The dreaded request for “out of the box” ideas

Has your client recently said things like: “We need to think differently” or  “We have to push the work,” or my personal favorite: “These ideas are thin.” Ouch. That hurts!

This is not solely a “creative’s” issue. In today’s ever-changing market, we’re faced with complex challenges, and collectively we realize that relentless ingenuity is crucial to stay ahead of the competition. Regardless of the medium or channel, we need to generate ideas that can drive innovation, and possess the ability to think differently.

What ever you’re doing…Stop!  Lets have a think. Take another look.

Challenge the manadatories: For every objective, you have a list of assumptions. Reword the problem:  so you look at the issue from different angles. You might decide for example, that the best course of action is to NOT solve the roadblock, and instead arrive a new insight or simply provide a intentional and challenging point of view.

Start at the end: Consider instead, how could you create or worsen the problem. The ‘backwards’ ideas will come flowing in. Think about it – reversed them again – and I’ll bet you just thought of something new, now that you’ve been unleashed.

Say it a different way:  Express your thoughts through different forums. Pinterest, take a walk, listen to music… what ever. Avoid limiting yourself to just solving it through talking. Don’t worry about solving the challenge at this point. Just express it. Your different process will bring a new pattern, and therefore a different outcome.

Ask someone: Approach someone in a different line of work, or even a child. So many ideas are universal to all challenges, and are really, very simple.

Know your business: Be clear on the objective. No point in wasting all this brilliant concept development on an agenda that can’t be supported. Is the idea to be conceptual? Or simply show off a new capability for example. Or maybe its even simpler, and its a solution for improved efficiencies. As we know, someone else’s idea of “out of the box,” may not be the same as yours.

The ability to generate new ideas is an essential work skill today, regardless of the industry, medium or channel. But like anything else, if you’re going to generate the “new,” then you might have to re-think your approach.

Tags | out of the box idea generator