All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
Walt Disney (1901–1966)
Entrepreneur, Animator, Film Producer
The Walt Disney Method is a creativity technique. It is especially suitable for creating visions of the future, be it for companies, organizations, but also for product development. You are free to dream and identify obstacles, which can be tackled.
The NLP developer and trainer Robert Dilts adopted the ideas of Walt Disney, who encouraged his employees as well as himself to develop ideas and use their creativity. This method base on the correlation of three roles:
- Dreamer or visionary
- Realist
- Critic
Process of Walt Disney Method
The three roles can be taken up by one single person or in teams. There should be three different places, which encourage the respective type of thinking, e.g. a creative corner, an account’s desk etc.
It could be helpful to have boards or flipcharts placed in these areas in order to support the thinking process as well as to record the results for later (see post-processing).
Participants go to the creative corner with a question or problem in mind and develop their visions and ideas. With these ideas they will move to the realist’s place and ask the following questions: What has to be done to realise the idea? What are the efforts and costs of this course of action? Which basics are already in place? Can we test this approach?
Debriefing
After the three stations of the Walt Disney Method, the group will move to the critical space where the following questions will be discussed:
What could be improved? What are the chances and what are the risks? What has been overlooked? What do I think about this idea?
The process finishes when all questions are answered. All in all it can be challenging for unpractised participants, especially the requirement of switching roles.
Consider these alternatives, too: