The scarecrow strategy is an original method of problem solving and increasingly used in the organizational field, it consists of a mechanism to generate ideas from a sketch, with which you can take advantage of the full human and creative potential of the work teams and, above all, each member of the group.
We can say that we are not facing brainstorming or classic brainstorming. The goal is to find a temporary solution to a problem while working on something better. This scarecrow will consist of very different ideas that the group will find; are proposals that can be picked up or deleted at some point to reconstruct this original sketch.
- The technique was first used in the U.
- S.
- Department of Defense in 1975.
- The Air Force needed an urgent action plan and this technique was designed to respond quickly and momentarily to this challenge.
- Later.
- This scarecrow will be replaced by “a stone man”.
- And then for “an iron man.
- “.
The objective was to give more coherence and robustness to the strategy currently in use. Let’s go further.
Scarecrow strategy has become very popular in recent years thanks to renowned consultancy McKinsey
The fact that they are using this strategy as a mechanism to respond to the challenges they face already gives us a first indication of their usefulness, their advantages are ease of execution, synergy of all members of the organization and step-by-step construction. of a more sophisticated and effective action strategy.
The Scarecrow Strategy is a useful and effective problem-solving tool for any group setting. The goal is to build, shape, and design a preliminary action plan in draft form, shape it, and redefine it together until a more effective response is found. from the man of straw to the man of steel.
As we said at the beginning, we are not faced with the classic technique of brainstorming, in this case we start from a sketch, from a well-designed base that constitutes the scarecrow itself, then there is a fusion in which each member contributes their ideas, criticisms and proposals, but always based on a scheme.
The advantages of this technique are
The scarecrow strategy requires following very concrete steps, adapting to them will allow the group to know what to expect and how to proceed, and what each member needs to know is that the reasoning behind any proposal should be discussed.
All perspectives will be taken into account to finally build a first viable and logical strategy, which will be temporary. Later, more meetings will be held to specify the adjustment of this action plan.
Each group member will individually create their own scarecrow strategy. In other words, your approach strategy.
The second step is to present all drafts, each member presents their proposal for action to others. The group analyzes, discusses and excludes non-valuable ideas and records those that are valid.
Once all the interesting proposals of each member are registered, we begin to discuss each idea to filter, delete or accept which parts may be useful. Each of these elements will build a scarecrow.
The scarecrow strategy is already more defined at this stage, some parts are excluded and others are added, but it is gradually possible to draw more or less valid conclusions.
The scarecrow is already built. A final (but temporary) decision has been made, which can be implemented and agreed with by all members, however, as we have already said, the objective is to further refine this strategy to create a stronger, safer and more effective action plan.
In conclusion, as we can see, it is a very interesting work dynamic that integrates all human capital for the resolution of problems in stages, is interesting, simple and is currently used in many areas of work.