ABSTRACT
When leader have identified a concern, leaders are likely to think of people, ideas and resources that could help understand and improve it. This chapter describes five exercises to identify them. The exercises are: brainstorming and rainbowing – listing things in a fast 'storm of the brain', and then drawing connections between them, nominal grouping with sticky squares or magnetic hexagons – clustering things together, and drawing connections between the groups, force-field analysis – analysis of power and influence in one particular focus. The exercises include drawing a complex power diagram – producing a map of how different factors, including people and organisations, affect each other, drawing leaders own life-line – a description of what happened when. A force-field analysis is an exercise in identifying the forces for and against moving in the direction leader want. It is good at identifying forces in a discrete focus.
