Futurist calls 2011: International Year of Solutions
Reckon it’s time we had a focus on getting things done and so I am declaring 2011 to be the ‘International Year of Solutions’. Seems to me that a lot of talk fests have been gobbling up the neuronal space for a few years now with insufficient ACTION being generated – just lot of promises to consider a possibility for a meeting to be considered to discuss a problem! Additionally there’s been lots of grumbling by many people that ‘nothing is being done about…(insert own issues here)’. BUT (and it is a mighty large one) too often almost NO solutions are offered. The talk fests and the grumbling then is nothing more than complaining. No actions, just moaning and whingeing. So time has come for action in this the International Year of Solutions. You can still complain – in fact in 2011 you are encouraged to complain more than you ever have before, and there are some simple guidelines to connect your complaints to action…
1. Complaints are still valid ONLY if connected to at LEAST one potential solution
2. Complaints are encouraged – you should not put up with poor services, products or unacceptable situations. Take the personal responsibility to raise your complaint following guideline one above and preferably, guideline three below
3. Ideally there should be at least 3 alternative solutions offered. Asking for more of the same thing or a faster or bigger delivery of the same thing is still asking for the same thing. This shall not be regarded as a legitimate alternative solution
4. Suggesting a solution does not mean that solution should be automatically accepted by another party. However, in absence of a better alternative YOUR solution should be enacted to solve the issue. That puts the onus on the recipient of your suggestion (preferably the person in charge of the ‘problem’ you have) to come up with an alternative or explain what is preventing your solution from being enacted in order to resolve your complaint or problem.
A tip for journalists during the 2011 International Year of Solutions – make the complainer accountable for suggesting solutions to their complaint. When listening to a politician, consumer, business owner or some other party make some statement of complaint or claim of an intolerable situation you should ask the following three questions a) ‘and what is your first suggested solution to this issue?’; b) and what is your first alternative to your own solution?; and c) ‘if neither of those things can be done, what other suggestion(s) do you have?’ That should get people on coming up with answers to problems rather than mere complaints about problems.
I’m going to start the year off by fulfilling my promise to the road toll operator ConnectEast regarding their interesting approach to ‘customer service’. I’ll highlight the problem and then offer some solutions – stay tuned
One of the great things about technology (especially of the instantaneous ‘social’ kind) is the ability to attend a conference without leaving your office. Which is a salient point because yesterday I followed a number of the presentations looking at the idea of tele-working or remote workers, and did so by following the tweets of…
Read More >About once a week I get a call from a client or a media group asking if I can tell them what the future will be like. The conversation usually goes something like this – Me: can I ask what you’re trying to discover? Journalist: Oh you know, something really catchy, about how the world…
Read More >Now before any of you rush out and stick your hard earned on anything I say here, please note that a) I’m answering this because I get asked every year and b) My track record is appalling. Still I’ve put a bit of thought into a near term prediction to see who you might like…
Read More >Tonight I have the privilege of being the MC for Blackwood 8’s Celebration of Hope Gala Ball at the Manningham Function Centre in Doncaster. Blackwood 8 raise funds to find a cure of Brain Cancer and are strong supporters of Dr. Charlie Teoh’s Cure for Life foundation. With a crowd of around 300 it’s going…
Read More >‘ve just spent a delightful day learning about digital issues at the v21 Digital Conference at the State Library and my presentation at that conference is now available at the link below. My all too brief summary of presentations is also provided Sessions have covered Branding, Blogging, case studies, education & health; future of…
Read More >When it comes to ‘anti-technology’ thinking, a term often thrown disparagingly at people is ‘Luddite’. Luddites were indeed anti-tech BUT contrary to modern day thinking, they had a particular dislike for technology that would put people out of work. If technology helped keep people employed or created more jobs they were all for it. Which…
Read More >Or is it? …Over the past six years, the mainstream media polls have consistently shown the Liberal Party /National Party Coalition as well ahead of the Australian Labor Party. Those polls turned out to be wrong last time around when Tony Abbott failed to get enough of the vote to defeat Julia Gillard. Or should…
Read More >In my view ALL futures thinking about ‘big issues’ starts with futures thinking about personal issues. The idea that we take for granted the way our lives operate has for millennia been shown to be a high risk assumption. From the food we eat, to where we live, to products we use (and how we…
Read More >What you look at, how you look at it and where you find your information are critical elements for developing far more effective strategy. Futures work is about removing the organisational blinkers to increase awareness of risks and emerging opportunities often through Environmental Scanning (ES). ES comes in all sorts of guises and the key…
Read More >How do you innovate? Where do you innovate? Why do you innovate? How do I start innovating? These and a truckload of other similar questions are often tied to the idea that innovation is the silver bullet or panacea to mediocrity in organisations. And maybe it is. There’s a whole raft of ways in which…
Read More >