Hack:
Imagination - the key to the future

There is boundless literature outlining the potential of the use of imagination in organisations; however the key question is how to successfully incorporate it into a practical application.  In this hack I recommend four useful uses of imagination; creating an aggregated view of the future, problem solving, as a key component in developing communities of passion, and in achieving better buy-in and engagement from employees.

1.  Creating aggregate images– a combination of a group of individual mental images to create a more diverse and superior view of the future.  Most innovations require a collaborative creative effort and under the right conditions, teams make better decisions, develop better products and services and create a more energised workforce compared with employees working. 
2. Use of imagination in problem solving – ensuring that imagination takes a more pivotal role in the decision making role to ensure creativity and innovation.  Imagination helps by focusing on solutions not on the problem, and visualisation enlighten and hones the dynamics of a projected scenario, mental imagery procedures enable decision maker’s to envision other future environmental conditions.
3. Communities of passion – communities of people that are passionate about a topic, sharing visions and excitement for a product, problem or future.  These communities encourage the sharing of experiences and knowledge in free-flowing, creative ways that encourage new approaches to problems and to challenge mental models.
4. Employee engagement – a proactive approach to business engages and fully uses employee imagination.  People are more engaged and creative when they are motivated primarily by the interest, enjoyment, satisfaction and challenge of the work itself.