Testing Ideas with the Disney Strategy
When working with the three stage creative problem solving (CPS) process, the third stage is to test possible solutions before they are put into practice.
As with the previous stages, this stage requires both a divergent and convergent phase. In the divergent phase, one of my favourite tools to use is the Disney Strategy to do the testing.
This can be a fun way of looking at the factors that can help or hinder the implementation of a solution. It’s based upon Walt Disney’s way of working, and developed into a tool by Robert Dilts, one of the founders of Neuro-Linguistic Programming.
It simulates the kind of feedback that could be encountered when a solution is put into practice. So, it unearths the barriers there may be to implementation. It then offers a process for reflecting on how these can be overcome. This process can be a very valuable way of testing any ideas before presenting them to wider audience. It’s a kind of bullet-proofing.
Barbara is an Executive Coach, leadership, and creativity facilitator with a passion for creative tools and writing about creativity and leadership.