Take an apple. Hold it in your hand. Experience it fully. Touch it, feel it, see it, hear it and taste it. Apply the experience that you have about it, to the problem at hand.
This method was used by a leading financial institution to solve their HR problem of how to attract and retain talent.
Seeing the apple, the sense of sight, made one from the group, think of the color of passion. This was used to come up with the idea that individuals, who are passionate enough about an idea to take the initiative and risk, should be rewarded.
The sight of a rotten apple gave rise to the idea that negative elements should be identified and isolated.
The red and yellow colours of an apple reminded people about the sun and they said that HR Polices should be like the rising sun.
Touching the apple reminded them of the womb and they felt that HR should be as safe as the womb.
The smoothness of the apple led them to say that career progressions should be smooth with no awkward bumps. “Soft issues should be handled with a kind grandmother’s touch” said someone who remembered his first apple.
The smell of the apple drew attention to the need for a friendly, pleasant atmosphere.
The sounds while eating an apple made people feel the HR policy should be crisp. The place of work should be quiet, with pleasant sounds.
The taste of the apple led to the idea that HR policies should be easy to digest and understand.
You can use any word as a key to enter the domain of a problem in attribute matching. A metaphor enables you to study a problem by importing ideas from a totally different field, for example, the field of war, the field of films or sports, etc.
Networking with people from a different field can help in the development of innovative ideas.
For example, a moped manufacturer was inspired by a high fashion saloon in Paris to bring style into his otherwise drab retail outlet. From being a poor man’s scooter, the moped became a romantic vehicle for two.
The great Russian eye surgeon, Federov, introduced ideas from a factory assembly line into eye surgery. A circular table manned by 4 surgeons enabled the patient to be moved from one surgeon to the other, to complete the surgery in record time. Strict quality control was maintained by live video recordings which were monitored and carefully critiqued every evening.