Jumpstart innovation, part 2

KPMG Enterprise asked me to write another article – reprinted below – to help their clients jumpstart innovation within their organizations. I will speak to their clients May 24th; like the average company overwhelmed by the “how-to” of innovation, many of them don’t know where to...

Install three key habits to help with focus

How many habits could you change at one time? Two months ago, a naturopath suggested I renovate my diet radically. “You’re asking me to change every habit around buying, preparing and eating food,” I said wearily. He shrugged. There is a rule of thumb – it takes 21-30 consecutive repetitions, at...

Use characters to convey concepts

Conveying a complex concept to an audience in a simple and compelling way can be tough. One creative trick is to associate it with a specific character – it opens up very distinct, creative ways to communicate. Geico, for example, uses a gecko with a British accent in its ads (example below) to convey the...

Create ideas that break through to be implemented

Everyone is talking about innovation. I aim to cut through the noise with this one simple truth: Innovation starts with ideas, and ideas start with people. Therefore, to stimulate innovation, you need to talk to people in a language they understand and offer a way to innovate that is simple and ...

Use “unrules” when brainstorming

Anyone who has attended an unproductive brainstorming session will agree that ground rules are important. However, the notion of rules seems contrary to creativity. This is why I developed  “the unrules” for my own sessions; they combine common sense and humour. When managed by a good...

Debunk myths about creativity

I facilitate corporate teams through idea sessions and often a participant will say to me “Oh, I’m not creative” in a quiet and defeated tone. Although their motive is likely to lower my expectations for their idea output, such a self-defeating statement is often a symptom the person has...

Tool: BrainStretches

A challenge with group brainstorming in the workplace is switching gears from the “Do this! Do that!” of daily tasks to the “Hmmm, what if?” of creative thinking. Without a proper BrainStretch, group members may try to brainstorm from a tactical mindset (logic, practicality and...

Jumpstart innovation with one truth

KPMG Enterprise asked me to write an article – reprinted below – to help their clients jumpstart innovation within their organizations. Many companies are stalled; the way past it begins with a dose of simple truth: Innovation starts (and stops) with people In 2003 I wrote an article for the National...

Move, learn, eat

Surfing the web for inspiration is very effective. There’s always the danger you’ll get swallowed up, hopping from site to site. However, when you land on something really cool, it justifies all the time it took to get there. Either allow the cool thing to inspire ideas for your current projects...

“Get creative” when executing business plans

There’s a false perception that creativity only applies to creative things. Not so. Even if you have a straight-up business plan that is (mostly) a duplicate of last year’s plan, there may be more call for creativity than you think. Here’s why: even if the tactics are expected, the...

Use “Match Maker” to find new ideas

We mix’n'match everyday – these pants with this shirt make an outfit; peanut butter and banana makes a sandwich; this single friend and the guy next door make a cute couple. We rarely call it a creative technique. However, matching up things – either similar or dissimilar – is a quick way to...

“Cross Breed” to generate new ideas

Generating ideas by applying a random concept to the problem at hand (“crossbreeding”) is a well-publicized technique because, historically, it happens “accidentally” under the heading of “Eureka!” A few classic examples… 3M scientist Arthur Fry invents the post-it...

Use a “Mind Map” to find new ideas

Mind mapping is not a new tool. Once upon a time it was a simple tool that could be scribbled quickly. Then came the websites and the software – and now mind mapping is a bit intimidating to the average user. I’ve simplified things with the exercise I provide below (a pdf). A Mind Map is a simple...

Ensure ideas create value

When you set out to solve a creative challenge, it’s easy to focus on the idea itself vs. the VALUE the idea will bring to the organization once implemented. Creativity is seductive and needs to be framed with the realities of business in a way that doesn’t suffocate ideas. The diagram below...

Ignite ideas using a Trigger Library

When you’re stuck in a rut with your ideas, look at stuff outside your paradigm to pull you out of that rut. By “outside your paradigm,” I mean outside your industry, your product/service, your customer demographic and/or your primary market, etc. For example, if you have a new mutual fund...

Redefine what needs a creative response

Now and again I hear, “There isn’t much that’s creative in my end of the business. That belongs to the marketing guys.” It makes me grin: every business opportunity/issue that requires new thinking is a creative challenge. Yes, it’s a bit scary: it suggests a lot of day-to-day...

Exercise your creative brain!

Your brain is like a muscle – a thinking muscle. With exercise it becomes faster, stronger and more flexible. Just as taking the stairs is a time-efficient way to keep your body fit, there are convenient ways to exercise your brain. Tip: if you have children, share these exercises with them. A...

Women in Leadership and Business Conference

I send out a warm thank you to all the fantastic people I met at the Women in Leadership and Business Conference where I was asked to speak by organizer and visionary Ildi Wiley. With a talk and a book both titled ”Creative Conversations – a way for leaders and teams to create breakthrough ideas,” I...

Tool: Challenge Statement exercise

Download instructions (a one-page pdf) for building a Challenge Statement. If you want your ideas to break through and be implemented, it’s essential that you take the time to focus before you brainstorm. This step, called “define the challenge”, is STEP ONE of B.I.5 – Breakthrough Ideas...

Use “Virtual Tour” to find new ideas

This creativity tool is inspired by the virtual tour offered on house/apartment hunting websites – 360 degree photographs of a space that invite you to imagine what it might feel like to live in the space. Virtual Tour works in a similar way: you start by imagining the experience most integral to your...

Use “Wish List” to find new ideas

The subconscious is the holding place for unborn ideas; the trick is to release them. Sometimes ideas are buried in wishes; thoughts that we might normally discard as being too unrealistic for any “real” problem-solving effort. Wish List invites you to let go of the bonds of “what is”...

Learn from IKEA cinema catalogue

Check out IKEA’s unique way of announcing its 2010 catalogue: a creative detour of the rules for product placement in the movies. Ikea took advantage of the fact that their products are frequently (and accidentally) a part of the set. That said, the products blend so seamlessly with the environment,...

Let ‘em rant!

Rants can be used to find solutions when people are responding negatively to change (e.g., a restructuring) or lack of change (e.g., persistent inefficiencies). If you allow them to express “why I hate this,” you can move them into “what will we do about it?”. If you don’t give people a way out...

Use mystery to attract guests to an event

Here’s a story about the value of Challenge Statements from the vaults: In 1989, when I was Creative Director for a huge PR firm, I was responsible for an elaborate client appreciation event hosted by Pepsi in conjunction with the Toronto premiere of Phantom of the Opera. Pepsi was a corporate...

Find inspiration in “star” innovations

A great way to kickstart creative thinking is to google recent innovations. To use your time efficiently, go to a site that showcases many innovations with a brief summary for each. An example is “Innovation insanity” – 67 business-to-consumer innovations from trendwatching.com. The list of 67...

Use “Star Gazer” to find new ideas

We’re a celebrity-obsessed culture; star gazing is a habit. It is also the starting point of a creativity tool that invites you to connect random things – in this case, famous people, books, movies, trends, etc. – with your challenge in order to trigger ideas. With the internet, television,...

Find metaphors in dogs and potato chips

Recently I supplied the Twin Trigger Exercise to help you use metaphors to trigger ideas. Now I share two examples. The invention of Pringles Potato Chips is a favourite story because I interviewed the inventor, Bill Gordon. Fido cell phones is another favourite because the brand itself is based in a...

Use “Twin Trigger” to find metaphors

Metaphors and analogies deepen our understanding of a concept by linking it to something similar in another paradigm. For example, “Floats like a butterfly, stings like bee” conveys the grace and power of boxer Mohammed Ali by linking his movements to those of familiar insects. This act of...

Distinguish creativity from innovation

In 2003, I wrote an article about innovation for the National Post in which I remarked that, like fruit, buzzwords get fuzzy over time. Nothing has changed. “Creativity” and “innovation” are used often but few people actually know what they mean or how they differ. Why bother distinguishing them?...

Focus before you brainstorm

I’ve had clients and colleagues call me after they’ve hosted a brainstorming session: “We had 26 flip chart pages yet when I took them back to my office to transcribe them, there was nothing there!” They rushed to brainstorming without pausing to FOCUS. It’s a very common...

See Inge work with “The Lofters” on TV

In 2001 I was a guest on a web/TV phenomenon known as “The Lofters”, a show about eight young people living and working together 24/7. The Lofters brought me in to facilitate a brainstorming session. Their challenge: Design new activities to raise funds for their favourite charity. I used the...

Use improv in innovative ways

I’ve already talked about using an improv technique – “Yes, and” – to shift meetings into solution-finding. Other improv principles (e.g., focusing, listening, remembering) can also be applied to business. Recently I adapted a game called Clap Focus to help a group of Spa Directors...

Make ideas specific and actionable

Sometimes I am called in to facilitate a brainstorming session after the client has already tried on their own and discovered the ideas were too vague or off topic. This is common; the team was caught up in “letting loose” creatively and forgot to develop the ideas to a point where they were...

Put success measures against ideas

In companies with a clear innovation protocol, managers are responsible for measuring and improving ideas until optimum value is reached. In companies without one, managers may focus on the idea itself (very exciting!) rather than the precise result it delivers after implementation (a little scary – what...

Sell your ideas with “SUCCES” (not a typo!)

Great ideas have been lost because their creators could not concisely communicate the benefits to the people with the power to approve implementation. Made to Stick (Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die), by authors Chip and Dan Heath, is about how to sell your ideas. The main tip is an acronym –...

Tool: B.I.5 Cheatsheet

Do you want your ideas to break through and be implemented? If yes, start by downloading a one-page pdf summarizing B.I.5 – Breakthrough Ideas in 5 Steps (a Creative Expeditions process). For more tips on this topic, browse the Innovation category. I have facilitated many clients through the various steps...