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b'Diving into our Best of Killer Innovation series, we address a common hindrance to innovation: a drought of new ideas. To fix this problem, I\\u2019ve developed a simple list of ways to get the creative flow of thoughts circulating back into your organization.
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\\nWhen generating ideas, the default answer is to host a brainstorming session.\\xa0 Are there other ways to create new ideas that are not dependent on traditional brainstorming?\\xa0 Today on Killer Innovations, I will share the five I use with you.
\\nMind Mapping and Wishing
\\nMind mapping is a fairly common term nowadays; many types of software provide templates for\\xa0mind mapping.\\xa0 Traditionally they are used to organize your data, but it is also a great way to generate new ideas.
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\\n* Develop your\\xa0problem statement.
\\n* Write the problem statement in the center of your idea (whiteboards work great).
\\n* Expand on this problem statement by surrounding it with terms that better describe your needs.
\\n* Now add a second layer to each of your needs describing how you might be able to solve these individual challenges.
\\n* Keep adding to your mind map using the steps above until you have sufficiently broken down your problem into manageable parts.
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\\nIt is a fantastic ideation technique that encourages creative answers.\\xa0 Another great way to generate new ideas is by wishing.\\xa0 Wishing encourages your team to let their imaginations run wild.\\xa0 Assuming you have a well-researched and understood problem statement, ask each participant to dream up the most unattainable solutions related to the problem statement.\\xa0 Create a list of a few dozen wishes and go through the wishes by considering and discussing the ideas in detail.\\xa0 Ask yourself:
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\\n* What makes them so impossible?
\\n* How can that idea be scaled down?
\\n* Which features of that wish could we integrate into this other approach?
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\\nYou might be surprised to discover practical, real-world solutions among the team\\u2019s wildest wishes.
\\nSix Thinking Hats
\\nSix Thinking Hats\\xa0by Dr. Edward de Bono unleashed a new approach to generating ideas by breaking down the ideas into six areas of thought.\\xa0 It helps participants put themselves into the shoes of another.\\xa0 The six hats are:
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\\n* Logic- the facts.
\\n* Optimism- the value and the benefits.
\\n* Devil\\u2019s Advocate- the difficulties and dangers.
\\n* Emotion- Feelings and intuitions.
\\n* Creativity- Possibilities and new ideas.
\\n* Management- Ensuring the observance of the hat rules.
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\\nSo, how do you use the tool? Have each member put on one of these different \\u201chats\\u201d for the discussion. Make sure everyone has their say, and rotate the hats to others for extended sessions. Hence, everyone can see the problem and ideas from various perspectives.
\\nBrain-Writing and Forced Combinations
\\nOne challenge for generating ideas is getting everything rattling around in your head out.\\xa0 In this exercise, each participant takes a piece of paper and writes rough ideas for solving the problem statement.\\xa0 Each person passes on each piece of paper, reads it silently, and adds their ideas to the page. This process is repeated until everyone has had an opportunity to contribute to each piece of paper. Once participants have retrieved their original paper, they read and organize the ideas.\\xa0 Then each participant shares the notes and ideas on their piece of paper.\\xa0 The significant advantage of brain-writing is that it ensures everybody has an opportunity to share their ideas and reinforces the idea of ...'