Unleashing the Creative Spark
I created the model below to help individuals and teams to generate ideas.
Creativity itself may not be of best use if playing solo. This pyramid with three faces offers the structure needed to have ideas sparking.
On one side, there is Knowledge.
You can only use what you know. Therefore, it's important to enlarge this base by adding competencies, skills and information. You can invest in formal education, you may participate in different activities to broaden your perspectives, you may be tuned with the news and other fields of knowledge.
On the second side, there is Customer.
By knowing your customer's pain, you will be able to move towards solutions. Putting yourself on their shoes makes a great difference to understand the constraints, the true environment they are inserted. Take the time to live their experience as a customer.
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Finally, the third side is Creativity.
Here where you let your mind flow freely, asking questions: 'What If...", using creativity models such as Scamper and others. Here you allow yourself to be funny and even silly. Bring absurd ideas to live, connect non-obvious dots based on your experience. You bring good laughs to the table and it's noticeable a smile is in your face.
The top vector, where Knowledge, Customer and Creativity connects is the ignition where the sparks start to fly. Let it fly to become stars. The more you allow it to flow, without judgement, more chances will you have material to evaluate and convert into a real actionable idea.
Here comes then, the bottom side of the pyramid. Flip it to access the Judgement.
This is now a new phase where you will take the ideas generated and will evaluate each one based on data, economic viability, engineering, logistics, resources, etc.
Here the ideas are going to be tested and eventually modified. Simply flit the pyramid over to the creative side and generate more ideas. It's a continuous flipping exercise aimed to achieve great results.
Try this out and let me know how it goes!
Senior HR professional, Passionate about People & Organizations
1 年Mr. Nilsson... You again... Innovation knows you by name
Nice Gus, creativity is your baby - remind me of old times. On the post - it would be interesting to explore the knowledge part to multidisciplinary teams - and the role of an educated facilitator in the process! Cheers, and fly high!
Product Designer
1 年Amazing Gustav. I loved your model and I also liked to learn about the SCAMPER tool. I like to think about innovation as a 3 steps process I call KUS from 1-Know 2-Use 3-Scale. 1- Research and ideation process; 2- Explore proof of concepts and minimum viable product; 3- Leave the realm of ideas exploration and make it a real thing at work for the long run. I am intrigued by the proximity between creativity and curiosity. I believe the answer is something related to embrace the unknown.
Business Innovation & PMO at SLB
1 年Thank you, Gustav, for the session! The participants left feeling inspired and motivated to tackle challenges with enthusiasm. I am confident that we will witness a surge in innovative ideas :)