Introducing Business Creativity: A Practical Guide

However, in a business context, there is no greater fun-killer than someone standing up and saying: ‘Right, we are going to have some fun now.’ Instead, choose a facilitator for the ideas session who will naturally encourage this outcome. You can also try using ‘thinking toys’ to encourage a sense of play – for example, Play Doh. Most people will want to have a play with it, and some studies have shown that engaging the fingers in a sensory activity stimulates the nerve endings that go directly to the brain.

Encourage laughter – the most creative members of society, children, are said to laugh up to 400 times a day. But when you have mounting deadlines, your computer has just frozen and the kettle has broken, it can be a challenge just to raise a smile, and adults are reported to laugh only about fifteen times a day.

Convergent thinking is deductive, critical thinking, bringing information together in an attempt to find a single clear solution to a problem.

These criteria could include:
Does it answer the brief, deliver the desired outcomes and fit with my MBO?
Will it fit the budget?
Will it fit the timescales?
Will it be achievable with current available resources?
What are the risks of implementing this idea?
What are the risks of not implementing this idea?
How will customers react to it?
How will competitors react to it?
Will it be profitable?
Will it enhance our brand and our positioning?

People who are part of the idea generation process when a business challenge is being solved are significantly more engaged with the challenge than those people who are not involved.

It is said that a problem shared is a problem halved, but in idea generation, a problem shared is one where the possible solutions are multiplied.

inner critic – while it may not actually tut at you – will stymie your creative output if you do not consciously turn it off.

role of the ‘scribe’ is to write down the idea faithfully – there should be no adapting of the idea, no editing – which is why it is often useful to have a facilitator who does not contribute ideas, but leads the group and holds the flip chart pen.

Even if you are generating ideas alone, your own inner critic – while it may not actually tut at you – will stymie your creative output if you do not consciously turn it off. And in group situations, one of the biggest creativity killers is the fear of judgement by others,

If you are in a group situation, prevent judging of ideas by setting out clear ground rules for the session before you start.