As the coordinator for the Online Think Tank, I get a tremendous number of emails asking me how to set up a Think Tank from folks in various industries. One of the first things you have to do is create an application form to weed out the non-viable candidates. Recently, we had to modify The Online Think Tank Application Form and it took several hours to come up with the relevant questions to ask to insure we could rate the various candidates correctly to match our current team. Yes, designing an application form is not so difficult, especially the information that we of course are all use to such as Name, Age (+ or - approximation), Home address, City/State/Zip, Phone E-mail, Secondary address (if you have one) and list all your websites. This is the easy part and now comes the more difficult part for the application Such as: IQ Level (state if estimated or actual test) Areas of Expertise (minimum of 3) Industry Experience (number of years in each and locations)Education, Degrees, Studies, Location List any research you have participated in and at what level Areas of Interest, on-going personal studies (list all)
These are important so a Think Tank can know where the membership strengths are. Next, we asked a serious of question gauging performance levels and expectations that we can consider relevant. Also some questions to help us understand the individual on a personal basis such as:
ONLINE APPLICATION
Tell why you would like to join The Online Think Tank What is the maximum time commitment you have available for thinking? Please list any time constraint issues or ability to travel issues What are you personal goals?
Another issue important to us, although not so important to other think tanks are questions such as: "Describe any social activities, community service, and non-profits you have been associated with and what you achieved there (send additional pages if you need more room)." Next we allow the Think Tank participant to judge themselves and evaluate their own abilities, temperament and mindset:
How would you describe your psychological profile? What personality issues should we be aware of that are unique to you? What would you like to learn from the Think Tank?
As we get into Phase II, we wish to know the dedication level of the individual and find out exactly how serious they are about joining a Think Tank and so we ask some more serious questions such as:
"What Changes would you like to see in your local city, country, state, province and the world - City or Town - State, Region or Province Nation or Country World, Planet, Space Colony, Etc ." and "What are your best attributes that will help insure team success in accomplishing Think Tank goals that are set by yourself and members of your group." And lastly on Phase II we ask for specifics of their past: "What accomplishments, awards and achievement can tell us about that would indicate you are capable?" Now then any smart application creators will add additional questions in order to help the team and understand the individual better. Therefore we added several more questions of interest:
How did you hear about The Online Think Tank? What are your expectations of The Online Think Tank? Are you willing or able to set up an Online Think Tank locally or in a specific field of endeavor or become a Team Project Manager (please list and describe)? Lastly we have added some additional questions: "In the spirit of full-disclosure, please tell us anything else that you feel we should know. The good, bad and ugly, so that we know upfront" and "Please tell us why we should choose you for our Online Think Tank and tell us of your commitment level and examples of perseverance in your life" and "Please list anything else we should consider in this application."
Well that was our application process and what we came up with; surely, every Think Tank will be different and at the bottom of any form should be a serious notation by the signature: "You hereby certify that this is the whole truth, and do so under the penalty of perjury." We certainly hope that this article has assisted you in preparing your Think Tank application. Sincerely, Lance.
How to Design an Application for an Online Think Tank ONLINE APPLICATION
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