Ideas are Abundant, Don't Ignore Them

Today I stumbled across Steve Swan’s blog, ‘thinkinghow.com’. His article ‘think fast and get more ideas’ got me thinking about the problem of being ‘idea abundant’.

Problem? I hear you ask!

I know some very creative, inventive people who are simply un-stoppable when it comes to generating ideas. In the workplace they first come across as quirky and novel. It’s fun to have someone always coming up with another cool idea – for a while at least!

We live in a world of ever increasing pressure to do more with less in diminishing time scales. If you are a peer, then that new idea turns into ‘Don’t bug me, I’m busy’. If you are a manager, then that new idea turns into ‘I have enough on my plate already’. Pretty soon that enthusiastic ‘idea abundance’ can take a beating and fade into background noise. To me this is an all too real tragedy of our busy workplaces.

I believe ideas are far more abundant than we realise. Many of us have simply stopped offering them. Others seem more resilient. Ask yourself the following questions.

a) How can we create an environment where ideas are offered without resistance?
b) How can we grow an idea-abundant culture?
c) How can we sort the trivial from the terrific?
d) How can we take action when the right idea comes along?

If you find yourself starting to design a system or process around these questions, then you have just graduated from the very first lesson of creativity and innovation. You need a well structured system or process if you want to consistently have great ideas and turn them into successful outcomes.

A good process will encourage the contribution of ideas and reward the participants without overwhelming already burdened peers and management. In this way, the abundance of ideas will quickly become part of culture rather than the annoying banter of a resilient few!

Robert Rath – http://www.innovation-mentor.com