“Welcome to the Proven, Practical, Profitable Innovation podcast! I am Richard and I thank you very much for taking time out of your busy day to listen to this podcast. A special welcome to my friends in the central part of the country. During my career I lived in Cincinnati three times and had wonderful time living in Lexington, KY.
My goal is to make sure you get a high return on your time investment listening to this podcast. I want you to immediately be able to use the information in this podcast to help you sell more and make more.
Please be sure to listen to the end of this podcast where I give you an exciting preview of future podcasts. This includes podcasts on how you can double the chances for success of an existing or new product – proven by rock solid science. Also upcoming we have a long series of presentations from the person who has probably helped invent more new products than any other person in America today.
So, what is this podcast series about?
It is about innovation in its broadest meaning – whenever you need ideas to make something that exists better and/or to develop something entirely new.
As the name of the podcast suggests, I only share help that is proven, is practical–which means easy to use–and clearly helps you to sell more and make more.
This podcast is designed to help a startup or an entrepreneur with a growing or struggling business or someone working in a very large business. The help in this podcast works equally well if you’re selling products directly to consumers or to other businesses.
If after listening to this podcast you feel a need for more help, please contact me directly—my email is richard@i2ge.com. You can also go to my website—i2ge.com– where you can explore many innovation topics, especially check out the DIY Innovation Training on the menu bar. We customize all the training programs to the our clients’ unique needs and circumstances.
Before we get started, if you find this podcast helpful to you, you can help me by giving the podcast a five star rating and writing a review. This very much helps getting the word out to others that there is proven practical help in this podcast.
Quantum idea generation – overview.
Brief review of quantum idea generation. In the previous podcast:
Quantum idea generation produces at least 12 times more ideas than brainstorming.
To generate these powerful results you need to use four elements – diversity, stimulus, brain type, and eliminate fear and have fun.
Today we’re going to dive deep into the topic of how to make sure there is no fear in an idea generating session and instead there is a very healthy sense of fun. You can immediately start using the help in this podcast.
As you plan for an important innovation idea generating meeting, make sure you plan to eliminate fear and replace it with fun so that you can bring out the highest level of creativity from the people in your idea generating session.
This podcast covers important “must haves” in planning idea generating exercises so that you have fun, not fear in the session.
In a previous podcast I mentioned Doug Hall and Eureka Ranch. When he first started, he had a very strong focus on fun while being innovative – pinball machines, pillow fights, canoeing, Nerf gun battles and on and on. It was these unexpected visuals in a business context that caught the eye of NBC’s Dateline program. His approach to fun innovation made for great film! Later in his career, Doug discovered that too much fun overwhelmed the idea generation and he needed greater balance. The pinball machines are still at Eureka Ranch.
Why eliminating fear is so important. –
First, I want to define what I mean by having fear in an idea generating session. There are two major kinds of fears that can inhibit creativity. Some people fear sharing ideas that will make them look foolish or, even worse, not very smart. Other people fear sharing ideas because they might be judged, criticized, and even ridiculed by other people. Whenever any of this exists to any degree, you have a potentially serious problem.
When either of these dimensions of fear exists, you will find people sitting back and not participating. The result is a dramatic reduction in creative output from the session. As a result, I think you can see why eliminating fear is one of the four major factors in effective quantum idea generation.
How you eliminate fear from an idea generating session.
First, you need to address it head on. When I am leading a session, I share the following story.
Over the years when I have seen a very big idea come out of the session, I go to the small group of people that first generated the idea. I ask them how they created the idea. The number one response I get over many years of doing this goes like this. “Well first Sue blurted out this wild and wacky idea. Then John built on the idea. Rebecca loved the build and added her own new dimension. And then Ed connected all the dots and all of a sudden we had this big, exciting idea.”
The lesson of the story is without wild and wacky ideas we are unlikely to get the really big ideas we need. If Sue had felt any fear, she would not have blurted out the wild and wacky idea that led to the big idea.
As a result, I encourage people to blurt out wild and wacky ideas. Because these are so important, I prohibit verbal and nonverbal judging and criticizing of ideas during the idea generating process. Typically at the end of a session we ask people to vote on their favorite ideas, which is the only time judging is allowed.
The second thing I do to eliminate fear is to have a one-on-one chat with all of the more senior people and managers in the session. I request their help. I ask them to never judge ideas during the creative session. I underscore to them how their managerial power can either stifle creativity or be a major encouragement to creativity. In almost all cases this one-on-one request works well. Senior leaders want maximum creativity and I am showing them the way to help with this.
Now that we have eliminated fear, this is how we inject fun.
The facilitator of an idea generating session plays a very critical role in creating fun. One of the most important ways of doing this is to be closely in touch with the small groups of people as they create ideas. As groups are generating ideas, I observe and when I see anything approaching a promising idea, I inject strong positive encouragement. When the groups then share their ideas with the total session, I am also on the lookout for every opportunity to complement and praise people for their ideas.
In addition, I have a number of stimulus presentations intended to inspire people to reach for even bigger ideas. I often do this with some rather humorous presentations. I’m looking to generate smiles and laughs as I inspire people to reach for even bigger ideas.
A summary of what we have covered today.
First, I described how fear can stifle and even kill creativity. This is so powerful that even if you do the three other steps right – diversity, stimulus, and brain type – fear can seriously undermine the effectiveness of these three elements.
Second, I shared proven methods for eliminating fear. This includes the importance of empowering people to share wild and wacky ideas which become the sort of origin for some of the biggest ideas.
Third, I shared how to inject positive energy and fun into the session. I suggested lots of positive feedback as people develop ideas and share ideas within the group. This is a very powerful uplifting technique that can significantly increase creative productivity.
From a personal perspective I think most of us have had the experience of trying to create new ideas when we are full of fear and anxiety. Ideas are few and far between in those ideas we have are not very good. On the other hand, when we have fun developing ideas and are full of hope and inspiration, we find a big ideas flow quickly and easily.
Ongoing close.
What you can do today with this information – now you know how to eliminate fear and maximize fun in your session for optimal creativity.
If you would like to see the key written points from this podcast, you can find them in my blog – i2ge.com/blog.
If you would like to contact me, please email me at richard@i2ge.com. Contact me if you have questions, thoughts, or would like more help. In future podcasts I will feature people who contact me with questions or have an interest in sharing their success. I promise to get back to you no later than 48 hours after I receive your email – actually I try to reply the same day.
If you would like to create far more robust innovation capabilities within your business, I have a complete portfolio of training programs that we tailor to your unique needs. If you would like to learn more, go to the Innovate2Grow Experts website – i2Ge.com and click on DIY Innovation Training.
One of my six books is Proven Practical Innovation That Delivers Results. This very low-cost book is available at Amazon in paperback and has a Kindle book. Is truly packed with lots of practical help.
Here’s a quick review of podcasts to come. The next two podcast will complete the series and quantum idea generation. Following that be a series on how you can double the chances for success on a new product or service – either an existing one or a new one you invent. Please join me for the next podcast where we will dive into the fourth component of quantum idea generation – eliminate fear and have fun.
Thank you very much for your time and I look forward to reconnecting with you soon.
