How many ways can you make use of a coconut?
Met some creative villagers
When I was in Thailand, I joined a day tour that took us deep into a wetlands area, far far away from bustling Bangkok. Before the tour, I wouldn’t have had much to say about coconuts. But that afternoon, I was amazed multiple times, at how creative the villagers were with this one common item.
Yes, we were all offered full coconuts with a hole and a straw to drink the coconut water.
But there was so much more.
I watched them climb a tree to bring down collection buckets holding sap from the tree blossoms. I then watch them boil and stir it, and filter it through cloth. Then we helped (well we tried to help) spoon it into containers to cool into spreadable coconut sugar.
I also joined a team blending coconut with a local purple flower, to make a sculpted dessert that looked as amazing as it tasted.
And we made toys from dried coconut husks. They were little people in kayaks that wobbled along the water when pulled by a string. They were so cute!
Same starting point, endless possibilities
That day confirmed that I prefer my coconut shredded and covered in chocolate!
But it also impressed upon me that the range of what we can do with one starting point, is only limited by our imagination.
My ‘coconut’ in the ‘jungles’ of project management
One thing that I’ve always had in the jungles of project management is a budget. In its standard state, it’s just an Excel table.
But I often sought more ways to crack that coconut.
- Show it as a thermometer? A pie chart? An S-curve?
- Just share the key numbers in a few sentences, or in a story?
- Add color coding to show trends or status?
- Blend it with a cashflow model? Or a reserve fund model?
Simply giving more notice to something that is near you all the time, might be all you need to spark ideas for innovation and collaboration.
Exercise for creativity muscle
Here’s an exercise to strengthen your creativity muscle:
- Today, consider something that is always near you – identify your coconut. (Maybe it’s budgets, or schedules, or certain products, or what you eat for breakfast every morning…)
- Then, list the ways that you usually use them. (Is there a template or recipe that you always use?)
- Then try to add new ideas to the list. (Maybe change the template, combine it with something else, flip it over, set it to music….)
- Every day this week, review the list and add any new ideas. And when you can, start doing some of them.
- At the end of the week, notice what was easy and what was hard, and how you feel about the versatility of your coconut.
