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Simple & Pragmatic Problem Solving
#69Chapter 6: Group Creative Option Generation• Group Creative OptionsCreative ThinkingIndividual and Group Mode45-75 min(Rapid)

Creative Imaging

From the book "Advanced Problem-Solving Toolbox: 115 Creative Plays" | Compiled & Edited by: Mojtaba Goudarzi, Open translation: Mehrshid Goudarzi
Executive Synopsis & Core Logic:

Guided three-step process to mentally travel 10 years into the future, visualize the details of an ideal, flawless state, and then reverse engineer the operational steps to make it happen.

Operational Parameters & Specifications

Category
Group Creative Options
Dominant Thinking
Creative
Participation
Individual and Group
Estimated TimeRapid
45-75 min
Fast
Input Format
Mental Visualization of Ideal Future State and Reverse Engineering to the Present
Output Format
Idea Generation
Key Application
Customer Experience (CX) Strategy Design, Reinventing Store and Therapeutic Services, Organizational Visioning and Digital Transformation.
Core Differentiator:

Starting from the desired point of perfection in the future instead of gradually and cautiously moving from the current flawed state (backcasting).

Quick Field Example:

With a mental trip to the next 10 years, managers visualize the store, smart ATMs, artificial intelligence-based offers and expert personnel and draw a roadmap.

Operational Benefits & Implementation Risks

Advantages & Value Creation:

breaking free from the deadlock of current technical barriers, creating shared team passion and motivation, extraordinary clarity of strategic vision.

Risks & Potential Trade-offs:

The risk of leaving ideas in the form of distant dreams if there is no rigor in the formulation of operational steps today.

Real-World Organizational & Industry Scenarios

Retail and Supermarkets: Visualize shopping without stopping at the checkout line and implementing automatic RFID scanning gates.
Healthcare and treatment systems: Visualizing the patient hospitalization experience without pain, paperwork and delay to improve admission protocols.
Digital banking: envisioning a world without physical cards and traditional branches and designing new generation neobank applications.

Strategic Rationale & Why to Apply

1Escaping the gravity of the status quo: When we start from scratch, the budget and technical barriers take flight of the mind.
2Set a single compass for the entire team: A shared mental image of perfection aligns all departments.
3Strengthening the emotional motivation of transformation: Seeing the sweet taste of the final success in the mind makes it possible to bear the hardships of change.
4Uncovering today's critical priorities: Looking back from the future, we understand which projects are a waste of time and which are a waste of time.

Conceptual Framework & Book Method Description

"Creative Imaging" technique is a powerful tool for formulating transformative strategies.

Instead of getting caught in the vortex of everyday problems, the facilitator asks the participants to close their eyes and travel to the next 10 years with a mental time machine; Where the organization has reached the peak of prosperity and all the problems of today have been solved. The team touches and recounts the details of this ideal world with all senses. In the second step, this vision is recorded, and in the third step, the team moves backward from that point of perfection in the future (Backcasting) and asks: "In order to reach this point in the tenth year, what actions must we take in the fifth year, the first year, and this very morning?".

Step-by-Step Real-World Implementation Scenario

Designing a shopping experience without queues in modern hypermarkets with creative visualization of the future
1
Step 1: Identifying the main bottleneck in need of transformationDetermining the focus of the challenge: excruciating waiting of customers in the checkout line and lack of personalized guidance when purchasing goods.
2
Step 2: 10-year mental journey to the ideal store of the futureThe facilitator asked the team to close their eyes and enter the hypermarket of the year 1415; They saw that there are no queues and cashiers, the carts read the barcode of the product automatically, and the buyer exits in a second by scanning his face or mobile phone.
3
Step 3: Extracting key elements of the future image3 pillars of perfection: 1) Automated checkout gates without human intervention 2) Employees who have become specialized nutrition and health consultants 3) Personalized discounts on the buyer's phone upon arrival.
4
Step 4: Reverse engineering and designing a 5-year action planFirst year: Launching a mobile barcode scanning application by the customer (Self-checkout) in 5 branches; Second year: Training of fund personnel as store floor consultants; The third year: connecting the artificial intelligence of shopping cart analysis to the customer club.
5
Step 5: Implementation of the first phase and elimination of 60% of queuesBy setting up automatic payment kiosks in the first phase, the time of customers' exit was reduced from 12 minutes to 2 minutes and customer loyalty doubled.

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Previous Play (#68)
Brainwriting 6-3-5
Next Play (#70)
Creative Leaps
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