The S.C.R.E.A.M technique can assist you to direct your organization to come up with innovative solutions that will work effectively and productively. As long as you are in a leadership position you will need S.C.R.E.A.M to get to the root of the problem fast and find any ways and means to resolve that problem.
To be innovative and creative the first thing to do is to find areas in your work environment that provides opportunities to innovate. This can be anything ranging from your customer relationship management, new processes, and new services, improving your workflow, developing new products or improving the quality of your current product. The list is not exhaustive.
Once you find an area to innovate the next step is for you to identify and frame the opportunity. In doing this you have to come up with an action plan on how you are going to go about innovating. You will have to study your existing situation and do some forward thinking to see in what direction that you want to go. You will have to gather relevant data that will eventually allow you to come up with a workable solution. Once you have done this you need to implement the solution to see whether it works and if necessary rework the concept.
To assist you in this process S.C.R.E.A.M is an ideal tool. This is what you can do:
Substitute your current situation with something else
Through substitution you can find opportunities to come up with new ideas and to see what works and whether there is a more efficient system. In the past there were some babies who are born with a rare condition of lactose intolerance. This means that they are unable to drink milk as these babies do not produce the enzyme lactase that helps break down the protein in milk which is their only source of nutrient in their formative year. Through medical breakthrough nutritionist were able to develop a substitute soymilk for babies with fortified vitamin and other ingredients that give these babies a fighting chance at survival.
Combine your ideas with other ideas
On paper it may look perfect but when put to the test in might prove infeasible and unreliable. This is where you need to see the need to combine your idea with someone else’s to see whether you can come up with something unique and workable. Think about shampoo and conditioner. Two separate products and through combination there is now conditioning shampoo. Further combination of adding certain type of essential oil to these shampoos and now there are shampoos for various kinds of hair type.
Reverse the situation and rearrange the facts
Innovative solutions sometimes can come about through reversing the existing situation and rearranging the facts. Henry Ford asked a simple question of what if instead of the worker having to go to his work, the work comes to him instead. With a little bit of strategic thinking Ford came up with the concept of production line where each worker stand by the conveyor belt and the work comes to him instead.
Eliminate the unnecessary and elaborate on the features
Ermal Fraze wondered whether there is a better method to open the can instead of using the can opener. What will happen if the can opener was eliminated? With a bit of creative insight the pop-up can was born. Ask yourself whether there are protocols, features and other unnecessary things that you are doing that if these were to be eliminated will make you more productive, efficient and effective without compromising the quality, safety, health, legal and ethical issues.
Adapt and Modify
The art of innovation is the ability to adapt to existing situation and coming up with an effective and workable solution. By modifying key components to a product it becomes possible to come up with new ideas in different industry. Guglielmo Marconi intention was to promote the usage of the radio for ship to ship and ship to shore communication. Reginald Fessenden in 1906 unwittingly gave the idea that a radio does not necessarily be used for communication with ships only but it could be used for broadcasting music. This was the beginning of radio broadcast that still is very much a part of our lives.
So go ahead SCREAM and innovate.