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There are a lot of best practices that we recommend to our customers: start with the end in mind, adopt criteria to drive ideation, use at least seven channels to communicate with your end user, respond to ideas with positive feedback and questions. But there’s another piece of simple advice that we give to all of our customers when they’re preparing an innovation challenge: seed your community with a few ideas before you launch. MORE
Share this post with anyone who you know who wishes that they had the courage to speak up and let people know about their ideas. Imagine what you think a “creative person” looks like, and what they behave like. Chances are, you probably have a picture of someone coming up with lots of ideas. Or you might even just think of the person in your business who is always the first person to come up with a seemingly great idea in a brainstorming session. MORE
A highly creative new method for solving difficult problems. Accelerate the Momentum of Work and Life Projects With Focused Creativity. Three Oaks, Michigan, Wednesday April 21st, an announcement on International Creativity and Innovation Day. Everybody is creative. MORE
Short video with ten tips and techniques to help you use lateral thinking for idea generation and creative problem solving. The post Ten Ways to use Lateral Thinking for Creative Problem Solving appeared first on Destination Innovation. Brainstorming and Ideation de bono lateral thinking problem solving random word reverse the problem scamper six hats subconscious video MORE
Imagine the impact that basic training in Creative Problem Solving* and innovation concepts would have — more innovation across the entire value chain of the business. It’s almost as if creativity from operational employees is actively discouraged. The truth is, sometimes creativity is discouraged, because it’s perceived as a loss of control. The “ideas” become complaints. She submitted the idea the next day. MORE
The team cranked out 320 ideas, wrote up 20 as elaborated concepts with mini-plans, and we roadmapped innovation projects for the next three years. Digital Technology Remains An Unharvested Field. MORE
The Contrasting Effects of Repeated Practice on Creativity." These scholars asked the question: "Could repeatedly 'exercising' the creativity muscle help build up creative performance over time?" brainstorming creativity design thinking teams MORE
Discover Ideas for Long Term and Tactical Innovation Projects. GFi is now offering a new version of MoshPit to discover ideas that exploit new digital technologies. Ideas for innovation projects emerge from the intensive sessions. Digital Technology MoshPit finds undiscovered tactical and strategic innovation project ideas. The secret sauce in the design of a MoshPit session is how fresh thinking is scaffolded through the discovery and idea generation process. MORE
Explore creative problem solving techniques, activities, and articles. One such approach is creative problem solving, a methodology focused on divergent thinking. Learn more about this methodology and discover creative problem solving techniques, activities, and more articles to read below. . What is Creative Problem Solving? Creative problem solving (CPS) is a method that encourages you to find new perspectives and come up with innovative solutions. MORE
The course covers management mandates, project cycles, resourcing, idea management systems, idea generation tools, concept development, prototyping, and pitch presentations. All participants walk away with a shell framework and ideas they can put to immediate use. Brainstorming done effectively, more ideas, better ideas, and powerful tools for amping and refining ideas. It’s fall and it’s time to go back to school. MORE
Deliberately embracing learning — as part of the innovation process — can lead to better ideas and improved innovation results. Acquiring knowledge across many domains is about broad-based learning, and it’s often where big “I” innovation comes from.This allows creative combinations of ideas and concepts from one area — with ideas or concepts from another. Inventions and ideas are, essentially, new combinations of existing concepts. MORE
Rural Development Hinges On The Creative Class. Attracting the Creative Class is About Culture, Tolerance, and Quality of Life. Where Creative Workers Locate is Where Innovation and New Businesses Happen, Site Locations Follow. His seminal book the Rise of the Creative Class should be required reading for anyone with an interest in creating jobs, and attracting companies to locate in a particular region (his other work is also notable). MORE
Frameworks assume: engaged leadership, talent on the team, day to day creativity, curiosity, and domain knowledge. Seven Innovation Fundamentals: Applying creative thinking to problems. There is no innovation without creativity. Individuals and teams need to be creative in order to solve focused innovation challenges. Still, curiosity, freedom of expression, and creative thinking are essential to success. Innovation Fundamentals for Leaders. MORE
A professional facilitator has ways to stop the behaviour — and make people think it was their idea. Facilitation of Innovation Meetings Requires a Highly Specific Set of Skills, Frameworks, Tools — and Experience. Professional Facilitation and/or Training Makes a Difference*. Seven Facilitation Fails. Innovation projects are about a lot of meetings. MORE
It occurs to me that most people have the desire, deep down, to use their imagination more — but have no idea how. If you ask your imagination for ideas or visions once a year it’s a bit like that faucet in the back of the house you never use. You’ll find that the images and ideas you get will flow better as your imagination faucet gets unclogged and the valve gets greased. Remember that the biggest ideas represent very uncomfortable change. MORE
Each is invited to feel a separate part of the creature to get an idea of its shape. To achieve this, companies must communicate a clear innovation strategy to employees, break down departmental silos, and give employees a means to submit their ideas. MORE
Essentially it’s a visual tool for coming up with project ideas. Adjust Innovation Project Roadmaps Now. Fraley Oracle Predictions for 2020 & 2021. Like everyone else innovators have been thrown a loop during Covid19. MORE
Seven Idea Generation Fails. I might be getting to old to hold back on saying this about ideation, aka idea generation, aka brainstorming. Based on my experience, about 80% of idea generation doesn’t work. Please, spend time, lots of time, before a session to focus a question, and be creative about it. They’re not neutral, they’re not process focused, and you need their head in the idea game. MORE
Its rapid expansion from a small, family-run wholesale goods business in 1928 into a multinational conglomerate with 30,000 employees, can be attributed in part to the creative – and ingenious – ways it has crowdsourced ideas from employees. We form the ‘Centre of Excellence’ for idea management at the company. We also run workshops offline to generate new ideas for company improvements, as well as enrich them. MORE
Self-expression is the faucet of creative thinking, and without creative thinking you won’t have much innovation. Are You Having Fun? Innovation Should Be Fun, Joyful, and About Playing With Concepts. The One Question Innovation Culture Assessment. A lot of fuss is made over innovation culture. I get it — it’s probably the most important fundamental to put in place if you actually want innovation to happen. MORE
Tips on how to introduce random stimuli into your idea generation processes. This is a video lecture from my new online course Boost Your Personal Creativity. The post How to Harness Chance to Boost Creativity appeared first on Destination Innovation. MORE
The 30 minute weekly webinar features demonstrations of various facilitation tools for: strategy, challenge clarification, idea generation (aka brainstorming), problem framing, idea selection, innovation projects, and idea development, etc. MORE
This is another article about Quantum Idea Generation a process proven to generate at least 12 X more ideas than brainstorming. In previous articles, I've addressed the first two of four Quantum Idea Generation elements – diversity and stimulus. Continue reading → Build Capability Cognition Creativity Uncategorized Brain Assessment Brain Exercises brainstorming ideation Quatnum Idea Generation MORE
Energized idea generation about potential projects (that is, what projects might we do?). Creative Problem Solving (CPS) Creativity and Self-Expression Guerilla Innovation Idea Generation Innovation Leadership Training brand purpose Creativity Gregg Fraley Innovation Speaker innovation frameworks innovation projects Innovation Road-map Innovation Roadmap Kathleen Curtis Wolfe brand purpose expert organizational purpose problem framing project scheduling projects Purpose strategy MORE
Off-Site Innovation can indeed spur creativity. As part of an organizational innovation project, ask for ideas using virtual systems. Make sure you have a focused challenge, and make sure you’ve got resources (people in an ad hoc team) to take the best ideas forward — in a project. Check out BrightIdea (a leading Idea Management System). I like what Cardinal Health and Crimson Cup are doing in Columbus, OH with offsite innovation spaces. MORE
When I step into a room to facilitate an innovation, strategy, or idea generation session I always find a great deal of energy. Yes, you can train people in creative thinking, Front-End-of-Innovation (FEI) frameworks, and in meeting facilitation. It’s the creative thinking that builds on that research, analysis, and insight that gets you workable innovation concepts and ultimately market results. Creative training is the fuel for innovation fire. MORE
Where do you get your ideas?” Here are a few idea generation hacks to help with your approach. List Out Assumptions It is incredibly easy to get lost in your own assumptions, so take a breath and write out the assumptions that are driving any idea. Change The Medium Instead of writing out ideas, try diagramming them on paper, or begin drawing to express your approach. There’s no one road to creativity. MORE
Find new and creative partnerships within the community? Economic Developers should do more “What If-ing” Most economic development people I’ve met are smart, hard working, naturally creative people, AND, the blind focus on attracting the “home run” corporate HQ or plant prevents or defers a lot of projects that could have long lasting positive impact. Have you got the training in structured creative problem solving? MORE
That improved understanding, directly applied to an innovation challenge, is how you get to a breakthrough idea. Insights gained inspire ideas to create something new. Sessions often fail to find breakthrough ideas. The hard part is the integration with the challenge, but if you do it properly, it pays off in breakthrough ideas. Frameworks become a competitive advantage when you use them in more creative ways. Experiential Learning Accelerates Innovation. MORE
My reason is simple, it’s a fast path to new and different ideas. What’s Really Needed is an Innovation MoshPit. Reinventing Combinations, Concept Blends, and Mash-Ups. I’ve been touting concept blends in innovation for some time. From the Printing Press to the iPhone, big new market-creating innovation happens when concepts from two different domains are combined. MORE
If your looking for a quick way to jostle up fresh ideas, go with the simpler ones. Mash-Ups, in its various permutations, is a power tool and a fast path for combining disparate elements to creatively problem solve. An example is Janet Jackson’s “Got Till It’s Gone” (done with rapper Q-Tip) which creatively, and overtly, samples Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi”. Mash-Ups are a bigger idea than musical creations. Many new product ideas are simple combinations. MORE
Creative Thinking Can Be Trained. Train Creativity First, Innovation Next . My new message about innovation is — get back to basics first — and that means the spark of it all, creativity. Yes, I’m an innovation writer, trainer, and consultant, AND, without a creative culture you’re building innovation on a mound of sand. With creativity activated, facilitators like me help others innovate, using advanced frameworks and tools. MORE
As it turns out the session was really more about idea development and elaboration. There is some imaginative thinking inside idea development, but if this session had been organized as a classic “brainstorm” or purely divergent idea session it would have been a waste of time. MORE
If you ask for innovation ideas in an idea campaign, make it clear to all that the effort has top level support. Be prepared to process a lot of ideas. Ask for more ideas of certain kinds, less of others, etc. If necessary, modify your question to make it more specific if you’re not getting interesting ideas. Once done and the ideas are processed, communicate what happened. “We received 630 ideas from 87 people.” MORE
Creative Training Would Have Helped. Two Points to Make related to Creativity and Innovation: 1.) Training in customer service and creative thinking would be at the heart of a program, but would also need to find breakthrough new ways to serve customers. That training and innovative change program would be enhanced with creative problem solving training. They could have created a package that combines several of the above ideas. MORE
A neutral ground to network and exchange ideas. Gregg Fraley is the author of Jack’s Notebook, a business novel about creative process. Public Training Offering — Getting Innovation Started. Attention Michiana, NW Indiana, Chicago. Establish Fundamentals and Avoid Pitfalls. Gregg Fraley Innovation (GFi) and The Society of Innovators at Purdue Northwest Collaborate on Public Training Seminar. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 30, 2019. PORTAGE, Ind. MORE
Ideas are still needed to fill pipelines! There is not enough mental preparation done with participants before brainstorming/idea generation sessions. Start thinking of idea generation as a project that takes a few weeks, not a one day session. Fresh combinations of concepts are what creates breakthrough ideas. If this is done, the brain will make fresh combinations and innovative ideas emerge. Unfocused questions mean useless ideas. MORE
What happens when your idea is stolen? You have an idea. Your great, wonderful idea which is the best thing anyone has heard in years or centuries… As many other innovators, you explain your idea to your friends, colleagues or superiors trying to get funding or valuable feedback. Creativity Innovation idea generation MORE
Creativity is a Choice and a Habit. Join the Creative Flow Challenge. 11th — 18 Days to Creative Power. Learn How to Apply Creativity to All Your Projects. Yes, you can improve your creativity. It doesn’t matter if you think you’re creative or not. MORE
While an innovation strategy that suggests throwing a party to celebrate a failed idea seems outrageous, the message from the pharma companies is that it’s smart business. Something to Think about for Your Business: How does your organization create opportunities for all employees to invest in innovation, even if you are not looking for them to generate or develop new product ideas? What ideas does this raise about your innovation strategy? MORE
Small “i” innovation can be generated at any level, so communicate to all that you seek ideas to improve. If a good idea pops up, by all means resource it and get it into action. Are ideas for new things encouraged and worked or are they barely tolerated? Is it a “pitch” culture where ideas for projects get a chance to be put into play? Stealing ideas from other industries is a fast path to innovation. MORE
In this episode of the Idea to Value, we speak with Dave Birss. Dave is a musician, educator, author and facilitator with a focus on improving creativity. We speak about how to keep up creativity in the times of remote working, and how to think laterally to live consciously again. MORE
When I step into a room to facilitate a strategy, innovation, or idea generation session I usually find a great deal of energy. Yes, you can train people in creative thinking, Front-End-of-Innovation (FEI) frameworks, problem solving, and meeting facilitation. Training the teams, having a skilled facilitator in-house, and frequent practice of divergent thinking are essential to effective idea generation sessions. Training Accelerates Innovation. MORE
IdeaScale
SEPTEMBER 5, 2019
Where do you get your ideas?” Here are a few idea generation hacks to help with your approach. List Out Assumptions It is incredibly easy to get lost in your own assumptions, so take a breath and write out the assumptions that are driving any idea. Change The Medium Instead of writing out ideas, try diagramming them on paper, or begin drawing to express your approach. There’s no one road to creativity.
Gregg Fraley
APRIL 20, 2021
A highly creative new method for solving difficult problems. Accelerate the Momentum of Work and Life Projects With Focused Creativity. Three Oaks, Michigan, Wednesday April 21st, an announcement on International Creativity and Innovation Day. Everybody is creative.
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Gregg Fraley
JANUARY 4, 2021
Creativity is a Choice and a Habit. Join the Creative Flow Challenge. 11th — 18 Days to Creative Power. Learn How to Apply Creativity to All Your Projects. Yes, you can improve your creativity. It doesn’t matter if you think you’re creative or not.
Destination Innovation
DECEMBER 12, 2019
Tips on how to introduce random stimuli into your idea generation processes. This is a video lecture from my new online course Boost Your Personal Creativity. The post How to Harness Chance to Boost Creativity appeared first on Destination Innovation.
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led to the number of novel ideas generated per 100 employees or the. ect of culture on creativity, organizations have their own ways of de?ning performance measures of innovation, it is important to know HOW INNOVATION HAPPENS Good ideas can come from anywhere. ideas.
Gregg Fraley
OCTOBER 19, 2019
Creative Thinking Can Be Trained. Train Creativity First, Innovation Next . My new message about innovation is — get back to basics first — and that means the spark of it all, creativity. Yes, I’m an innovation writer, trainer, and consultant, AND, without a creative culture you’re building innovation on a mound of sand. With creativity activated, facilitators like me help others innovate, using advanced frameworks and tools.
Qmarkets
OCTOBER 23, 2019
Its rapid expansion from a small, family-run wholesale goods business in 1928 into a multinational conglomerate with 30,000 employees, can be attributed in part to the creative – and ingenious – ways it has crowdsourced ideas from employees. We form the ‘Centre of Excellence’ for idea management at the company. We also run workshops offline to generate new ideas for company improvements, as well as enrich them.
Gregg Fraley
MARCH 17, 2021
The 30 minute weekly webinar features demonstrations of various facilitation tools for: strategy, challenge clarification, idea generation (aka brainstorming), problem framing, idea selection, innovation projects, and idea development, etc.
Destination Innovation
JUNE 10, 2018
Short video with ten tips and techniques to help you use lateral thinking for idea generation and creative problem solving. The post Ten Ways to use Lateral Thinking for Creative Problem Solving appeared first on Destination Innovation. Brainstorming and Ideation de bono lateral thinking problem solving random word reverse the problem scamper six hats subconscious video
Idea to Value
DECEMBER 17, 2020
In this episode of the Idea to Value, we speak with Dave Birss. Dave is a musician, educator, author and facilitator with a focus on improving creativity. We speak about how to keep up creativity in the times of remote working, and how to think laterally to live consciously again.
Qmarkets
JANUARY 7, 2020
Each is invited to feel a separate part of the creature to get an idea of its shape. To achieve this, companies must communicate a clear innovation strategy to employees, break down departmental silos, and give employees a means to submit their ideas.
Innovation Excellence
JUNE 7, 2018
What happens when your idea is stolen? You have an idea. Your great, wonderful idea which is the best thing anyone has heard in years or centuries… As many other innovators, you explain your idea to your friends, colleagues or superiors trying to get funding or valuable feedback. Creativity Innovation idea generation
Gregg Fraley
OCTOBER 1, 2020
The team cranked out 320 ideas, wrote up 20 as elaborated concepts with mini-plans, and we roadmapped innovation projects for the next three years. Digital Technology Remains An Unharvested Field.
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Gregg Fraley
OCTOBER 23, 2020
Essentially it’s a visual tool for coming up with project ideas. Adjust Innovation Project Roadmaps Now. Fraley Oracle Predictions for 2020 & 2021. Like everyone else innovators have been thrown a loop during Covid19.
Innovation Excellence
JUNE 19, 2016
This is another article about Quantum Idea Generation a process proven to generate at least 12 X more ideas than brainstorming. In previous articles, I've addressed the first two of four Quantum Idea Generation elements – diversity and stimulus. Continue reading → Build Capability Cognition Creativity Uncategorized Brain Assessment Brain Exercises brainstorming ideation Quatnum Idea Generation
Gregg Fraley
JANUARY 24, 2019
Energized idea generation about potential projects (that is, what projects might we do?). Creative Problem Solving (CPS) Creativity and Self-Expression Guerilla Innovation Idea Generation Innovation Leadership Training brand purpose Creativity Gregg Fraley Innovation Speaker innovation frameworks innovation projects Innovation Road-map Innovation Roadmap Kathleen Curtis Wolfe brand purpose expert organizational purpose problem framing project scheduling projects Purpose strategy
Gregg Fraley
OCTOBER 12, 2017
Ideas are still needed to fill pipelines! There is not enough mental preparation done with participants before brainstorming/idea generation sessions. Start thinking of idea generation as a project that takes a few weeks, not a one day session. Fresh combinations of concepts are what creates breakthrough ideas. If this is done, the brain will make fresh combinations and innovative ideas emerge. Unfocused questions mean useless ideas.
InnovationManagement
OCTOBER 7, 2019
There are a lot of best practices that we recommend to our customers: start with the end in mind, adopt criteria to drive ideation, use at least seven channels to communicate with your end user, respond to ideas with positive feedback and questions. But there’s another piece of simple advice that we give to all of our customers when they’re preparing an innovation challenge: seed your community with a few ideas before you launch.
InnovationTraining.org
NOVEMBER 5, 2019
Explore creative problem solving techniques, activities, and articles. One such approach is creative problem solving, a methodology focused on divergent thinking. Learn more about this methodology and discover creative problem solving techniques, activities, and more articles to read below. . What is Creative Problem Solving? Creative problem solving (CPS) is a method that encourages you to find new perspectives and come up with innovative solutions.
Gregg Fraley
SEPTEMBER 28, 2018
Deliberately embracing learning — as part of the innovation process — can lead to better ideas and improved innovation results. Acquiring knowledge across many domains is about broad-based learning, and it’s often where big “I” innovation comes from.This allows creative combinations of ideas and concepts from one area — with ideas or concepts from another. Inventions and ideas are, essentially, new combinations of existing concepts.
Gregg Fraley
MAY 1, 2018
Frameworks assume: engaged leadership, talent on the team, day to day creativity, curiosity, and domain knowledge. Seven Innovation Fundamentals: Applying creative thinking to problems. There is no innovation without creativity. Individuals and teams need to be creative in order to solve focused innovation challenges. Still, curiosity, freedom of expression, and creative thinking are essential to success. Innovation Fundamentals for Leaders.
Idea to Value
JUNE 16, 2017
Share this post with anyone who you know who wishes that they had the courage to speak up and let people know about their ideas. Imagine what you think a “creative person” looks like, and what they behave like. Chances are, you probably have a picture of someone coming up with lots of ideas. Or you might even just think of the person in your business who is always the first person to come up with a seemingly great idea in a brainstorming session.
BrainZooming
MARCH 10, 2017
While an innovation strategy that suggests throwing a party to celebrate a failed idea seems outrageous, the message from the pharma companies is that it’s smart business. Something to Think about for Your Business: How does your organization create opportunities for all employees to invest in innovation, even if you are not looking for them to generate or develop new product ideas? What ideas does this raise about your innovation strategy?
Gregg Fraley
FEBRUARY 28, 2019
Seven Idea Generation Fails. I might be getting to old to hold back on saying this about ideation, aka idea generation, aka brainstorming. Based on my experience, about 80% of idea generation doesn’t work. Please, spend time, lots of time, before a session to focus a question, and be creative about it. They’re not neutral, they’re not process focused, and you need their head in the idea game.
Gregg Fraley
FEBRUARY 15, 2019
A professional facilitator has ways to stop the behaviour — and make people think it was their idea. Facilitation of Innovation Meetings Requires a Highly Specific Set of Skills, Frameworks, Tools — and Experience. Professional Facilitation and/or Training Makes a Difference*. Seven Facilitation Fails. Innovation projects are about a lot of meetings.
Gregg Fraley
FEBRUARY 26, 2020
As it turns out the session was really more about idea development and elaboration. There is some imaginative thinking inside idea development, but if this session had been organized as a classic “brainstorm” or purely divergent idea session it would have been a waste of time.
Gregg Fraley
AUGUST 8, 2017
When I step into a room to facilitate an innovation, strategy, or idea generation session I always find a great deal of energy. Yes, you can train people in creative thinking, Front-End-of-Innovation (FEI) frameworks, and in meeting facilitation. It’s the creative thinking that builds on that research, analysis, and insight that gets you workable innovation concepts and ultimately market results. Creative training is the fuel for innovation fire.
Michael Roberto
FEBRUARY 19, 2021
The Contrasting Effects of Repeated Practice on Creativity." These scholars asked the question: "Could repeatedly 'exercising' the creativity muscle help build up creative performance over time?" brainstorming creativity design thinking teams
Gregg Fraley
FEBRUARY 26, 2019
Self-expression is the faucet of creative thinking, and without creative thinking you won’t have much innovation. Are You Having Fun? Innovation Should Be Fun, Joyful, and About Playing With Concepts. The One Question Innovation Culture Assessment. A lot of fuss is made over innovation culture. I get it — it’s probably the most important fundamental to put in place if you actually want innovation to happen.
Gregg Fraley
NOVEMBER 15, 2019
That improved understanding, directly applied to an innovation challenge, is how you get to a breakthrough idea. Insights gained inspire ideas to create something new. Sessions often fail to find breakthrough ideas. The hard part is the integration with the challenge, but if you do it properly, it pays off in breakthrough ideas. Frameworks become a competitive advantage when you use them in more creative ways. Experiential Learning Accelerates Innovation.
Gregg Fraley
AUGUST 22, 2018
When I step into a room to facilitate a strategy, innovation, or idea generation session I usually find a great deal of energy. Yes, you can train people in creative thinking, Front-End-of-Innovation (FEI) frameworks, problem solving, and meeting facilitation. Training the teams, having a skilled facilitator in-house, and frequent practice of divergent thinking are essential to effective idea generation sessions. Training Accelerates Innovation.
Gregg Fraley
AUGUST 1, 2018
Discover Ideas for Long Term and Tactical Innovation Projects. GFi is now offering a new version of MoshPit to discover ideas that exploit new digital technologies. Ideas for innovation projects emerge from the intensive sessions. Digital Technology MoshPit finds undiscovered tactical and strategic innovation project ideas. The secret sauce in the design of a MoshPit session is how fresh thinking is scaffolded through the discovery and idea generation process.
Gregg Fraley
AUGUST 30, 2019
A neutral ground to network and exchange ideas. Gregg Fraley is the author of Jack’s Notebook, a business novel about creative process. Public Training Offering — Getting Innovation Started. Attention Michiana, NW Indiana, Chicago. Establish Fundamentals and Avoid Pitfalls. Gregg Fraley Innovation (GFi) and The Society of Innovators at Purdue Northwest Collaborate on Public Training Seminar. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 30, 2019. PORTAGE, Ind.
Gregg Fraley
OCTOBER 4, 2018
The course covers management mandates, project cycles, resourcing, idea management systems, idea generation tools, concept development, prototyping, and pitch presentations. All participants walk away with a shell framework and ideas they can put to immediate use. Brainstorming done effectively, more ideas, better ideas, and powerful tools for amping and refining ideas. It’s fall and it’s time to go back to school.
Gregg Fraley
MAY 5, 2017
My reason is simple, it’s a fast path to new and different ideas. What’s Really Needed is an Innovation MoshPit. Reinventing Combinations, Concept Blends, and Mash-Ups. I’ve been touting concept blends in innovation for some time. From the Printing Press to the iPhone, big new market-creating innovation happens when concepts from two different domains are combined.
Gregg Fraley
SEPTEMBER 16, 2017
Small “i” innovation can be generated at any level, so communicate to all that you seek ideas to improve. If a good idea pops up, by all means resource it and get it into action. Are ideas for new things encouraged and worked or are they barely tolerated? Is it a “pitch” culture where ideas for projects get a chance to be put into play? Stealing ideas from other industries is a fast path to innovation.
Gregg Fraley
MAY 22, 2019
Imagine the impact that basic training in Creative Problem Solving* and innovation concepts would have — more innovation across the entire value chain of the business. It’s almost as if creativity from operational employees is actively discouraged. The truth is, sometimes creativity is discouraged, because it’s perceived as a loss of control. The “ideas” become complaints. She submitted the idea the next day.
Gregg Fraley
AUGUST 10, 2018
If you ask for innovation ideas in an idea campaign, make it clear to all that the effort has top level support. Be prepared to process a lot of ideas. Ask for more ideas of certain kinds, less of others, etc. If necessary, modify your question to make it more specific if you’re not getting interesting ideas. Once done and the ideas are processed, communicate what happened. “We received 630 ideas from 87 people.”
Gregg Fraley
APRIL 10, 2017
Creative Training Would Have Helped. Two Points to Make related to Creativity and Innovation: 1.) Training in customer service and creative thinking would be at the heart of a program, but would also need to find breakthrough new ways to serve customers. That training and innovative change program would be enhanced with creative problem solving training. They could have created a package that combines several of the above ideas.
Gregg Fraley
SEPTEMBER 18, 2018
Off-Site Innovation can indeed spur creativity. As part of an organizational innovation project, ask for ideas using virtual systems. Make sure you have a focused challenge, and make sure you’ve got resources (people in an ad hoc team) to take the best ideas forward — in a project. Check out BrightIdea (a leading Idea Management System). I like what Cardinal Health and Crimson Cup are doing in Columbus, OH with offsite innovation spaces.
Gregg Fraley
MARCH 26, 2016
It occurs to me that most people have the desire, deep down, to use their imagination more — but have no idea how. If you ask your imagination for ideas or visions once a year it’s a bit like that faucet in the back of the house you never use. You’ll find that the images and ideas you get will flow better as your imagination faucet gets unclogged and the valve gets greased. Remember that the biggest ideas represent very uncomfortable change.
Gregg Fraley
NOVEMBER 20, 2018
Find new and creative partnerships within the community? Economic Developers should do more “What If-ing” Most economic development people I’ve met are smart, hard working, naturally creative people, AND, the blind focus on attracting the “home run” corporate HQ or plant prevents or defers a lot of projects that could have long lasting positive impact. Have you got the training in structured creative problem solving?
Gregg Fraley
JANUARY 19, 2015
If your looking for a quick way to jostle up fresh ideas, go with the simpler ones. Mash-Ups, in its various permutations, is a power tool and a fast path for combining disparate elements to creatively problem solve. An example is Janet Jackson’s “Got Till It’s Gone” (done with rapper Q-Tip) which creatively, and overtly, samples Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi”. Mash-Ups are a bigger idea than musical creations. Many new product ideas are simple combinations.
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