I'm an Idea Man, Chuck!

“Wanna know why I carry this tape recorder? To tape things. See, I'm an idea man, Chuck. I got ideas coming at me all day... I couldn't even fight 'em off if I wanted. Wait a second... hold the phone! Hold the phone! Idea to eliminate garbage. Edible paper. You eat it, it's gone! You eat it, it's outta there! No more garbage!” from the movie Night Shift.

 

 

Ideas are the root of creativity. Without ideas, creativity would not exist, content would not be created, products would not be invented, disease would not be cured, and the world would be mired in stagnation.

So how do we develop ideas and how are they turned into creativity? How do we develop bigger minds for solving bigger problems?  Why do we need to worry about this at all?

First let’s attack the answer to why we need to worry about it at all.  The answer is really pretty simple. In today’s world, companies have no choice but to change. Companies need to continually seek out a balance between what they do and how they remain profitable. They need to identify their reality and market that reality to drive more into the funnel of profitability. Not having clear direction here creates a drain on the bottom line. For organizational leadership this is a tough situation because typically leadership reacts to immediate needs because of survival instincts. It takes a great deal of work to identify and change an organizational culture that will create the creative approach necessary to manage the changes ahead of us. In short we need to worry about ideas and creativity if we want to stay ahead of the curve in the ever changing climate of business today.

Now that we can agree that we have to do this, how do we turn ideas into creativity that solves problems or better yet the challenges all businesses face today? First and foremost we need to support a culture that allows for new thinking, beliefs, tools and processes that will result in success. This mentality shifts from the hierarchical top down driven structure. It empowers the sharing of ideas which is step one of the process. Ideas are nothing more than opinions as they relate to a task or mission. Ideas are stored in our brains and are built out of past experiences. Some of the most creative people in the world are those that live a diverse lifestyle, those who seek adventure, those who seek peaceful reflection, those who read on a variety of topics, those who listen, those who watch, they are those who exercise their brains through experience. Experiences are embedded in our brains and are stored. Our brains sub-conscious abilities connect these stored bits of information every time the light bulb turns on and we have an idea. As I stated earlier without ideas, creativity would not exist.

Brainstorming is the most common method used to develop ideas. Some people have said that brainstorming teams are a failed process. There is some truth to this because depending on the team’s makeup and the culture of the organization, many participants can feel threatened or not worthy. They hold back ideas for fear of being judged by others. In order for brainstorming to be fully effective all participants need to be fully engaged and committed to the process. One solution to this is a process called brainwriting. Instead of verbal shouting of ideas where the loudest gets the floor and the moderator has editorial powers, brainwriting levels the playing field. I like to utilize google docs for this process. There is no need to be together either. This eliminates the eye rolling and body language judgmental dynamic present at most brainstorming meetings. There are a ton of articles written on brainwriting and I would suggest if you have not tried it you should.

So now we have the ideas. You will often find that the ideas, on their own, are incomplete and this is perfectly normal. Remember ideas are bits and pieces of our personal experiences pulled from our sub-conscious. I always try to remember at this point the “two heads are better than one.” Now is the time to take the ideas and combine them, mix then, blend them into a clearly defined roadmap. The ideas become the guide to the solution. The result is a creative strategy on how to get to point B. Creative solutions are driven by the blending of ideas. So the next time you are asked for your opinion, share it. Your ideas, your input, your past experiences, your unique perspective could very well be the key to an organizations future success.