Concept development - Idea generation - Compass

Purpose

To generate ideas using all four Innovation Styles

Duration

20 - 30 minutes

Instructions

1. Define and describe an issue for which you want some new, creative ideas.
2. Take four to six minutes for each Style. Generate ideas using either the questions below or questions customized to your issue:
   • Visioning:
     • General: What ideas could give us an ideal future?
     • Emotion-based Ideas: What would excite us?
     • Getting Ideas from Customers: What could meet the long-term goals and strategy?
     • New Products or Services: What ideas represent the ideal wishes of our customers?
     • Organizational Change Processes: What could produce the best possible "world-class" organization?
     • Quality Process Improvement: What could give us the ultimate process?
     • Strategic Planning: How can we be ideally positioned in our industry?
   • Exploring:
     • General: What ideas could start with new assumptions?
     • Emotion-based Ideas: What would surprise us?
     • Getting Ideas from Customers: What could revolutionize the way things are done?
     • New Products or Services: What ideas would break the rules of "conventional wisdom" about our industry?
     • Organizational Change Processes: What could shake up (or "unfreeze") the organization to allow a new way of doing things?
     • Quality Process Improvement: What could we do if we started from scratch?
     • Strategic Planning: How can we rewrite the rules of competition or invent new industries?
   • Experimenting:
     • General: What ideas could combine different elements?
     • Emotion-based Ideas: What would amuse us?
     • Getting Ideas from Customers: What could be tested to see how it works under trial circumstances?
     • New Products or Services: What ideas have the right mix of features?
     • Organizational Change Processes: What could give us the best synergy among our units and capabilities?
     • Quality Process Improvement: What could combine the best features of many processes?
     • Strategic Planning: How can we synthesize different capabilities, markets, technologies, and partnerships? What can we combine to form a new solution?
   • Modifying:
     • General: What ideas could we adapt or modify to what we've done?
     • Emotion-based Ideas: What would satisfy us?
     • Getting Ideas from Customers: What could be added to what is already in place?
     • New Products or Services: What ideas would extend our current offerings?
     • Organizational Change Processes: What could preserve the best of the status quo and still move us forward?
     • Quality Process Improvement: What could improve on the current process?
     • Strategic Planning: How can we build upon our core strengths and competencies?