Ok, we all know corporate America and for those who don’t; consider yourself blessed and praise to the FSM that you never have to deal with that realm ever!
Now, corporate america is not a complete blunder or loss, you can actually learn real tools to take onto other jobs/professions/careers, I present to you:
The WhiteBoard/WhitePaper aka the War Room(WB/WP/WR).
Much like anything else, there can be too much of a good thing, so in this case stick to the KISS principle and toss out any people with very little to offer (Too Many Cooks in the Kitchen is a bad thing and in my kitchen I am head Chef), initially, since we’re trying to Map out a Plan of attack. So no more than 3-5 people, even with those numbers it’s like having 1.5 to 3 solid fully functioning brains due to group thinking…
The WB/WP/WR is used to help lay out your teams idea & focuses from entire business plans, marketing plans, or just plain ol good brainstorming, so pick up a pen and start writing. If you don’t have a rolling whiteboard or a room like this at Mindlab (more cool workplaces):
Just go ahead and grab a good section of banner paper
Cut to size (4-6ft in length)
Painters tape (other tapes run the risk of removing the paint)
Place the tape in the corners and center (top and bottom)
Now you’re all set, if you have the “carpeted walls” just do the same thing with pushpins.
Step1: Obtain a Whiteboard or some Whitepaper (WP can be bought at Staples, basically a roll of Banner Paper)
Step2: Move into an open area or pin/tape to a wall with a lot of empty space
Step3: Use Markers and Brains to create semi-logical ideas (Note it may take many attempts on some ideas, it took us close to twenty when we were trying to finalize some pitch phrases)
Step4: Write More ideas
Step5: Edit/Erase Ideas
Step6: Identify legitimate Ideas to implement
Step7: Breakdown Ideas into tasks (<gasp>more corporate ideology)
Step8: Apply a time line to goals (Keep it realistic).
Step9: Hit the Bar (you deserve it) and rest up for tomorrow.
Step10: (Hung-over)Now get ready to work like you’re Donald Trump with his Hairpiece on
Fire and keeping pace with your timeline is critical to your success…
When you’re done you should see a piece of artwork like this: BizzFlip WP (We’re missing the far left section, another 3 feet or so of WP).
Odds are after this you will probably have to give a presentation and might want to follow some of the tips fromEscape from Cubicle Nation, but if the corporate world is starting to catch up to you, it might be time to slow down and refocus…