Jumpstart Your Creativity (4 page)

Purchase a bunch of colorful, small sticky pads and put them on the table. State the objective of the ideation and then ask each person to be completely and totally silent for a period of seven minutes; during that time each person is to individually write down potential solutions on their 3 × 5 sticky note. After the seven-minute period of absolute silence, ask each person to post their sticky note on the wall, and then review each one—one at a time in random order. Generally we find this exercise to be incredibly helpful as it is very rare when people are completely and totally silent. There is often a lot going on when people are trying to ideate. We have both found that we tend to generate great ideas when flying on planes. Our theory is that the reason why planes are so effective is that they are often quiet, and we are isolated from interruptions and noises. So we have purchased a plane just for the purposes of ideation. (Just kidding.)

Using this technique we get a little crazy and add some humor to the equation by asking a group to have the problem, situation, or challenge solved by a fictitious hero. Once we state the objective, we give the group a list of fictitious heroes and ask them how these heroes would solve the problem. The funny part is that people are puzzled and fascinated by the names of the heroes, and they have to not only figure out what the hero does (what their super powers are), but how this hero would theoretically solve the problem. Here is a list
of our fictitious heroes—but hey, this is a book on creativity so feel free to make up your own list if you like. After people have reviewed each super hero and come up with a list of potential solutions, get back together as a group and discuss.

• Butterman

• Green Beany Man

• Blobbo

• Blue Hopper

• Mush Man

• Oil Girl

• Fox Flipper

• Silver Sue

• Waddle Woman

• Trendy Man

• Cloud Rider

• Super Squid

• Underboy

• Mighty Dust Mite

• Wonder Blunder

• Stinger Clown

Dr. Phil McGraw, the “Dr. Phil” on television and Oprah's former co-host, is now famous for the question, “How's that workin' for ya?” And most of the time people respond to his question, at least on his TV show, with, “Well, it's not workin' for me.”

This ideation technique is great when working to come up with new solutions or enhancements for an existing product, service, or system. Let's take a look at the shower stall and shower head in your bathroom (hypothetically). When thinking of your current shower stall and shower head in your bathroom at home, what needs are not being met right now?

For example, you might say:

• Not safe—water gets too hot too quickly—it's dangerous and scalds me

• Not enough shower heads (comes up again in a moment)

• Not staying dry when I turn it on—shower head rotates toward the door and I get splashed with ice cold water when I first turn it on (it used to never do this)

• Not easy to clean

• Not enough shelf space

• No place to hang my loofa sponge

• Drain is way too slow

• Water spills out onto carpet way too easily

• Not enough overhead lighting for nighttime

• Not enough space—can't be in there with my spouse, too tight to wash my dog

• Not relaxing—no music, no seat, no massage jets, only one shower head (this triggers the thought, “Not comfortable”)

One great opportunity from this exercise is shown in the final example, “Not relaxing.” By identifying the need that is not being met currently, such as relaxing, you realize there are a host of issues related to this one issue, such as no music, no seat, not enough jets or shower heads; and it prompts you to think about the lack of comfort as well.

Research has shown that for most of us, it is easier and faster to look at something critically and identify what is wrong or missing, rather than find the good or what is right about something.

Once you have come up with your list of the “Needs Not Being Met” by this product, service, system, or situation, you can then start to look at 1) which of these needs are my most urgent and important to address; 2) which need(s) must be met and soon; and finally 3) what do I/we have to stop doing, start doing, or continue doing to get my needs met.

Another ideation technique is designed to prompt your creativity by taking you through a series of pillars. The first
five pillars were popularized by Jim Collins' life work on what makes companies great, found in his groundbreaking books,
Built to Last
and
Good to Great
. The rest of these pillars have been identified by our audiences over the past several years. Some pillars won't help your situation, so simply skip them.

The pillars are: Service; Quality; Cost; Growth; People; Efficiency; Productivity; Safety.

One example for this ideation technique is a team who is working through all of the issues related to whether or not we purchase new uniforms for our employees. Notice this ideation technique especially helps in the decision-making process. The ideation facilitator will write these words in two columns on a flip chart or dry erase board, and all participants will have a blank piece of paper in front of them. The participants will write each pillar down and then list their ideation issues underneath that pillar.

The facilitator will remind everyone of the specifics of the topic “new uniforms” and then read aloud the first pillar.

For example, after the papers are collected at the end, you might find the following results:

Quality:

• Buy uniforms that will last.

• Don't buy cheap uniforms.

• I hope we get uniforms that last more than three months.

• Get better uniforms, our current ones wear out in the armpits too fast.

• I'd rather have the company buy me three sets of high quality uniforms rather than five sets of cheaply made, low-cost uniforms.

• If the company would buy better quality uniforms I'm fine with them giving me three sets and then I buy any more sets myself.

• Please don't put the patches with our names on the shirts, it looks tacky and makes us look less professional.

• I sure hope we do a fashion show and bring in five or six options, letting folks vote for the one they think is the best quality and best fit for the work they do.

• We better test wash the uniforms we are considering because a few years ago the shirts lost their color fast and we looked horrible for a whole year.

• Let's buy uniforms that are machine washable but have that “wrinkle free” technology in them so our folks' uniforms look clean and pressed every day.

After the ideation process, then the team can go through a consensus exercise to determine the most important factors and decision-making criteria.

Yes we know it's funny to talk about rules in a book about creativity. But there are a few rules that are absolutely essential in making sure the ideation process is successful. Whenever you are working with a group generating ideas and solutions, make sure to state the rules upfront before you start. Designate someone in the group as Rule Enforcer to make sure the rules are enforced.

Rule 1
. Have fun. We have learned from working with many of our clients that the more fun the client is having the more creative they can be and the more ideas flow.

Rule 2
. No judgment. When people are generating ideas, the ideas may be good, bad, or brilliant. But the worst thing that can happen during the ideation phase is for someone to start judging the ideas as they are being developed. This will immediately destroy all of the creativity in the room.

Rule 3
. No negativity. When people make negative comments and say negative things like, “That won't work,” then they are going to kill the creative environment. Do not allow this to happen under any circumstances (okay, we know that was a little negative, but it was necessary).

Rule 4
. Do not evaluate while you create. The creativity process and evaluation process should be
separated with time and distance. Don't evaluate while you are trying to create. That should be a separate, distinct process that happens later.

Rule 5
. Have an open mind. Too often it is the close-minded people of the world who refuse to be creative and they ruin creative endeavors. Encourage your people to have open minds and to consider all of the possibilities available to them. That is one of the benchmarks of creativity.

So now we have given you twelve different techniques for coming up with ideas. Would you like more? The good news is we have more than fifty different ways for generating ideas—you can access these by simply going to
www.creativitylaunchpad.com
.

The following inventions or discoveries came randomly or by way of accidents:

• Corn Flakes

• Microwave Ovens

• Silly Putty

• Play-Doh

• Mauve Dye

• Sweet 'n Low

• Potato Chips

• Fireworks

• Plastic

• Warfarin (Coumadine)

• Rogaine

• NutraSweet

• Penicillin

• Teflon

• Viagra

• Smart Dust

• Slinky

• Pacemaker

• Scotchgard

• LSD

• Inkjet Printers

• X-rays

• Goodyear

• Vulcanized Rubber

When you make room for accidents and random discoveries, you free up everyone to engage in greater creativity that leads to far superior innovation and much better results.

The following is a brief list of sources that continue to inspire both of us each and every month. As a disclaimer, please note that we are not being paid or compensated to endorse or to promote any of these products, goods, or services. These are examples that you might want to check out that may inspire you.

•
Fast Company
often features amazing articles about people who were thinking very creatively.

•
Inc
. often features some crazy entrepreneur who is approaching a business in an entirely a new way.

•
Wired:
you would think this is a magazine about computers and technology, and in one sense you are right, but in another sense you would be wrong. It's about how technology is applied creatively to the world at large.

•
Psychology Today
has lots of ideas about the mind.

•
Vogue:
want to see the best pictures in fashion? Talk about creativity!

•
Entrepreneur
has lots of cool ideas about what business people are doing and thinking.

•
Success
is full of ideas that come from all over the place within inspiring collections of success stories.

•
www.ted.com
—Site of conferences with “ideas worth spreading.”

•
www.Google.com/
images—Go to Google and click on the tab for Google images; put in a word like cotton candy and watch a universe of images open up to stimulate your imagination.

•
www.huffingtonpost.com
—Look at the art or culture section to see cutting-edge things that are occurring in the world of the visual arts or in the world of culture.

•
www.thedailybeast.com
—Daily Beast is a wild mix of story and other stuff.

•
www.restorationhardware.com
—Restoration hardware; trust us, it's amazing.

•
www.artspan.com
—Artists…lots of artists.

•
www.micahelgraves.com
—Home of architect and designer Michael Graves.

•
www.youtube.com
—In case you have lived in a cave somewhere, YouTube is packed with videos—search “inattentional blindness,” “change blindness.”

•
www.thefuntheory.com
—Can you change behavior easier if it is fun?

•
www.etsy.com
—Marketplace for crafters to sell their arts.

•
www.kickstarter.com
—Innovations, start-up, and causes looking for crowd funding.

For more magazines, websites, and creative resources, go to
www.creativitylaunchpad/jumpstart
.

So this brings us to the end of
Chapter 1
, our friend. In the next chapter we will talk about why there is a crisis in creativity. At the end of each chapter you will find a “Workit” page. This section is designed to help you stop and think about what you just read. It will help you determine your strengths and the areas where you need improvement. It also allows you to take notes and to create action plans to build each area of creativity.