The 'reality check' is the 'r' in st-'r'-ide4. It's the part of stride4 I get most excited about. It builds on the first step of stride4 'set target'.
The 'Reality Check is designed to get you thinking, to get you questioning your assumptions. You could 'reality check' the assumptions you just made minutes ago about what is important for solving a problem. Or at the other extreme, you could reality check the things that you, your business, or your industry may have been doing on autopilot for years.
Instead of 'reality check' you can equally use 'Research' or 'Requirements' or even 'Related factors' for the 'R' of stride4. They all serve to build on your initial 'set target' step. They all fit with the 'R' of stride4. But I find 'reality check' more powerful and it's what gives stride4 its real intrigue and magic. ... It lives up to the next stride4 stages of... 'Ideas'( 'i' in stride4), 'Do Effective action' ('de' in stride4) and the power of thinking in 4's ,
Be it 'Reality check', 'Research requirements', or 'Related factors', all of these 'R' words all involve defining the 'specification'. And this is where the power of 'design thinking' for targeted problem solving and progression comes into stride4. ......Good engineering design and product design invariably includes a 'written specification' stage. Design is a systematic process for creating solutions to problems. You can design your solutions in life and in work and business. ... systematically.... by 'design thinking'.
But let's get back to the Reality Check ... for a start it's more fun than laboriously writing out specifications.
The clever bit about 'reality check' in particular is that the reality check still encompasses 'research' and consideration of 'requirements'. But it's an extra reminder for you to get in touch with reality and challenge your understanding or beliefs related to the task you are 'stride4ing' to achieve. That's what can give you fresh ideas if you are working on your own. And if you are working in a team the reality check is a reminder that your fellow team members will have their own different versions of reality which are built on our different life experiences.
So.......
The 'reality check' stage builds on your 'set target' stage to get you thinking up lots of targeted ideas in the next 'ideas' stage. of str-i-de4
You can use ST's and R's to generate better I's ...(.ideas )
At this stage you may be asking; But how do I do my reality check?
Well first of all, all you do is just stop and think!
Every day we don't even stop to think what are targets are let alone stop to make our reality checks. We have all been there, we go about our lives and our work on autopilot! Are you on auto pilot in your life now? Its easy to snap out of it!
If you make that stop to think, you can only go on what is in your head. That may well be fine as deep down you may know what's really required. Just reflecting back and reminding yourself of some forgotten past experiences or advice may well move you significantly forward.
However we now have the World at our fingertips.... You can google facts and figures in seconds.
You can make contact with experts and you can connect with people in same situation as you, or others that have been there before you.
You can save huge amounts of time by getting an insight from others. You can avoid going up so many of those blind allies.
Dare I say it.... You can get somewhere good on your creative journey by 'striding4ward'!
But forget the Internet for now. We are not all internally hard wired to the Internet. Well at least, not yet!
Let's look at some everyday work situations where you may have a group of people working on a task.
To illustrate the power of 'ST' +'R' + 'I', here is the problem and the simple, fun fix that stride4 provides you with.
If you are like most of us, in your work or every day life, when you set out to achieve something new you may first think of an idea. And you may then hang onto that idea until it becomes obvious that it just won't work. And the longer you stick with that idea the harder it is to let go. If you work in the design industry as I do, you have been there a hundred times before.
If you get a team of two or more people working in this way of; think of idea first and then stick to it until you give up hope, it typically can go up to four ways.
Way One
The strongest person in the group actually understands the problem well and guides the group to use an OK idea. (A lot of small niche market owner managed businesses work very successfully this way particularly when working in the owner's area of expertise)
Way Two is the worst way!
The strongest or loudest person in the group is not in touch with reality for what ever reason and is closed to having that reality challenged. Their ego rules. The group is then forced to follow ineffective ideas. Other team members may be oblivious to this (the blind leading the blind) or they may see it happing and get extremely frustrated that their version of reality (which may be right or may be also wrong) is not being followed..
Way Three
This is a way that sort of works or can even work very well. It's based on the two heads are better than one principle. The team jells, they discuss and agree what they want to achieve. Even better they write down their agreed objectives. Several ideas are proposed coming from different team members. Those receiving the ideas offer constructive criticism feeding in their insights of reality, so enabling further ideas to be sparked and the ideas to be refined, combined.
Note in Way Three, a team working well will naturally follow a stride4 approach. A team working well together will open up peoples' minds. Its a design process... finding a good solution for a defined need.
A good leader / design manager will know how to guide the process. let's assume they have become the leader by having a broader experience than each of the individual members of their team. They will know when their idea is best ....the Way One approach and when it is better to draw on the specialist experience, insight, energy and time resource of the team members. (Way Three)
A really really good leader in a design manager role will be able to do the jumping between the dictatorial Way One approach and the democratic Way Three approach without frustrating their team members.
The team solution
Using the language of stride4 in the team allows views to be aired in a safe constructive way. The team knows that they need to define their target. And most importantly they know that they will each have their different versions of reality and that it is OK to do so. Disagreement can be good, it can lead to new ideas or combined ideas or even a redefinition of the target.
Way Four
The one person team solution. Just You!
The trouble with working alone is that there is no one to challenge your ideas and your reality. On the other hand, you may have a lot more scope to redefine your target. This is particularly so if your target is to do with your own life or own business. One solution for the need to challenging your ideas is to sleep on your ideas. The next day you can then see them with a fresh light. This will always be a valid technique. You can now use stride4 to speed up the process, and for a start, generate a lot larger quantity of targeted ideas which are more in tune with reality.
In the next step of Stride4 I will be discussing 'ideas' and show you how to start capturing your ideas. Your ideas that have been triggered by your 'targets' and by your 'reality checks'. It all becomes a lot more powerful when you capture it on paper.
