Leading Libraries Series: Leading for Innovation

Ideation and creativity

 

The imagine stage: Creating new ideas from your insights

This module focuses on the Imagine stage – the most creative stage of the innovation cycle. Watch this 21 minute video.

 

From discovery to creation

The 'Imagine' phase of the Innovation Cycle is designed to support the creative aspects of our innovation approach – the future focussed 'how things could be' possibilities that are inspired by the insights from our Discovery process.

In this phase, we draw on idea generation techniques, activities that support collaborative creativity and any approaches which emphasise the use of stories, visual imagery and 'making' in the widest sense. It is our chance to let our imaginations loose, finding new ways to solve long standing issues, bringing in ideas that are familiar to inventors, artists and writers, rather than just relying on our usually managerial and organisational skills. In this phase, we can take the chance to play!

 

From analysis to generative ideas

 

As the diagram above illustrates, we are now moving from the analytical activities of the Discovery process to more 'generative' activities - looking for inspiration as we move towards the burning vision we have set ourselves. As we said in the 'Big Idea' for this module, Design Thinking approaches are hugely helpful in this stage. Most of the concepts and practices in this module are built on the techniques and principles of what is called 'Ideation' in DT ('ideation' simply means the generation of new ideas).

If you would like to learn more about the inspiring impact of Design Thinking before you begin your Imagine phase, you can read this short blog 'What is Design Thinking and why is it so popular?' by Rikke Fris Dam and Teo Yu Siang.

 

The Imagine stage – emphasising divergent thinking

Innovation involves periods of both convergent and divergent thinking

 

The single biggest problem faced in innovation approaches is our tendency to dismiss new ideas before they have even begun to emerge. Especially in public service settings, we are often asked for ideas that:

• have already been proved (evidence-based)
• have been done elsewhere (best practice)
• are already known to be safe (risk assessed).

There is nothing wrong with these requests for evidence, data or previous experience – especially in high stakes situations where there are genuine risks to people's safety or where someone has already solved the problem we are trying to tackle. However, in arenas where we want to identify genuinely new possibilities, bringing in the thought processes that these approaches encourage can strangle our creativity.

DT approaches give us 'permission' to bring divergent thinking into the first phase of our Imagine stage, by supporting our ability to generate 'wild', 'left field', 'eccentric' ideas. After all, as the DT motto says – we can always 'roll wild ideas down the hill' (making them safer, cheaper, more generally acceptable) but it is much harder to push an unimaginative or safe idea up!

 

The role of wild ideas...

 

The seven rules of ideation

Over the last 30 years, approaches to DT have helped to create a set of simple principles which you can use as reminders about the qualities you will need to bring to your 'ideation'. They are great statements to put on a flipchart in your workshops or just on your screen saver – providing encouragement and inspiration when you get stuck or just need a bit of stimulus for your thinking.

 

Getting creative about your challenge

Hopefully you have already got some 'inklings' or 'glimmers' from your Discovery phase which can act as the seeds of the ideas you need for your challenge. If not, you may want to try some of the techniques in the next module to inspire you. Remember also that many innovative ideas come to us when we are not thinking too hard – in the bath, on the bus or in bed (as Ludwig Wittgenstein, the philosopher once said!). If you do your initial work using some of the practices we describe here, your brain will start to freewheel on its own, in the background – often 'producing' the idea when you least expect it! That's one reason creative people always carry a notebook with them…

The rest of this module will guide you through the tools and methods which you can use in your Imagine stages, beginning with one of the most vital learnings from DT approaches – many heads are better than one!

 

Pause for reflection

Reflect on how you are feeling about your ability to 'get creative' about your challenge.

Which of the insights you generated in the Discover phase feel most promising? Which were most surprising or interesting to you? (These are often the insights that form the seed of the best 'wild ideas'?)

What do you already know about the conditions that help you be creative? How might you create those conditions for yourself in this Imagine phase?

Who do you know who is good at 'wild ideas' or at being creative – (they might be at their most creative outside work)? How could you enrol them to bring in some new, divergent thinking? (Hint, they don't need to know anything about the subject of your challenge).

Are you feeling excited about creating some new ideas for your challenge? If not, what else do you need to help you get started?

 

Continue to: Getting creative together