Differentness comes in many forms: age, culture, ethnicity, thinking style, life experience, language, gender, etc. As Vice President of the Tampa Bay International Business Council, I work towards including our many diverse communities into the Tampa Bay economy, because this inclusion is a guarantee of growth and prosperity for the region.

My company, CPS, also trains fluency and inclusion of differentness, culture, generations, and diversity of every kind, because this is a guarantee of growth, innovation, security and development for the businesses and people of the Tampa Bay region.

The facts speak for themselves. More than half of the Silicon Valley companies founded in the past decade were led by at least one immigrant, according to a new study on the contributions of foreign-born entrepreneurs.

Nationwide in the US, about a quarter of technology and engineering companies created from 1995 through 2004 had at least one foreign-born founder, according to the report by Duke University’s Master of Engineering Management program.

The Duke University report expanded on a  study by UC Berkeley Professor Anna Lee Saxenian, which found that foreign-born scientists and engineers played a critical role in the growth of the California economy, particularly in Silicon Valley.

Successful innovators everywhere seek differentness, and invite new perspectives, input, and insights from the different minds in their organizations. They grow a culture of collaboration and critical thinking. They fight homogeneity and group-think as the path to stagnation, same-old-same-old or The Bay of Pigs (the classic case study of similar thinking people, who were not challenged by different perspectives).

Along with seeking differentness, successful organizations learn the ability to hear even soft murmurs from non-mainstream team members. One of Nissan’s most successful designs was created when the entire staff of NDI was brought out to see what was wrong with a model. A shy secretary mentioned quietly that the car looked sad: a simple redesign of the headlight angles was the key requirement.

Great companies walk the walk of growing their people from the (normal, human) position that most people occupy, which is  comfort with their own culture.  It is not easy to take the journey to recognizing, accepting, adapting to and integrating with other cultures or forms of diversity.  Good organizations provide innovative, enjoyable training and coaching that guides their people and supports them on this path. Ultimately, this helps everyone grow, to think in new ways, and to be ready to serve new markets and new customers in a multi-cultural, multi-generational and global world.

Differentness, distance and innovation require a set of thinking tools that are seldom taught in the US education system. However, once they are learned, these become key assets in 21st century business growth, innovation and project success. As they are learned, they also seep into homes and communities, improving the quality of life outside work, and preparing new generations for our ever-more complex world.

Tampa Bay is home to nearly 130 different ethnic and national groups – a wealth of differentness that can fuel an explosion of growth and innovation if we place a solid value on inclusion and diversity.

The Tampa Bay International Business Council is committed to this work – it delivers, but also values all the help we can get.

Competency & Performance Solutions is an innovative, exciting and affordable learning resource that delivers strong, sustainable and measurable  results within the area of differentness, thinking, management and communication. Call us at 813 598 9184.

“The change in our sales guys is great. They’ve had fun, but they are also thinking outside the box in a completely new way”.
Senior sales manager.

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The problem is how to invest in people, but achieve this with  short, affordable, effective training designs, that deliver a considerable amount of customized, sustainable learning and attitude change. Businesses need training interventions that provide

• powerfully interactive experiences: they need these to cost as little as possible,
• real lasting learning: they need these to take people off the job for the shortest time possible, and
• engaging training experiences that spark innovation and collaboration: they need these to be custom targeted on the specific needs of their organization so that people feel  “invested in”

It’s hard to blame them.  Organizations are “doing more with less,” and their alternatives are often minimal canned training, on-line non-collaborative training, or no training at all.

CPS began addressing this need by using accelerated learning techniques, such as jigsaw training designs, often mixed with plays and/or multiple intelligence work.  These most powerful, interactive learning methods work well for all generations. The collaborative nature of the work is ideal for innovation and cross-functional problem solving.

Topics included Generational Communication, Managing Generations and Multi-cultural Understanding (which does not mean international etiquette!).

We recently shared this technique (with everyone participating in a cultural jigsaw) with the Suncoast learning community at the ASTD Suncoast Chapter in November. Dr. Deidre Cobb-Roberts came from USF to participate (and commend the results highly) The learners built insights into how misunderstandings arise as a result of often-invisible culture differences between occupations, organizations,  regions and  national/ethnic cultures.

Other topics such as green attitudes and commitment, performance management, innovative and critical thinking are designed to include other interactive, accelerated techniques such as plays and/or multiple intelligence activities.

Where we use plays, the dialogues are often custom-written around industry-specific issues, and the roles are often created around Myers Briggs or DISC guide-lines.

Our largest jigsaw to date has been the Tech Data Pow-Wow, with 150 managers present and six other sites linked in technologically. Feedback from clients suggests that our most entertaining jigsaws are our “dog-and-pony show” jigsaws, where Glynis and Greg facilitate subjects like generational communication together, from their widely-different generational perspectives and knowledge bases.

Learning and retention: When participants learn material and then teach it to each other, they retain about 90% of the material (vs 20% of a Powerpoint-based presentation). When they are responsible for creating a mental framework for their section of the learning, they use this mental framework  to process and store learning received from their colleagues. The intense interaction and focus achieved in small groups working on tightly-targeting learning  leads to powerful insights, and to conceptual breakthroughs.

Time: Jigsaws take up to 2 hours, and can cover almost any learning area. The design can accommodate many people from a minimum of 16, up to over 100 participants.

If you would like to try a jigsaw or other interactive, accelerated learning experience with your team or company,  email glynis[@]c-psolutions.com or call 813 598 9184.