to generate as many options as possible to increase the pool of options for decision-makers to stretch their perspectives and find the optimal solution. If the leaders of St Louis had limited the options they’d consider, we’d have a knock-off of Paris’ Arc de Triomphe instead of Eero Saarinen’s Gateway Arch. Go for scale. Embrace the ridiculous. Give yourself options.

Why do we have ideas in the shower? The slight distraction of ambient noise. Thinking directly “at” a problem rarely generates creative solutions. Better to approach the challenge indirectly by providing a degree of distraction, allowing your mind to take alternative approaches to solutions. Whether walking, dancing, or paddleboarding… finding a distracted path to a solution can be more effective than taking a challenge head-on.

While many of us default to brainstorming as an ideation technique, it’s arguably loaded with bias and limiting in the concepts it generates. Instead, consider Brainwriting.

We advocate for leaders to think about the nuance of the bottom line value of diverse teams. Beyond statements, what makes the difference?

While the internet gives us access to almost limitless information, the decision architecture created by algorithmic nudges leads us to experience fewer and fewer perspectives and sources. To innovate, or to see different perspectives, we have to outflank the architecture of the technology stacks.