Mimi Merrick Porter

My name is Mimi Merrick Porter; I am a Quality Manager at the Xerox Corporation. I have been there for 23 years, and during 15 of those years, I have been using the Creative Problem Solving Process in facilitation, in training, and in generally working with groups.

03:01:19:01

03:01:35:20

[Lets, start off by asking you to define creativity.]

Define creativity. Well, I think creativity is finding the unexpected in the commonplace, and finding the commonplace in the unexpected.

[That’s great]

03:01:37:27

03:02:52:25

[You mentioned that you facilitate and train, in the Xerox problem solving technique]

Yes, I do.

[Can you explain that problem solving technique - compare to Osborn-Parnes technique]

When Xerox decided to develop it’s own problem solving process, it was done as a joint union/management venture and the primary source that was used for the Xerox process, was the Osborn-Parnes model. The divergence and convergence we have held onto very carefully. Since most of our problems, tend to slap us in the face, rather then politely surfacing as messes here and there. We start off with Problem Identification as the first step. Moving from that into a root cause analysis step. Then into the third step, or the Idea Finding Step. We omitted the Acceptance Finding Step or tried to incorporate it implicitly in our Solution Finding. And I think that has caused us a bit of trouble ever since.

03:02:53:04

03:03:36:02

[You have a very specific business focus in this problem solving process, many companies seem reluctant to incorporate creativity or these processes, why do you think Xerox has been so open to the process?]

Xerox has always been open to creativity, I believe. It was an incredible breakthrough that gave us our corporation when Chester Carlson, was determined to find a way of making marks on paper without putting them through a chemical process. I think that developed creativity as one of the values of the corporation.

03:03:36:02

03:04:44:15

[Chester …original market research showed 350 unit market – how did he envision the selling of his technology to the public?]

He was convinced that this was the solution to many many of the woes of business. Having gone through, this was back in the days of carbon paper, and all that nasty stuff. He was, if I remember correctly, a Patent Attorney, by trade. And recognized the importance of it. He had a terrible time, finding acceptance anywhere. He went to IBM, he went to Kodak, a whole variety of companies, and no one could see, until he found Joe Wilson, at the Haloyd Corporation, no one could understand the brilliance of his vision.

03:04:45:01

03:05:58:18

[You have talked about vision before…that vision has been used at Xerox in the leadership through quality program…]

Yes it has been.

[Can you explain the program to us?]

Well, It’s no secret that Xerox went through hard times back in the early ‘80’s. We had, we had had brilliant success through the “60’s”, and into the “70’s” and we rode that success for a number of years, holding the patents on most of our business, as those started to run out, we had still not looked outward. Understand that we had to progress, we had to move into new ventures, if we were going to be successful as a company. In Leadership through Quality was a program, a philosophy, a goal, if you will, that allowed us to look at where we were today, and where we needed to go, and the problem solving process coupled with our own quality improvement process were the vehicles we used, as a total corporation, to make that trip.

03:06:22:15

03:07:21:17

(why come back to CPSI for 13 years?)

The first and foremost reason that I come back to CPSI year after year is really my son. I brought him here first when he was 7 years old. And at 7 years old what CPSI had taught him was the steps in the process, what divergence was, what convergence was, and he learned this. And not having an awful lot else written on his mind that at time, he seemed to remember it. And I noticed, about six months later, that he actively and consciously, used the process, in reaching his own decisions. So, I asked him one day, “Why do you do this?” And he gave me his, mom is being stupider then usual look and said “Mom, how else do you know you got choices?” and I figured if you can teach an 8 year old that he has choices, that is something, that if you can reinforce year after year, is going to be of incredible value.

03:07:22:26

03:08:06:15

[So you have been coming here for 13 years, when you leave, at the end of this week. What do you want to take back to Xerox?]

I always take back the unexpected to Xerox - I may come here thinking in the back of my mind that I want some more tools and techniques and what I’ll come back with is total new of looking at myself, or a total new way of looking at other people. I have learned not to predict. I have learned not anticipate. And then I will recognize the gift when I receive it.

[cut]

03:08:06:25

03:08:33:10

[Take #2]

I plan to take (sigh) back, primarily what I’m seeing so far this year, are tools and techniques that are helping me with vision. And with looking at values, and measuring whether values and vision are commensurate with one another.

03:08:33:20

03:08:52:20

[Can you give us specifics on the T&T that you have been learning about?]

I’ve been looking at the Value Spiral this morning, that was in one workshop. I have been to another workshop on visionizing, and on developing vision.

03:08:53:09

03:10:38:02

[When we where chatting earlier…you related a story…about opening doors…could you relate that story back again]

Alright. I believe it was after my very first CPSI; I had put together a training program for problem solving. Using the Xerox model, but strongly relying on the tools from CPSI. And put together a 40-hour, or 4 hours a week training program. And most of them went absolutely, wondrously well. There was one class however that had a very analytical, and very sour gentleman in it. Who questioned and criticized and picked and poked at everything I said. And these classes where voluntary, and the rest of the class kept asking “Why does he come back, what is in it for him. It would be so much more fun if he didn’t show up.” And finally on the last class, and in his usual rather combative style said, “Alright, I’ve seen this, what are you going to do next?” and I said, “Well, what do you mean” and he said “Well look, here you’ve – for ten weeks I have sat here, and each week you opened a different door that I never even knew existed, and for four hours you let me look at that door, and see what it looks like through that door, then you close it again, and open a different one the next week. Now, I want you to go back to each one of those doors and open it up, and give me all the time I need to walk out in through those doors and see what is there.”

03:10:38:10

03:11:20:29

[One of the issues that come up often is many companies are reluctant to change, why do you suggest that Xerox embraces change?]

I don’t think Xerox embraces change any more readily than any other corporation made of human beings. I think our problem solving process has given people a vehicle for understanding the transition of change, for working through, for obtaining some ownership in change that is happening.

03:11:23:08

03:11:41:19

[You have a background as a chemist]

Yes

[What many people would, suggest as not the most creative of fields, I am not saying I agree or disagree, but – Would you say everyone is creative?]

Yes, I do believe that everyone is creative.

03:11:42:20

03:12:10:13

[Why? or How?]

Maybe I better rephrase that; I think everyone has the capacity to be creative. Some of us have forgotten it, some of us have been ridiculed for using it, and found out that was a tool we better not use very often anyway. Some of us have been oblivious to it, but I think its there.

03:12:10:20

03:12:47:24

[OK, Lets get into you particular job… What type of training to you do…?]

Over the last few years I have done training in; I have done a great deal of team building and facilitation. I have developed training in Root Cause Analysis. In strategic Thinking for Middle Management. Um, a variety of variance on the problem solving in general.

03:12:47:24

03:13:22:28

[…when you lead brainstorming groups, what do you want the group to do? How do you help them achieve their goal?]

I want the group, obviously, to come up with good ideas. Ideas that they can have ownership in. Ideas that the whole group can buy into.

03:13:23:01

03:13:36:24

[How important is ownership of ideas?]

If a brainstorming session is truly successful, I find the whole group will take ownership in all of the ideas, and they tend genuinely to forget which individual they came from.

03:13:37:02

03:14:26:10

[I remember you saying Xerox …combined phase of solution/acceptance… does ownership of ideas continue with the group as they enter that final phase?]

That’s one of the things that we talk about, as we are going through the selection and planning of a solution. By that point the solution belongs to the entire group, and they have great ownership of it. One of our last discussions has to be, “How do we relinquish ownership of this solution as a group, and turn it over to the people who are going to be implementing it, or profiting form it?” And is sometimes a very difficult discussion to have.

03:14:27:00

03:14:44:16

[In the groups themselves…how large is a Xerox brainstorming group?]

Oh goodness, we have done brainstorming with anything – typically it’s 6 to 8, but we have even had brainstorming sessions with a lot of variance for 50 and 60 people.

03:14:45:00

03:15:28:19

[How do you ensure…that all members are participating?]

I think there are a variety of techniques sometimes we will be very orderly about it, and go through some ‘round robin’ brainstorming to make sure that everyone has heard the sound of their own voices. As a facilitator or as a member I will often highlight someone’s idea if someone is being unresponsive, I will go back to try and pick out something that they have said, and build on it a little bit. Demonstrate to them that it has been heard, that it has value.

03:15:29:00

03:16:27:00

[The Deferral of Judgment….how do you get people to understand that concept?]

There are a lot of different techniques that I use, one of them is to, from time to time, throw in an absolutely silly, irrelevant response, and insist that it be recorded. Dandelions is a typical answer. What I have done too, is after the brainstorming that has the initial ‘germs of ideas’ listed, sometimes I‘ll number them and then call out arbitrary combinations “You three people please combine 7-14 and 87 make one idea out of it, form something new that might solve our problem. ”

03:16:27:29

03:17:01:28

[I know these pathways and … combining these ideas… why is it so important?]

Brainstorming doesn’t give you ideas; it gives you just the essence of ideas. And it’s when you start to take these different essences and put them together, that the true creativity - the combinations - start to emerge.

03:17:02:05

03:17:56:07

[When do you get to the idea, if brainstorming gets you the essence, when do you get to the idea?]

Sometimes you get it towards the end of your brainstorming session. What I have often seen is in the beginning, people will say what is safe. Then they might go a little further, feeling a little more secure, and might say, what might be a silly or a little bit extreme. Then they tend to be quite for a while, then some real, really neat, novel essences start to emerge. And when they think they are all finished, when they could not possibly come up with another idea, then with all of their mental filters down. The really creative ideas start to emerge.

03:18:58:10

03:19:13:23

[You have related…your son has gotten tremendous advantage from CPSI…co-workers…How would you convince someone to attend CPSI next year?]

Depending on the individual, if I were talking to a parent, its quite easy because what CPSI has given my son is citizenship in the world, when he is at CPSI he is a full citizen of this world and has been ever since he was 7 years old. And as he has gone through adolescence; I think at times he’s doubted that a lot in other places, but never here. If I am talking to someone in a corporate situation, corporations are desperate for new solutions, desperate to understand how to motivate people. They find an awful lot of new ideas and new starts here.

03:19:14:00

03:19:47:00

[…How do you sell a corporation on creativity?]

I think you can sell creativity, or the CPSI process, if you will, through bottom line results.

03:19:48:01

03:20:06:20

[Do you have any good examples?]

I have examples at Xerox, of problems that have gone on for years. That have cost in the tens of millions of dollars every single year. Where through applying the process, and being patient and bringing the right people together, we have been able to solve them.

03:20:08:08

03:20:11:10

That’s pretty powerful stuff

[That’s very powerful stuff]

03:20:12:00

03:20:34:05

[It seems you are saying that you can get results from creativity…Do you believe you can get bottom line results from creativity?]

Creativity and a process, will lead to bottom line results - yes

03:20:34:29

03:21:05:24

[…Would you repeat that quote about corporations needing creativity?]

I think corporations today are in more desperate need of creative ideas than they have ever been. But what they also need is a process for bringing those ideas into reality.

03:21:06:05

03:21:40:06

[You talked about using the creative process to enhance strategic planning]

Oh Yes.

[How do you do this?]

Strategic thinking is thinking about what isn’t, but what might be. And just by the very nature of creativity, that’s where we need to start, not with “What is”, not with all the constants that we see today, but a vision of what might be, and then we will figure out how to get there. And that’s where creativity is really essential.

03:21:40:29

03:22:25:23

[Do you this…impossible goals technique]

Yes, I have used that.

[Is that part…strategic planning…how is the program set up?]

There isn’t a formal program throughout Xerox in strategic thinking. I don’t like to combine strategic and planning, they fight each other in concept.

At Xerox, what I have often used, and what I have seen other trainers use though, is to start talking about “what might be” - we don’t worry about evaluative words like impossible, What might be, What would we like to see?

03:22:27:25

03:22:41:13

[How important is a problem statement to… setting a goal?]

Finding the correct problem is 80% of the process.

[Wow]

03:22:42:00

03:23:13:00

03:23:13:07

03:23:27:02

[How do you go about formulating this problem statement?]

We do it formally at Xerox by defining a problem as a gap between what is, and what we want it to be.

[Stop – sorry - add question to statement]

We formulate a problem statement at Xerox by defining what is. What we want it to be. And the problem is therefore the gap between were we are and were…we want to be.

03:23:27:29

03:24:24:12

[What specific techniques do you use to get this concrete statement?]

We use both brainstorming to walk around it a bit - see how it looks through everybody’s eyes. We try to bring it though to an actual quantitative problem statement that is free of causes, free of effects, free of solutions. In other words, our daily production is running at 58%, our desired outcome would be 98% average production. The gap therefore is our problem. And we have written it, or stated it, in such a way that we are free to come up with any causes, to attribute any symptoms, to look for any solution. We haven’t constrained ourselves.

03:23:28:10

03:25:18:23

[Can you explain to me the Team Excellence Competition at Xerox?]

The Team Excellence Competition is something we started back in the early ‘80’s to encourage teams to participate in problem solving activities. Teams are asked to prepare a 12 minute presentation against certain criteria that describes the problem that they had, and how they went about resolving it, and what the results where. The competition starts locally in the different plants, and is elevated through division level and higher. And culminates in a celebration in our training site in Leesburg, Virginia for the generally 25 to 30 top teams.

[I am assuming then that it is a great honor to make it to the celebration]

Yes it is.

03:25:20:00

03:26:11:24

[Can you explain to me teamwork day?]

Teamwork day is a wonderful day that we hold in several sites in the world, right now, I believe it is being held in; Rochester, NY, in Toronto, in California, and I believe in England as well, I am not sure of that. A convention center or hotel is taken over, and teams that wish to show their problem solving activities or their project,

[I am sorry – (interruption) can we just start from beginning of teamwork day]

03:26:12:00

03:26:46:08

Teamwork day is an annual celebration of teamwork that is held throughout the Xerox corporation in several sites throughout the world that are then linked by satellite. Teams put together presentation, a booth, to talk about the problem they solved or the project they completed, and they share all of this with fellow Xerox workers, with our customers, with supplier, with visitors - anyone who wants to see problem solving and quality improvement in action.

03:27:27:15

03:28:01:18

[Take #2]

Teams that have been successful and participate in either Teamwork day or the Team Excellence Competition. Have had favorable results in financial terms, or in productivity terms, or in motivational terms in their particular area. And by sharing with this each other, and with the outside world, it is a highly motivational experience for all of us.

03:28:02:00

03:28:44:08

[Do you have any specific results…can you quantify results?]

I can’t count that high. Let me put it this way- we started these events back in probably 1982, 1983, we had a teamwork day just a few weeks ago, where I believe their where about 130 teams, just in Rochester, NY alone. Each of these teams has brought in savings or improvements or work changes that have been highly favorable to us.

03:29:15:15

When a company does not engage in strategic thinking in the ‘90’s, it’s going to be left behind, because the world is moving too fast for us to rely on what we did yesterday to take us into tomorrow.