The Power Of Ideation

I work with a lot of Leaders and something they often struggle with is Ideas.

Most people's process goes exactly this:

Problem ➼ Idea ➼ Do It! ➼ Unsatisfactory Results

It almost works like clockwork.

Quickly, it is followed by a Psychological Problem.

A Question, "How did I fail?"

It leads right back into the cycle:

Problem ➼ Idea ➼ Do It! ➼ Unsatisfactory Results

Another failure, and more Discouragement.

The thing about being Human - we hate to lose.

Deep down, we would rather be AMAZING at being Mediocre, than constantly Lose at being Amazing.

This cycle continues one or two more times before Hope is lost and Plans are abandoned completely.

I get it, and I've been there myself.

But our Goals as Leaders require us to get Results!

So what are we to do?

The first thing we need to realize is that often, our first Idea is not actually that good.

I'm not going to say it is "terrible"... but sometimes it is.

A better way to say it is that our first Ideas are often Uninformed.

There are a LOT of Variables that we haven't looked at, and haven't considered.

This becomes a HUGE Problem for us as, eventually, our Plans will meet with those Variables and Roadblocks.

If we jump immediately to "Do It!" the Variables and Roadblocks will feel like Mountains.

What we need to understand though is that we don't necessarily have to climb those Mountains.

If we are smart about how we approach problems, we could completely avoid many of the "Mountains" that may exist and simply choose a different Path.

What is the Key to choosing a different Path?

Ideation.

The Process of coming up with as many Ideas as Possible prior to choosing an option.

It would end up looking something more like this:

Problem ➼ Ideas ➼ More Ideas ➼ Even More Ideas ➼ Think of Potential Road Blocks and Variables ➼ Create More Ideas If Necessary ➼ Look For the Solutions Most Likely Account For Road Blocks and Variables ➼ From Best Ideas, Choose One To Start With ➼ Do it! ➼ If Necessary, Go Back To List

To have your best chance at finding Success, come up with more Ideas at the beginning.

I'd tell you to come up with TOO MANY Ideas.

Even put HORRIBLE Ideas up there!

Now, why does this end up working differently?

First, by starting with many Ideas, you move past the tendency of landing on a Bad First Idea.

By going further, you tend to Stretch your mind to come up with Better and Better Ideas as you go.

With this, the longer you stick to Ideation, the more likely you will find a Flow State, which will unlock higher Innovation and Creativity on Problems.

Plus, when you tie in Horrible Ideas, purposefully, you are doing a fascinating Psychological Trick of inherently designing what you "don't" want.

The better you understand what you are NOT looking for, the easier you end up finding what you ARE looking for!

Then, when we stop and truly consider the Road Blocks and Variables that "could" happen, we are strengthening our Ideas.

Part of the problem with the first approach is that the Idea falls at the first sign of being Challenged.

However, you are PLANNING for your Ideas to be Challenged in this second approach, which Immediately makes them Stronger.

Also, in Challenging your Ideas, you might come to see how much MORE you need to consider, which can unlock MORE Creativity and Innovation!

However, perhaps one of the strongest Benefits of this is in Creating a List of "Solutions", and the Key is that it is Plural.

When you only have "one" Idea, you have all your Hope wrapped around that NEEDING to Succeed.

However, if you have "multiple" Ideas, you can be honest with yourself when an option isn't working, and it doesn't bother you Psychologically because you have MORE to work with!

It's a clever way of getting around "Failure".

When you have a list of Potential Ideas, any one of them isn't a "Failure", each one that doesn't work is a Successful Step to finding the Best Solution from the Bunch!

This is the Power that comes with Ideation when you do it well.