Innovation Broken Down

Workplace innovation is a necessity. Businesses have to keep coming up with new ideas in order to stay ahead of competition, keep up with trends, and keep turnover rates at a minimum. Unfortunately, the idea can also be highly intimidating for some. Most businesses fall back on brainstorming, a process that is in no way guaranteed to work, or sometimes even outsource their creative thinking, costing money that could be better spent elsewhere. So how then, does a leader make the idea of innovation and creative thinking accessible to everyone? Well, the geniuses over at Wharton have published another one of their brilliant Nano Tools for Leaders that outlines the best way to do just that.

Wharton’s Ethan Mollick presents a concise set of seven steps that will spark creative thinking and help overcome hurdles. Based on The Breakthrough Game, which Mollick co-created with game developer Justin Gary, this nano tool is a fun approach to something that not everyone is inherently good at.

First, says Mollick, frame the question. When relying on team-think to come up with creative ideas, open-ended questions lead to more inventive solutions and new ideas. Second, build the team. Get as many diverse opinions and backgrounds as possible for the best outcome. Third, generate raw ideas individually. While this may seem counterintuitive, research shows that many ideas discussed as a group get shot down before their time to conform with the hive-mind mentality. If everyone takes time to come up with a list of ideas before coming together as a group, the more creative ideas get a chance to shine. Fourth, add constraints. Whether time constraints or boundaries about the types of ideas, studies show that these can lead to better ideas. Fifth (which gets back to the third tip), recombine as a group and watch ideas flourish. Sixth, vote! Mollick suggests voting along more than just yes and no lines. Give awards for which ideas stand out as most efficient, most cost effective, etc. And lastly, commit. Without protocols to follow up, and dedicated team member accountability to each step in the process, ideas will eventually fall flat.

Innovation can be intimidating, and having steps can greatly help teams and businesses achieve goals and solve problems. Sometimes it just helps to have it broken down in a seven-step path before we can really get into the meat of the ideas. Check out the full article here for a deeper dive and see what your team can come up with!

How to Get More Hours in a Day

Wouldn’t it be nice to feel like we had enough time to get everything done and still be able to relax? Everyone has wished for more hours in the day, at least at some point. And since we can’t slow the speed of the Earth’s rotation, we have to get creative. This is where Kelly and Marshall Goldsmith come in.

In an article featured in Chief Executive Magazine, the Goldsmiths are on a mission to help everyone achieve their goals by using time management skills more wisely. In this brief article they layout a 3-step process to narrow down what your biggest time drains are, and where your energy would be better spent, along with advice on how to expand this to your team. This technique applies to any level and on any team, and can really spark creative ideas. Give it a try and see how much better your time is spent!

Six Thinking Hats

It’s said that education at its best is not about teaching us what to think, but how to think.  A pioneer in helping many do just that passed away this summer: Dr. Edward de Bono.  Dr. de Bono was a physician,  psychologist, inventor, philosopher and author of 85 books who devoted much of his career to developing creativity and problem solving skills. 

In particular he was known for the “team-based problem solving and brainstorming technique that can be used to explore problems and solutions, and uncover ideas and options that might otherwise be overlooked by a homogeneously thinking group.”  This five minute video will give you a good overview of this remarkable -and simple- process known as Six Thinking Hats, which uses a half dozen different methods, including but not limited to logic and analysis.  If the video inspires you to explore this further check out Dr. de Bono’s book by the same name.    

A turbulent world makes innovation and creativity a core competency.  “Six Thinking Hats” might give you an edge.