Ideation Tools and Processes - Part II
There's a whole suite of practical tools you can insert into any ideation session, or use solo.
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Warm up / Icebreaker Activities
Fat Chance:
Invite participants to work in pairs to come up with as many ridiculous ideas as possible to solve an impossible problem, in two minutes.
Some examples of impossible problems are:
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How can we get to the moon by lunchtime tomorrow?
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How can we eat all of the donuts in Sydney in the next hour?
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Impossible problems are characterised by featuring a difficult goal, and a very tight timeframe! Asking participants to solve an impossible problem will shortcut getting them into a creative thinking mode - and it's fun too!
Show and Tell:
Invite participants to share something that makes them unique. It can be an experience they've had, a skill they've got, or literally anything else.
Getting everyone to think about what makes them unique primes them to think differently to their fellow participants, which is what we want in an ideation session!
Idea Generation Tools
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Glove:
Ask participants to think about the challenge before they come along to the session so they have some ideas ready to go!
Assumption Crusher:
Think about assumptions that participants might have about the best types of solutions for the challenge, or things that might prevent the challenge from being solved, and crush them BEFORE coming into the session.
What Would X Do?
Have participants consider the problem from another person's perspective, and generate ideas to the challenge from the point of view of the person/organisation they have selected. How would Richard Branson approach your problem? Or Walt Disney, for example? This helps to find new perspectives on challenges you are solving.
Mag-a-Holic
Expose yourself to new information and force connections back to the challenge to stimulate ideas. By providing examples from other industries or sectors, you might inspire some diverse thinking. Head to www.springwise.com for a great collection of one-page articles about cool innovation all over the world!
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Idea Capturing Tools
Newsflash:
Record ideas in 'newsflash' form - it's a tangible tool to capture ideas in a meaningful way. It'll be handy for later when making decisions about which ideas to take forward and which ideas to leave behind.
Shifting:
Run your session with time for people to work solo, and as a group and SHIFT between the two. If you only run group time, you'll find you don't hear everyone's perspective!
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It can be hard to understand how all of these elements fit together to make a great session so don't hesitate to grab some time with one of the Innovation Champions to talk it through!