Ideation
Living a change and innovating, breaking status quo became a requirement in business, social and political reality and our everyday life. “Brain-Storming” for new ideas is a most known approach when you need something new. However, often after the first round of idea generation we get stuck and start to go in circles. With time and experience and knowledge, our common way of seeing things becomes “proven” and hard to change.
Psychology explains this on neurological level that once the certain connection between objects was used several times, this neural pattern starts to thicken and gets activated quicker when similar situation appears – mechanism that fastens reactions and saves mental energy in known situations (see a lion – run, see someone you know – say hello, market stocks price goes down – buy, etc) but hinders or even blocks our ability to get the fresh view and to generate new solutions to the existing problem.
At this point some of our bigger clients often tempted to brief external agencies for new solutions but often face the situation when lots of internal expertise and knowledge is lost and the external solutions are not fully relevant, lack deeper understanding of the issue or become expensive way to reinvent the wheel.
What we propose in these situations is the internal IDEAtion Sessions that help our clients to:
- break their standard thinking patterns
- come up with the new views, ideas and solutions on their focus topic
- leveraging the internal knowledge and expertise in the area
KEY ELEMENTS
Lateral Thinking Approach
We base our approach on works of renowned psychologist Edward deBono who worked on the theory of human thinking including creative Lateral Thinking as the opposite to logical critical “vertical” thinking.
PURPOSE
Open and redefine the initial thinking process, the stage that often helps to give a fresh kick to getting new ideas
IDEA GENERATION
Come up with significant number of new ideas using the simple standardized techniques (like Random Entry, Provocation, Movement, Challenge) that force the brain to come out of its regular neural pathway.
IDEA SELECTION
Select the most relevant and promising ideas and potentially use the other types of thinking (different “Thinking hats” on deBono terminology) to potentially fine-tune the promising concepts if they are not developed enough yet and to make sure that the best ideas are not killed because of executional issues
RESULT
We normally end the session with the wide range of ideas sorted on their relevance and pre-selected for the further decision making – either for the internal final decision maker or for the consumer research or for detailed feasibility and cost review.
Edward de Bono
– Leading authority in creative thinking, innovation and the direct teaching of thinking as a skill
– Best known for Six Thinking Hats and Lateral Thinking approaches
– Author of over 75 books in over 38 languages
– M.D., Ph.D. (medicine and psychology)
– Nominee of the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2005
– Worked with corporations and governments in 50+ countries
WHEN CAN BE USED?
Any time when you need new ideas or a fresh look on a topic. Any time when you would run a brain storm but feel stuck and just going in circles. When you feel that discussion of new views or ideas becomes sensitive or political issue so lightness, humor and objective outside technique may get us out of discussion of internal interests and agendas.
WHEN NOT TO USE?
If you already have a “right answer” and you need to engage your team and sell your idea to others. Ideation is a truly creative process where we as consultants have control over the process but have no control of the output and the direction of new ideas. We ensure that you will come up with lots of new ideas but we don’t know what exactly they will be.
WHO SHOULD PARTICIPATE?
Lateral Thinking approach could be used both in groups and individually but it gives the most fruitful results when used in groups on 4 to 15 people. The group composition could include the internal teams, external or experts from other functions, customers / consumers and a mix with only condition that all participants share the similar initial information about the current situation, main topic and objectives of the ideation session.
OUR CLIENTS
- Various departments of Multinational companies
- Sustainability teams
- HR
- IT
- Finances
- Marketing
- Strategy
- Various teams within NGO’s
- Creative and Consulting Agencies
EXAMPLES OF THE IDEATION SESSION TOPICS
- Developing new Communication concepts and mechanics for consumer promotion for a specific brand
- Generating alternative media channels and communication tools for internal Sustainability program
- Reviewing and optimizing a business process – organizational, production or decision making
- Coming up with new product idea for the specific target, occasion or utilizing a specific material
- Coming up with the new ideas for a corporate New Year party or a team building
- Finding the alternative ways to minimize the waste from the production process
HOW LONG?
From an hour to several days depending on the complexity of a topic
EXPERTISE
Elena Andreenkova, PhD
Elena is our key consultant on Ideation session facilitation:
– Academic background and Ph.D. in social sciences
– Certified trainer for deBono’s Lateral Thinking approach
– 20+ years on business experience in business corporate world in consumer insights, marketing, consulting
If you want to discuss a future project or you simply feel like talking to us,
write us a message using the form below and we’ll get back as soon as possible.
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