To have a great idea, have a lot of them — Thomas Edison

To innovate it helps to start with focused chaos.

In my job as Strategic Lead for Learning Innovation, innovation can’t be a one-off, it needs to be repeatable. I’m going to share IDEO’s mantras for idea generation that can kick start your innovation process. I am inspired by IDEO’s design thinking process , that I learned while doing the Postgraduate Diploma in Innovation & Design Thinking from MIT.

Using these mantras will give you and your team the freedom to get their creative juices flowing.

Mantra 1: One conversation at a time

Let people express their ideas and talk without changing the conversation.

You want every member of the team to be comfortable sharing their ideas. Steve Jobs said that creativity is about having enough dots to connect. So, having everyone’s ideas on the table is going to boost creativity. A diverse team with a broad range of experiences is going to supercharge this.

Mantra 2: Stay focused on the topic

You want a certain level of chaos in the process, but keep it focussed.

If people are stretching their thinking and have freedom to be creative then they will go off topic. A good facilitator will bring the conversation back on topic when they need to. A helpful way to do this is to give everyone an assignment before the meeting. They will come in prepared and already focussed. They will come with a quantity and variety of ideas. Then the group can add quality and refinement.

Mantra 3: Encourage wild ideas

Wild ideas can generate creative leaps.

We are constrained by our preconceived notions of what already exists. Encouraging wild ideas can redefine what is possible. Although wild ideas might not actually be possible, there might be elements of the idea that are. Refining these ideas in the group can be the most important work in the creative process.

Mantra 4: Defer judgement

You never know where the next great idea is going to come from.

Judging an idea can halt creativity. If you praise an idea too soon it can stop further development. If you dismiss an idea then it could stop that person who came up with it from contributing again. Instead of judging an idea, move on to Mantra 5…

Mantra 5: Build on the ideas of others

Yes, and…

When I did stand up comedy I attended a course in improv to develop my improvisation skills. The number one rule was “Yes, and…”. Whenever someone came up with an idea the rule was to accept it and develop it. Otherwise, the flow, the creativity and the fun stopped. Same with solution driven idea generation.

Finally, the definition of innovation is the useful application of invention, so once you have the ideas, refine them, combine them and prototype ! If you want to explore this process more then get in touch.

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