Creativity & Innovation - $49.95

Develop lots of creative ideas and then turn the best ideas into valuable innovative solutions. Examples of tools included are: Brainstorming with Note Cards, Mind Mapping, Attribute Brainstorming, SCAMPER, Affinity Diagram, etc. 

Many people think creativity is the same as innovation. It’s NOT. It is relatively EASY to be creative but fairly DIFFICULT to be innovative. Creativity is coming up with new ideas or solutions. Typical brainstorming sessions can yield hundreds of creative ideas.  Innovation is taking a creative idea and turning it into something of “value or profit”.   About 1 in a 1000 creative ideas turns into an innovative idea.

The agenda follows a five step (task) process that promotes the same basic core qualities of creative geniuses. Since every situation is different, use only those questions and tools that fit your meeting or consider adding your own custom tools or questions.

Task 1: Describe the situation requiring innovative thinking
Task 2: Define innovation purposes, goals and outcomes.
Task 3: Define requirements that all ideas/solutions must meet.
Task 4: Prepare for creative thinking.
Task 5: Generate lots of creative ideas.
Task 6: Categorize and turn creative ideas into valuable innovative ideas and solutions.
Task 7: Prioritize Ideas and identify action steps.

Task 1: Describe the situation requiring innovative thinking

Purpose: The more a situation is understood, the more effective the innovative thinking will be. There is a positive correlation between people who develop more innovative ideas with those that have relevant and accurate background knowledge. After the description, write a 10-15 word problem and/or innovative focus statement to help direct how innovative thinking energies will be used.

Task 2: Define innovation purposes, goals and outcomes.

Purpose:  Intention and purpose help create the reality that we experience. Defining purposes lets the uniqueness of the situation become clear and helps strip away nonessential aspects of the  problem/opportunity.  Understanding purposes also lets the situation become clearer and helps to expand innovative thinking and produce more all-encompassing ideas.

A goal statement describes what the problem or opportunity will look like after it has been resolved. Next list the requirements you want to achieve. Requirements are essentially the important outcomes or deliverables wanted by clients or users.  By clarifying goals and requirements you will ensure a higher probability of developing appropriate solutions and client acceptance.

Task 3: Define requirements that all ideas/solutions must meet.

Purpose: The purpose of this task is to help direct how creative/innovative thinking energies will be used. The more a situation is clearly understood, the more effective the creative thinking will be. There is a positive correlation between people who develop more creative/innovative ideas with those that have acquired relevant background knowledge.

Task 4: Prepare for creative thinking.

Purpose:  The purpose of this task is to prepare your mind to produce more and better creative ideas. One of the easiest and most productive ways to do this is simply to incubate thinking for a period of time. You can literally instruct your subconscious to “get back to me when you have a solution or idea”.

Task 5: Generate lots of creative ideas

Purpose: The objective of this task is to generate a large number of different ideas. The chances of developing a truly creative solution are increased substantially when you have a large pool of ideas to consider. A key to this step is to generate ideas without judgment or criticism. All ideas should be considered, because any one of them could hold the seed of a brilliant solution.

Task 6: Categorize, synthesize and turn creative ideas into innovative ideas

Purpose:  Creating ideas is relatively easy but transforming them into solutions can be very difficult.  This task reduces the large number of ideas to those considered most reasonable to develop into solutions (solutions are simply ideas that are effectively ‘doable’). To work an idea into a solution, start by grouping and/or categorizing ideas. Next, synthesize ideas by taking the best qualities of ideas and combining them.  Next, work to minimize the disadvantages of ideas, while keeping or adding to the advantages.  Lastly, keep asking, “is this idea ‘doable’? Is this the right solution?” 

Task 7: Prioritize Ideas

Purpose: Be conscious of decision-making habits or biases. Sometimes the best ideas and solutions are discarded because fixed mental models and decision-making habits take over. This is potentially disastrous.

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