A major manufacturer selected seven of their most respected franchisees and seven key managers, including the President, to prepare for their annual meeting. They wanted to improve their teamwork, increase trust, and find ways to help each other become more profitable. Despite everyone being well-trained in creative problem solving, there were lingering problems. For example, the franchisees felt disconnected to company decisions. Whereas the managers did not understand why franchisee’s did not buy-in easily to their new and exciting initiatives. 

A week before the meeting I received a nervous call from two franchisees. The managers were “all from Harvard” and felt they knew best, and they would probably abandon their creative problem solving training “in the real world.” Training such as deferring judgment, keeping an open mind, and separating ideation from evaluation. In order to assure the franchisees, I told both groups of seven to generate two lists for review before the meeting: 1. Behaviors that could ruin the meeting and 2. Behaviors that would make the meeting a big success. Both groups shared their lists at the meeting. The lists were virtually identical. As a result, they decided to transfer their creative problem solving training to the meeting and remove negativity. Franchisee’s were engaged, trust increased, and real problems were solved.