{“Catchball – One method for managing innovation in teams, developed in Japan, is known as ‘catchball’. Like the metaphor of tossing and catching a ball, a team member creates an idea ‘ball’ and tosses it to a collaborator. The person catching it takes responsibility for understanding the idea and for finding a way to improve it. He or she then tosses it back to the group, where it is again caught and improved. Through the cycle of improvement, the process of tossing and catching builds commitment and ‘buy-in’. Catchball emulates the Socratic dialogue approach described by Plato; team members engage in a dialogue by means of serially improving a core idea.}
1. What aspects of the Catchball exercise were realistic? How could you apply the exercise’s concepts to an existing organization?
2. Consider a product or service your organization, or an organization with which you are familiar, offers. Review the learning that has taken place to achieve success. How would you, as a leader, urge your team to take advantage of the success to launch another leap of growth before your competitors do?
3. Create a 150 word reflective and applied statement describing how the week’s learning has affected your thought processes, development, and professional disposition. This statement should reflect your personal learning process (challenges, moments of discovery, life experiences, and interactions). You may also include questions for the course facilitator regarding material that may still be unclear. Ideally, you will use these reflections throughout the course and the program to document your development as a scholar, practitioner, and leader, and to reflect critically on the changes that occur during this process.
