Raising The Bar, Constraints and Creativity

The late Eli Goldratt, founder of the Theory of Constraints, proposed that in order to find innovate ideas to improve a situation, you should raise the targets or objectives significantly.  As an example, if you were the manager of a company and needed to increase sales, what kind of responses do you think you would you get when asking the following questions to your team:

1. How do we increase sales by 10%?
2. How do we increase sales by 100%?

To answer the second question, a totally different mindset, probably a paradigm shift, is required.  Complemented with positive reinforcement measurements, the approach should be effective.

Tina Seelig, of Stanford University's Technology Ventures, offers an alternative approach to get the creative juices flowing:   change the constraints.  Although Tina is using the word constraint in a way similar to linear optimization, the idea is to impose less flexible rules, which usually means limiting the amount of resources available, so that there is no other choice than two think in alternative (and possibly counter intuitive) ways of solving problems.

Her approach reminds me of the situation Toyota had after the second world war, and when the company was in a disastrous financial position.    Under severe cash limitations, the company had to figure out how to make quality cars, at a low cost, and had them available when the customer needed them.    The rest, as they say, is history.

So, in what ways are you motivating your team to find creative solutions?   Are you raising the bar, limiting the available resources, or both?