Revving Up Your Ideas

In a workplace study done by the Harvard Business Review, it was found that participants were least creative when on a tight schedule– and especially if deadlines were imminent. However, since creativity stems from the subconscious you have the ability to nudge your thinking in the right direction.

Try these tips:

  1. Be a Human Sponge. Give your mind plenty of material to work with by going to museums, reading great books, going to an interesting play or movie. A rich mind is an inventive mind. If you give your mind plenty of material, all of it will become possible fodder.
  2. Two is Company – Three or More is a Crowd. The Harvard study found that brilliant ideas are less likely to happen in group discussions since they tend to be less focused. In contrast, more original ideas tend to bloom one-on-one.
  3. Perspiration brings Inspiration. Physical exercise allows the mind to drift during familiar activities like running, walking, swimming or cycling.
  4. Stop Your Inner Critic. Not every idea is a great one. But, give yourself some leeway on possibilities. Sometimes the wackiest ideas that you have can be tamed into doable ones.

Getting New Ideas in your Organization…

“If you’re going to turn on an innovation engine, a lot depends on whether managers listen for the brilliance in their employees’ ideas that they can test, or whether they listen for what’s wrong and why it won’t work. Creating that kind of open environment is the biggest hurdle we all face.”

Shari Ballard, Executive V.P. H.R. and Legal, Best Buy