5 Simple Steps to Creative Thinking and Idea Generation

Every so often I read a really practical book.  Today’s feast was written back in the 1940’s by James Webb Young, an advertising guru.  The great thing about a great book is that it is timeless.  Much has changed in the world since Mr Young first wrote this short work, but the human mind still works in the same way and the need for creative ideas is ever more important.

Thankfully, this time-proven formula still works with great effect … as long as we don’t do our favourite ‘cutting the corners’!

The following process has a track record of success for creating new ideas across a wide sphere of disciplines, from poetry to painting, engineering to science, from advertising to legal.

The aim is to make new connections between existing events or subjects, completing a new picture, analogous to making a jigsaw for the first time.

It is essential to understand that this is a sequence and not just a list of tasks.  Therefore, each step should be completed in the sequence listed.  Each individual step is the foundation for success at the next stage.

1. Collect Raw Materials
This step is often skipped or only partly completed but is a key to the overall success of the process.  The quality of ideas generated depends on the quality of the preparation and assimilation of the raw materials.  Raw materials can include paper and magazine cuttings, photographs, advertisements, original observations. 

Two types of raw materials should be collected:

• Specific –  Those relating directly to the area of interest, customer group, proposed product etc.
• General – Those relating to the broad subject of life events and current affairs.  The more widely we spread our net for general materials, the greater our chance of generating creative ideas.  This is an ongoing process on which we can build each day.

It is a good idea to assemble these into some kind of order or pattern.  Scrapbooks are a great way to collect general materials.  Specific materials can be catalogued in some way to make retrieval easier.

Do not short-cut step 1.

2. Digest the Materials
This step involves taking each piece of information and studying it from as many angles and in as many different ways as you can.  Really try to ‘get inside’ what it is about, what it is saying, how it looks etc.  Continue this process with each piece of specific and general information, looking at the facts and trying to bring them together to see how they fit.  A ‘fit’ may be found for some pieces of information without too looking too deeply.  As bits of ideas come to mind, write these down, no matter how wild or part-formed they are.  This process will help cement them in the mind and is a precursor to generation of complete ideas.

It is hard work and at some stage the mind will become tired, but keep going at this stage as you will develop a second burst of mental energy.  Only when everything becomes a complete jumble with no clear solution anywhere should you stop this process.

3. Drop the Subject
A common trait in the creative process and idea generation is that these ideas come to us when we are least expecting them to, and often when we are doing something that is totally unrelated to the area in which we have been seeking to generate ideas.

So, this third step is quite simple; get as far away as possible from the thinking process on our chosen area.  Do something different, preferably something where you can relax and something that you really enjoy.  Typically, this will be a topic or activity in which you feel most creative, such as, listening to music, reading poetry, playing a sport.

This allows our subconscious to mull over the information we have input in steps one and two.

4. The Idea from Nowhere
At some stage an idea will ‘appear as from nowhere’ and usually during a pretty mundane activity such as eating breakfast, having a bath or shave, going for a walk.  This is the point at which you must write it down to capture it (having a pencil and notebook in the pocket at all times is a very useful exercise) and then …

5. Test the Idea
Once ideas have been generated it may be apparent that they are not the complete picture or not as great as first thought.  However, the best way to test these is to expose them to a trusted judicious few.  This may seem a bit of a threat.  After all, we may not feel like sharing ideas with others (hence the word ‘trusted’) and we may be afraid of them being shot down in flames (hence the word ‘trusted’).

What is most interesting is that a good seed of an idea will generate more flesh from those who encounter it.  So, our idea will benefit from the wisdom and experience of others and grow as they add their ideas to it.  The idea expands into opportunities and possibilities that we may have overlooked.

What we end up with is a creative solution, shaped and developed from an idea into a practical solution.

You can download your own free copy of these 5 steps, in PDF format, using the following link … 5 Steps to Creating Ideas, either by clicking on the link which will open the document in Adobe Acrobat Reader (or whatever PDF software you have on your computer) and then saving the file to your computer, or by right clicking on the link and using the ‘Save Target As‘ (Internet Explorer) or equivalent for other browsers (such as Firefox).

Until next time …

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Brainstorming: Dead or Alive?

Brainstorming seems to have been transient in many organisations, though in some cases the title has been changed but the process is essentially the same.

Probably ten years ago, Brainstorming was at its zenith, a hip tool that seemed to impact any and every scenario in businesses; management meetings, project teams, ideas committees.  All embraced it actively … and then as quickly as it arrived on the scene, it departed from many settings …  which is very sad.

For many, a brainstorm was little more than an excuse for firing out ideas, discussing them and then forgetting them.  The sessions were ill-structured, poorly manged and produced little lasting fruit.  And yet, over a decade later, innovation experts still sing the praises of this tool.

So, for those who have perhaps missed out on the power and value of brainstorming, here is a short(ish) summary of the method and its benefits.

Brainstorming is a very important technique, not only because it generates ideas but because it lays the foundations for a creative and innovative culture.  Bob Sutton, a Stanford University professor suggests that Brainstorming is especially beneficial for a number of reasons:

• Organisational Memory – Many valuable and experienced members of our organisations are too busy to be involved on project teams.  BUT they can spare an hour for a brainstorming session. The brainstorm thus allows us access to organisational expertise and knowledge that would otherwise be inaccessible.  During the session, possible solutions from past, present or future experiences may be explored, thereby drawing on the organisation’s memory and intelligence.
• Reinforcing an attitude of wisdom – The attitude of wisdom is the balance between confidence in what we know and a willingness to listen to ideas that challenge us and our worldview.  Brainstorming matches our wits and creativity with those of others, which can be humbling, but also makes us wiser.
• Increases visibility of team members - When run properly, the free-spirited atmosphere of brainstorming sessions allows people who may not normally be ‘visible’ to shine and to make their contribution, and their mark.  They are able to gain attention and status which may have otherwise passed them by.

However, a brainstorming session can only be as effective as those contributing, and in a large part, to those responsible for leading the group.  Here are some simple rules for making the sessions effective:

• Target focus – Start with a question that really states the problem in an open-ended but not too braod manner.  An example of this type of question would be, “How can we gain deeper insights into our first-time customers?”
• Stick to the rules – Go for maximum quantity rather than quality, encourage wild ideas, be visual, defer judgement until later, allow only one contribution at a time.  Make sure everyone knows these rules and make them visible to all (e.g., printed in large letters on posters, white boards etc which are positioned in clear view around the room); it is important.  By adhering to these rules we are able to keep the meeting and ideas focussed and empower members of the team to contribute.
• Number all ideas – By keeping a tally of how many ideas we have generated we are able to motivate and spur on the team to even more.  If we are aiming for 100 ideas (a good result for one hour’s work) and we have reached 94, it is unlikely that any team will settle for less than the target.
• Add and switch -  At some stage during the process ideas will dry up or slow down.  Rather than dwelling on this, it is a good idea to return to some of the earlier ideas and build on them for a while.  A good question to ask here is something like, “How might we apply these?”  Once we have answered a few of these, we can return to adding to the list, where it is quite common for ideas to freely flow again.
• Use space – Use the whole room; all vertical and horizontal spaces.  Use Post-Its and low-tech mediums that everyone can share and use.  Use a room that allows this to happen (rather than one which says, “Do not stick tape on the paintwork“).
• Pre-warm the brain – Set attendees a bit of ‘homework’ by asking them to think about the problem the night before and then sleep on it.  A pre-warmed brain is a good tool for increasing output during the brainstorming session.
• Include the physical – Verbal ideas are good, but some projects lend themselves to visual and physical ideas, such as the creation of prototypes, construction of crude models, drawing diagrams or pictures etc.  Make a good supply of ‘creative staples’ (plastic bottles, boxes, paper, tape, glue etc) available and visible.

So there we have it.  A few hints and ideas to breathe new life into our next brainstorming session.

I have to acknowledge and thank Tom Kelley for his book, The Ten Faces of Innovation [Profile Books, ISBN 978-1-86197-806-6] for help on this subject.

Until next time, happy storming of the brain!

 

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Innovation: Courage to Create Success

Sometimes the first ingredient we need for innovation is courage; courage to go with our convictions, even in the face of opposition.

3M is a global company with a reputation for creativity and innovation, but anyone who has worked in almost any ‘creative and innovative organisation’ will tell you that reputation and actual practice are often poles apart.  Sure, they like to take the credit for their public successes but what they don’t publicise so freely is just how much perseverance, tenacity and sheer dogged single-mindedness the individual champions of the case have to be in order to make their individual success a company success.

I was reminded recently of the account of Richard Drew, an iconic figure within 3M culture and the person responsible for not one, but two truly innovative products that put 3M well and truly on the map, both as an organisation and later as an innovative company.

Drew joined 3M with a less than glowing background of being a college dropout who played banjo in dance bands at night whilst studying engineering through a correspondence course.  He had an entry level job as a lab technician.  One of Drew’s tasks was to take batches of 3M’s Wetodry sandpaper to a nearby St Paul automotive body shop.  At the time (1921) two tone colours were all the rage for cars, and on one of Drew’s visits a painter was cursing and swearing because he had just ruined a paint job.  There was at that time no way of ensuring a good line between the colours except through the use of glues and paper etc.

Drew saw the problem and decided to come up with a solution.

Now it would be great to say that he was supported by the company for his efforts, but he wasn’t.  3M was a sandpaper manufacturer not a tape manufacturer so Drew had to ‘go underground’ to do his work, experimenting with all sorts of oils and resins to produce a superior adhesive.  He was told to stop on at least one occasion and agreed until the attraction of his own little project became too great and he started again.  When he had come up with a good prototype, he needed to manufacture the finished article for which he needed a specific piece of machinery.  He was refused.  So he used his initiative and used a series of $99 sign-offs (he was allowed to authorise payments up to $100) which slipped ‘under the company radar’ to buy the machine.

In 1925, Richard Drew successfully produced the world’s first masking tape with a pressure sensitive adhesive backing … and the rest, as they say, is history.  Well it would be if Drew hadn’t come up a few years later with another invention of the first see through adhesive packaging tape, Scotch Tape, again after  persevering against the odds.

Of course today, the name of Richard Drew is synonymous with the innovative spirit of the company, but at the time he was making it big for the company through his determination and conviction to succeed, it was a battle; a battle which involved stepping around the rules, lying low, persevering against the odds.

Innovation is often a rough path which is only seen and appreciated by the end-results of products or processes, not during the actual process of arriving (except by those who are driving it).

So the next time we are looking for innovation in our business, we need to remember that it is often a long and winding road, and a road that will require a lot of sweat and toil along the way, not only with the project at hand but with all the devil’s advocates and ‘jobworths’ who tell us that it won’t work.  This is why we need to lok at adopting a creative and innovative culture which understands the processes, pitfalls and obstacles and which helps, not hinders the process which is the lifeblood of company survival and expansion.

 

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What Are We Worth?

Perhaps a bit of a rhetorical question, but I assure you there is no catch.

Our sense of value and our value system are both complex entities, arising from our life history.  Most of us have had knocks of one kind or another: bereavement, redundancy, failure in achieving something we were aiming for, family breakdown, work pressure … the list is very long. 

Thankfully, many of us can recover from these blows, some more quickly than others.  However, for some people a combination of blows arrives at the wrong time (childhood, especially adolescence) or too close together.  In those cases the impact can be catastrophic.  Someone full of hope and confidence one day can turn into a shy recluse with no sense of direction the next, whilst others kick out at anything and anyone who gets in the way or tries to help.  Their world has literally been shattered.  I remember a good friend at school who for no apparent reason started picking on anyone and everyone, eventually causing total classroom disruption resulting in suspension.  We thought he was an idiot.  It was only years later that we discovered he’d come downstairs to breakfast one morning to find his mother packing the car to leave. Bang!  Just like that: out of the blue without warning.  The emotional cost took years to repair and included many broken and dysfunctional relationships along the way.  We were also forced to think about our lack of response.

Sadly, my friend’s situation is mirrored with alarmingly increasing frequency today.

But I also remember another couple of other friends who always seemed so confident, almost cocky, about their life and where they were going.  And they did go!  Both became very successful in their respective fields; one as a scientist, the other as craftsman.  Why were these two so different?  I think much of it came from what was being fed into their lives.  Their parents were always encouraging them to try something new, go for something they couldn’t achieve.  And if they failed?  They could always have another go.

Now I know it is naive at best to simplify all situations to a single formula, but it is generally well accepted that a person’s self-identity is forged through their life experiences and relationships.  Repeated criticism or comparison with other people results in loss of confidence and unwillingness, often through fear, to try something in case we fail.  It also leads to the perception that ‘I am worth nothing.’  The opposite is true, with those receiving encouragement (including correction) achieving a more balanced and fulfilled lifestyle.  And success is often thrown in there too.

It is also accepted that what we practise at school becomes a lifetime habit.  Our businesses are plagued with people who continue to play out their school scenario, as bullies and manipulators, or as doormats.  They have a misguided sense of self-importance or self-value; either too high or too low.  Self-confidence is a good attribute when held in balance with other life skills.  But too much or too little can be disruptive and at its extreme, devastating.

And the problem extends further into society, where we see the impact of people who are unable to respond to their circumstances or surroundings.

The great news is that we all have intrinsically equal value and worth. 

The bad news is that others, or we ourselves project a value which then puts us on a sliding scale, based on what we can do, or our cash value in terms of income or cost to society.  These false measures need to be clearly delineated from intrinsic worth and value.  Of course, when we enter into a job or role, there is a basic need to be able to perform that role competently, and hopefully bring something extra as well.  But that has to do with our value to the employer: it does not affect our value as an individual.

So where am I going with all this?

Our childhood influences adulthood, in terms of how we think and how we act towards ourself and others.  That childhood will have been influenced by positive and negative inputs which will also have influenced our perceptions.  Those perceptions, in turn, influence how we operate at work, at home or with our friends.  However, these perceptions and responses are habits formed through the practice of life and like any other habit, they can largely be reshaped and changed into new habits.  We don’t really have an excuse for, ‘Well, that’s me and that’s the way I am [forever and always shall be].’

We each have a responsibility to look at ourselves and see how, where and if we need to change these habits: thought patterns, attitude to others, attitude to ourself, emotional response. 

And therein lies another issue; we are generally very poor at emotions! 

Most of us have gone through life with the good old British stiff upper lip, being afraid to engage, let alone express our emotions for fear of what we may discover.  And our education system does nothing to help, effectively switching off emotional engagement by the age of 11, leaving many ill-equipped to handle life.  I know I’ve used the analogy before, but it’s like an athlete who only trains one half of their body for a 100m sprint final.  It’s absurd to even consider, yet we do that everyday with children from as young as 3 or 4 years old, up until they are 18 or older and then we are surprised that they can’t handle life. 

So it is little wonder that poor self-worth and low self-esteem are cancers in today’s world. 

Thankfully, creativity allows re-engagement with our emotions and therefore, provides a safety valve for when pressures and trials arise.   It is something we all possess and something we can all discover and apply. I believe that passionately and it is one of my key motivators and driving forces. 

And by applying that creativity across our businesses, in practice, planning and development, implication, sales and marketing, management structures, team structures … through the people we have, the future, as one mobile company proclaims, is bright.  Our who business benefits: 

• Within the business, our people will feel more fulfilled, more engaged, more appreciated, they will be more willing to contribute, more willing to work harder and longer hours (if required), the atmosphere will change for the better
• Outside the business, our customers will notice the change and the wider social net will benefit.

 

On a scale of 0 – 100, we all score 100 for worth, but sadly, many score less than 20 when it comes to self-worth or valuing others.  And that must stop. 

Until next time …

 

Postscript:  Wouldn’t it be great if our governments actually believed in the concept for our education system; not for political gain but for the good of the nation, and empowered those with the appropriate skills and vision to make it happen!

 

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Creativity: The Other Global Crisis

Perhaps one of the most eloquent and engaging speakers I have heard is Sir Ken Robinson. he has this style which instantly puts one at ease whilst totally drawing us in to what he has to say. If you want an example, pour yourself a coffee and Watch Ken Robinson Talk to see him in action (opens in a new window … use the ‘Close Window’ button after viewing).

In one of his more recent appearances he continued to present some uncomfortable facts which will impact us all unless things change. Here is a sample of out-takes from his talk. Full article here (opens in a new window).

• The world is facing a crisis of human resources … “I believe that fundamentally we have both underestimated and continue to misuse – if not actually abuse – many of our most important talents; our talents, our children’s talents, and the talents of the people who work with us. And unless we fix [this crisis], I feel we’re not going to make much progress fixing the other one.”
• Both crises are the result of our “industrial mindset,” which is incompatible with modern society and modern business. Both manifest themselves in terms of imbalances. In the natural world it is the imbalance of gases in our atmosphere, although human activity is also disrupting many other ecosystems. In society we have legions of people dislocated from their own talents, legions of people suffering from all kinds of anxiety, legions of people in dysfunctional communities. And there is an enormous cost of handling this.
• In California (Robinson’s new home town) spends $3.5bn a year on the state university system; it spends $9.9bn on the state prison system. Similar figures exist for other Western countries, as well as other US states. The UK spends millions of pounds a year on remedial education, to try to get kids through a system which many of them are bucking against. And we spend millions of pounds a year on career counselling, because people have not found their way.
• The result for educators, employers and HR professionals is that it is vital to have an understanding of “the ecology of human resources.
• As a society, we must improve our understanding of human capabilities. We believe mistakenly that creativity and intelligence vary in inverse proportion to one another. The things we take for granted as being true are the real problem; the enemy of making the best of ourselves is common sense.
• Thankfully creativity is not dead but merely latent, in most adults.
• Work by Land and Jarman showed that in a smaple of 1,500 children aged 3-5, 98% ranked as “geniuses” in divergent thinking. In children aged between 8 and 10 years the figure fell to just 32% and by the time children had reached between 13 and 15 years it had declined further to a mere 10%. In other words, children become less creative as they grow older. What coincides with this period of development, aside from hormonal changes and socialisation, is that they enter formal education where they have learnt a) there is one answer to every question, b) don’t look, because that’s cheating and c) don’t copy from anybody else, because that’s cheating too … even though outside of school we call this collaboration.
• This mindset goes well beyond school and college. Land and Jarman also performed a control test of two-thousand adults (aged 25+) where only 2% ranked as geniuses. We don’t grow into creativity, we grow out of it, because of the ways in which we become institutionalised and socialised. Education is a big piece of this, but work is an even bigger piece.
• Creativity is most frequently associated, in the workplace, with innovation but it is equally important in helping society cope with, and harness, technological advances. No matter what we do or where we do it, technology is going to swamp us: new information systems are going to subvert all the things we take for granted.
• The over-25s think we’re OK, but we’re not that great. We have learnt digital technology like a second language, so we kind of speak phrasebook digital compared with our children. IT systems are becoming more and more pervasive, but they’re not fundamentally avoiding the powerful need for better and better use of human resources. To the contrary. Human resource is the only way we can engage with these things properly … and at this moment we are locked into an industrial mindset about our own capabilities.
• Business people can help to nurture creativity and imagination by thinking of organisations as organisms rather than organisations A better metaphor is from agriculture. A farmer can’t make a plant grow. A plant grows itself. A good farmer provides the conditions for growth. And a great plant doesn’t just grow from the top, it grows everywhere simultaneously, as do healthy organisations, which have a reciprocating relationship among the parts.
• There is a huge difference between a creative team and a committee: great creative teams require real expertise among managers and leaders to work. It’s a skill-set that we need to be teaching managers and leaders.
• Great teams, large or small, are deliberately diverse: they have people from different backgrounds, experiences, ages and responsibilities in the organisation. The processes employed by these teams ensure that their diversity is not an impediment but a resource.
  The best senior managers are those who are not afraid to let teams congregate for specific tasks and then disband, to form other teams as necessary, perhaps one of the best ways to spread cultural information around the organisation.
• It is essential to create the right habitat, in terms of culture and environment. Anyone who is serious about making more of people must be serious about the environment in which they work. And not just the colour of the walls: innovative organisations have a rigorous approach to questioning algorithms of behaviour and changing the environment as need be.
  Challenging stuff.

What I think is obvious is that we have a long way to go. BUT we need to make a start, no matter how small to change the inertia of creative decline. and just perhaps some of our organisations and social structures will be rebuilt into healthy living cultures.

Until next time …

 

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Success in Failure; Humility in Leadership

Whilst hopping around the Internet recently I came across a great article on The London Business Forum website from an interview with Sir Richard Branson.  As I read it, I was struck by an individual who is totally passionate about what he does whilst also being ready to learn, change and improve. 

I remember Richard Branson being set-up for a fall on more than one occasion by our beloved British Press.  When he was trying something new or attempting a new record, the snipers of the true British spirit shot … and if he failed, the “I told you so” or “You read it first in the ***” kinds of headlines prevailed.  It was more important that he’d failed than what he’d attempted.  And yet, if we talk to any successful businessman, failure is always on their list and it’s seen as part of their road to success (and perhaps that is why so many of our current journalists will never be successful … but that’s another story!).

Anyway, please enjoy the following except from Sir Richard’s interview: 

‘Many of the audience wanted Branson to dispense some entrepreneurial advice, and he didn’t disappoint, mixing the common-sense with some fascinating and salutary anecdotes. “The importance of protecting the downside,” was a key lesson to learn, he said. This is why, when he cut a deal with Boeing to buy his first second-hand 747, it included an option to sell the plane back after one year. Boeing’s only concern, he said, was that Virgin “wouldn’t live up to its name but would actually go all the way.”

Similarly, he had a valuable tip on how to retain entrepreneurial dynamism while you’re growing: as soon as the number of staff hits 100, split the firm in two. In this way, he said, Virgin Records ended up being 20 different companies that “didn’t even share switchboards”. It’s a philosophy that Virgin still tries to observe in spite of its gigantic size. Of the group’s 200 branded companies, “none of them are massive in any particular field,” Branson said, and each has to stand on its own two feet”. The people who lead each business are managing directors, and are incentivised accordingly. “Virgin has created about 200 millionaires over the years,” he revealed.

The moment you go from one company to two companies, you’ve got to start learning the art of delegation, he added. “So what I try to do when we set up new businesses [is this]: I’ll go in, I’ll immerse myself for a month or two, I’ll learn all about that industry, so that if a managing director does come to me and wants to talk to me about mobile phones or trains, I’ll know something.”

True delegation means giving people the freedom to make mistakes, he said. “[My parents] would always look for the best in what [I] did. They were great believers in lots and lots of praise… And I think if you’re the leader of a company, this is even more important. You shouldn’t be looking for people slipping up, you should be looking for all the good things people do and praising those. People know when they’ve slipped up, they don’t need to be told.”

Another defining characteristic of Branson’s personal management style was his willingness to be humble, and to listen to criticism, where staff and customers are concerned. “I do try to make an effort,” he said. “If I’m on a Virgin plane, I’ll try to meet all the passengers. I’ll have a little notebook in my back pocket. I’ll meet all the staff.” He stressed the importance of tiny details, saying that only by getting these right will you end up with “an exceptional company rather than an average company.”

Ultimately, business is not about “balance sheets, money, profits and loss,” he argued. It is about “creating something you’re really proud of, something the people who work for you can be really proud of… the actual business aspect is simply there to be mopped up at the end.”

The fact that he never got a tight grasp of financial matters was probably a benefit, he suggested, in that it persuaded him never to bring in accountants too early in the development of a venture. “You’ll get one firm of accountants that will tell you, based on their own preconceptions, why starting an airline is a ghastly idea and every other airline fails and you’re going to lose a lot of money. You’ll get another set of accountants who’ll tell you why they think you’re going to make money. But they have no idea one way or the other.”

Far more important is to create something that you, yourself, really want and value, he concluded. “If it’s exceptionally good then people will always turn up and use it.”

Perhaps it’s time to regain and re-embrace some of the old ‘British Spirit’ without being ashamed (and without extreme nationalism).  And it’s time to put to death the insipid political correctness that will undoubtedly ruin so many ventures.  We are not all the same.  Celebrate the fact and be prepared to try to succeed, even if we must embrace failure. 

Above all, be prepared to be humble; to learn, to change, to improve … and to acknowledge that we may not have all the answers on our own, but they are often in our colleagues, friends and family if we are prepared to look.

Until next time …

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