The method I coached them in uses reversals to create insights about their company: the reversals help you to see problems from a new perspective and to encourage you to raise sensitive issues that you are usually too polite to mention.

What are the typical reversal questions?

There are five questions that I typically ask at some time on our two hour session:

1. How can you make things much worse? Look at making your existing situation worse. When you have enough ideas, reverse them to identify potential improvements.

2. How can you make yourself less useful? Find ways to waste time and resources. Exploring effectiveness in this different way shows you hidden possibilities for damaging your process, so you invert them to find improvements.

3. How can you add complications so that everything grinds to a halt? Brainstorm all the ways to make your paperwork and decision-making worse – many of them come naturally! What a relief it is to accelerate your business instead.

4. How can you really foul things up? For instance your team managers should make immediate decisions without current information... Reversing this and other ideas might lead to realistic decisions that involve your team.

5. How can you make your customers hate you? Could you make customers wait longer, avoid answering telephones, send incorrect bills, change deliveries at short notice, complicate bills and send junk mail? Just ask those doing the job (not their managers) to can tell you how to get it right. This might lead to you delighting your customers instead.

Have fun being wacky Beta Means Never Having to Say You're Sorry
I recently heard a technology presentation from a young but experienced CEO of a big ‘clicks and mortar’ organization. He told the large audience confidently, ‘Beta means never having to say you’re sorry.’‘That’s right,’ I thought to myself. ‘When launching the beta test of a new web-enableo raise sensitive issues that you are usually too polite to mention.

What are the typical reversal questions?

There are five questions that I typically ask at some time on our two hour session:

1. How can you make things much worse? Look at making your existing situation worse. When you have enough ideas, reverse them to identify potential improvements.

2. How can you make yourself less useful? Find ways to waste time and resources. Exploring effectiveness in this different way shows you hidden possibilities for damaging your process, so you invert them to find improvements.

3. How can you add complications so that everything grinds to a halt? Brainstorm all the ways to make your paperwork and decision-making worse – many of them come naturally! What a relief it is to accelerate your business instead.

4. How can you really foul things up? For instance your team managers should make immediate decisions without current information... Reversing this and other ideas might lead to realistic decisions that involve your team.

5. How can you make your customers hate you? Could you make customers wait longer, avoid answering telephones, send incorrect bills, change deliveries at short notice, complicate bills and send junk mail? Just ask those doing the job (not their managers) to can tell you how to get it right. This might lead to you delighting your customers instead.

Have fun being wacky Buyer/Seller Relationships...the ABCs of Success
There are basically three levels of buyer/seller relationships. The first and most common relationship level is Adversarial. This is the traditional win-relinquish relationship where you, the buyer, squeeze your supplier for the very last bit of a discount. You are determined to get the last drop!ial improvements.

2. How can you make yourself less useful? Find ways to waste time and resources. Exploring effectiveness in this different way shows you hidden possibilities for damaging your process, so you invert them to find improvements.

3. How can you add complications so that everything grinds to a halt? Brainstorm all the ways to make your paperwork and decision-making worse – many of them come naturally! What a relief it is to accelerate your business instead.

4. How can you really foul things up? For instance your team managers should make immediate decisions without current information... Reversing this and other ideas might lead to realistic decisions that involve your team.

5. How can you make your customers hate you? Could you make customers wait longer, avoid answering telephones, send incorrect bills, change deliveries at short notice, complicate bills and send junk mail? Just ask those doing the job (not their managers) to can tell you how to get it right. This might lead to you delighting your customers instead.

Have fun being wacky Delegation Trains Everyone
The inability to delegate is one of the most common problems of managers. Management and leadership is all about getting results by organising and supervising a workforce. Poor delegation or no delegation is inefficient and expensive. And the worst thing about not delegating is that managers are l paperwork and decision-making worse – many of them come naturally! What a relief it is to accelerate your business instead.

4. How can you really foul things up? For instance your team managers should make immediate decisions without current information... Reversing this and other ideas might lead to realistic decisions that involve your team.

5. How can you make your customers hate you? Could you make customers wait longer, avoid answering telephones, send incorrect bills, change deliveries at short notice, complicate bills and send junk mail? Just ask those doing the job (not their managers) to can tell you how to get it right. This might lead to you delighting your customers instead.

Have fun being wacky Keeping Your Customers Loyal
Loyal customers are at the base of every successful business whether online or offline. So every business from the very beginning of time has tested and tried many different methods to keep customers loyal to their business and keep them away from their competition. Loyal customers will undoubtedlan you make your customers hate you? Could you make customers wait longer, avoid answering telephones, send incorrect bills, change deliveries at short notice, complicate bills and send junk mail? Just ask those doing the job (not their managers) to can tell you how to get it right. This might lead to you delighting your customers instead.

Have fun being wacky

It is great to let humour emerge in this process, as you look for the wildest and most exotic ideas you can. As you get your brain thinking creatively, you will often find that ‘crazy ideas’ often contain innovative solutions.

Since much behaviour consists of opposites, I feel there is profit in looking at what you do not want in order to achieve what you do want.

In summary, learn to see things backwards, inside out, and upside down and you will see more.

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