HOW TO HAVE IDEAS: THE IDEAFLIP PROCESS
Six repeatable steps that will give you killer ideas.
1 — FRAME THE PROBLEM
So you’re at the start of the idea generation process. First thing’s first — you need to frame the problem.
AS A GENERAL principle it is best to be as precise and focussed as possible. It is widely acknowledged that better, more precise questions lead to better and more precise answers, and that holds sway for a lot of business engaged activity. Nobody wants to waste time doing the wrong thing, coming to frankly useless conclusions.
However.
Some of the greatest inventions and ideas were entirely accidental — framing the problem would have been irrelevant as they didn’t know they had a problem to solve.
The aim of idea creation is to find an innovative solution, so the end dictates the means. The means serve the end. So flexibility is key.
Whether you are working with yourself or with a team it’s vital not to stymie creative thought with a restrictive or unhelpful problem statement. While it does make it easier to be as precise as you can, do allow for thoughts and ideas to go in whatever direction they will. Who knows from where will come that great idea. Make this point clear to your team if facilitating a group.
SETTING THE PROBLEM STATEMENT
This should be a simple phase, not overly long or complicated. The problem-goal should be agreed with your team, just as you do on the Ideaflip platform.
Always allow for the question or goal to change. While fuzzy-thinking in general business terms is a bad habit, here it can be the saviour, the root of your next great idea.
WORDS FROM THE WISE
Art Markman — the renowned psychologist who works with companies to help them develop new ways of thinking — argues that the way you experience any problem is coloured by how you have in the past. This can stand in the way of generating new ideas.
Don’t be trapped by assumptions. See problems as opportunities.
Daniel Kahneman, author of Thinking Fast, Slow, points out that when people believe a conclusion is true, they are very likely to believe arguments that appear to support it, even when those arguments are unsound.
Be wary of bad habits, and stay flexible.
2 — IMMERSION & RESEARCH
So you’ve framed the problem question — which may change — and you are focussed on the area or subject you are working in.
Now you need to immerse yourself in the material relating to the issue.
“the first law of creativity — the quality and uniqueness of stimulus in has a direct impact on the quality and uniqueness of ideas out.’ (from Sticky Wisdom, by the ?What If! agency)
What Steve Jobs calls joining the dots in your mind, we call your internal solar system. The wider your interest, the wider will become your knowledge, the better and more unique connections you will make — and, going with the theme, you’ll be far more likely to land on a wonderful, as-yet-undiscovered planet.
“To solve a problem you have to believe that you already have the answer in your unconscious.”
(Michael Michalko — Thinkertoys)
This is a very much an ongoing process. It should not be limited to only the project at hand. This should be perpetual, a matter of course. Where possible you should give yourself and your team set time to explore every week.
THE MORE CURIOUS YOU ARE THE MORE CREATIVE YOU WILL BE. SEEK INSPIRATION EVERYWHERE.
In The 4 Lenses of Innovation, Rowan Gibson looks at the lessons to be learned from maybe the most innovative period in human history — the Renaissance. One of these is leveraging resources — using skills already learned and recombining or repurposing this knowledge.
For example, the Printing Press — the cornerstone of our technological age — was developed by Johannes Gutenberg using skills he had learned as a goldsmith.
As you immerse yourself you will start to notice patterns. Note them all down. As you gather these raw materials (and continue to do so) — you will find links — and that will lead to ideas.
Important — do not wait for inspiration! Don’t waste time. Don’t agonise. Just get on with it.
3 — IDEA GENERATION
This is a seamless follow-on from the immersion phase. Ideas will already be coming but there are myriad ways to stimulate wider thought.
The main thing is — this is the fun phase. Problems & solutions are serious, the fun is the solving — THE IDEAS PHASE.
As Einstein said — to stimulate creativity, one must develop the childlike inclination to PLAY. That’s always stuck with us.
And to get creative, PEOPLE need to be inspired to participate. Often, the roadblock is fear.
The best managers don’t necessarily have the best ideas but are the best at creating a culture where people — and ideas flourish. We have developed our Ideaflip brainstorm PROCESS with that in mind. We set out to democratise the workplace, to create a platform for everyone to be heard and their ideas shared, harnessing the power of many through PLAY.
So we are going to focus on the general guidance for a GROUP BRAINSTORM — whether you use Ideaflip or not, these are the key points. This phase can also be done alone.
GROUND RULES:
SMALL GROUPS WORK BEST — 4–7 is ideal so that there are enough in the room to bounce ideas off each other, but not too many that it gets unwieldy or the shyer ones are put off from joining in.
You will already have your problem statement from phase 1.
SET TIME LIMIT OR IDEA AMOUNT TARGET — targets and limits are good to focus minds, but if you’re hot, keep going.
NO SUCH THING AS BAD IDEA — Suspend judgement. It’s quantity over quality at this stage.
DON’T GET ATTACHED TO AN IDEA TOO EARLY — conclusions will happen later. Don’t break the idea flow.
THINK — any team will have a range of ‘closers’, snap decision makers who just want to get it wrapped up, and agonisers who can’t make a decision. Both have pro’s and con’s but it’s important to keep a lid on both — at this stage.
EITHER — get people to write down their ideas, OR get them to shout em out. Do it democratically or just popcorn it in a free-for-all — again, both have their advantages & disadvantages.
MAKE IT NATURAL BY DOING IT A LOT — Listen to Aristotle: “For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.” The more you do it, the better you’ll get.
BUILD & RECOMBINE — use each other’s ideas as the springboard for new variations and conversations.
THIS DOESN’T NEED TO BE PAINFUL — work til you hit an impasse. There will be a natural flow of ideas that comes immediately after immersing yourself in a problem.
There will also come a natural moment when your brain has done all it can for the moment. That’s fine. Don’t force it. It’s natural. It supposed to be like that.
TAKE BREAKS — Vital for cognitive rest and to reduce fixation on certain ideas.
Remember — there is only so much you can do in one sitting. When you are strained you are less intuitive & less creative.
EVALUATE-REFINE-RECOMBINE — once you’ve collated the ideas, group or cluster them. More patterns will emerge, and it will be clear what the best insights are. Let these spark a new round of thinking, but if people are spent at this stage, that’s no bad thing. These insights will keep bubbling in your deep interior.
KNOW WHEN TO LEAVE IT ALONE — As Charles Bukowski used to say: ‘I’ll write a story then leave it for 21 days. Then I go back to it. Only then do I know if it’s good.”
We’re not saying you need to wait 21 days but… It’s time to let the subconscious take over.
4 — INCUBATION –> ILLUMINATION
The best bit. You’ve done the hard work. Now take some off from the subject. Immerse yourself in another project or problem. Your mind will tick over. Even at this stage, reading and absorbing divergent material will increase the likelihood of freeform association/recombining/new ideas. You never know what will be the linking idea or the thought that illuminates the answer — or indeed, the answers for other projects. So feel to relax, go to the pub, do some gardening. Whatever you want. Let your subconscious mind take over.
THE THOUGHT WILL COME — EUREKA!!!
Once you’ve stopped straining, you’ll be visited by the solution. A brainwave, divine intervention, flash of genius, call it what you will, is a cosmic connection in your internal solar system. And you will have made it happen — by doing the previous processes.
The illumination could happen at any time, anywhere.
If it doesn’t come, repeat the idea generation phase — but do give it a bit of time.
Once you have your insight, it’s time to turn it in to a solid idea. You’ll need to test it, to bring it to life.
5 — PROTOTYPING & VERIFICATION
‘Most creative insights aren’t fully formed, the creator has to use his or her immense domain knowledge.’ (R. Keith Sawyer: Explaining Creativity)
There may be people in your group who don’t yet fully grasp the idea. This is why bringing it to life is crucial — not just to see it in the real world, but to get it to exist in the minds of others too.
So draw, make, build, glue, fix, modify, show, tell, see the pitfalls, refine, bring it to life, let people see it out in the open.
Sometimes there will members of your team who will not get it if you don’t this phase. Plus, you need to see if the idea is a really feasible solution.
IN FACT, don’t be afraid to do this as you go along, in earlier stages. As we say, be flexible. If someone wants to delve into something, let them. It might not work — then again, it might be the best thing you’ve ever seen. Either way, you will be building the environment that will lead to great ideas on future projects. And while part of your team crack on with prototyping, the rest of you can keep going with the idea generation.
6 — CORRECT/REPROCESS/MOMENTUM/REPEAT
So the prototyping’s been done, the team’s happy, some of them may be working on other things.
What’s crucial now is MOMENTUM. Idea generation and creativity are ongoing processes. Success breeds success.
If the solution has not been found yet, look at the ideas you previously overlooked, and adapt them. Or modify the existing solution. And don’t worry if you need to repeat all or some of the processes.
What’s crucial is action. Don’t let all that good work and energy go to waste. This is where your role as leader determines the culture.
This is especially true after a brainstorm or at the end of a project. If you put things down and try and pick them up later, you won’t have the same zip and inspiration about you.
Move on the next thing. The perfect moment to tackle something new as soon is as you’ve signed off the previous project. Your creative juices will be flowing — don’t waste them.
WHAT DO YOU THINK?
We want to hear your views. What do you think of our process? Does your process differ? Get in touch!
Ideaflip is an ingenious tool for the remote-working era, providing the perfect, online space for all your team to connect, interact and create — wherever in the world they are.
The Ideaflip Brainstorm PROCESS is also perfect for at-work collaboration. It democratises the workplace, creating a platform for everyone to have their ideas heard — inspiring PEOPLE to participate through PLAY — and helps discover and harness everyone’s latent creativity.
