The Importance of Crap Ideas

When it comes to brainstorming I cant stress enough the importance of generating crap ideas. 

I often say to participants in my brainstorms “Give me five crap ideas now!” The request for crap ideas is not only unexpected and humorous but it is extremely liberating. 

The interesting thing is that the ideas they then give me are actually quite good. 

You see as adults we have become scared of our creativity, scared of being judged, scared of saying something stupid. This is not something kids have a problem with at all but somewhere along the line things change and we lose our creative confidence. 

Research has proven that only 1 in every 100 ideas is a great one which means the other 99 ideas are not so good. Therefore, in a brainstorm it is imperative to go for quantity of ideas over quality. This is nearly impossible when people are filtering their own ideas - You come up with an idea but then that little voice in your head says “that’s a crap idea, I’d better not say that one aloud” and so you filter your idea before it even leaves your mouth. 

The other important reason to elicit crap ideas is that they often turn into genius ideas. An idea can sound so ridiculous and so off-brief but with a bit of finessing it can become a game changer. If you don't want to always rehash the same old ideas then you need to become comfortable with the seemingly crap or ridiculous ideas. Going for perfection and trying to nail the gold idea in a brainstorm just doesn't work. Ideas need to time to breathe, they come out rough and often a little clumsy.  Remember, anything truly innovative always sounds strange when its first thought of. I hope you like my example of a crap idea...I'm not sure this one made the cut.

Here are 5 tips on eliciting crap ideas in your brainstorms

1. Remind participants that we are going for quantity of ideas not quality
2. Never put pressure on people to come up with the gold idea in the brainstorm. Create a safe environment where people wont feel judged 
3. Actually request that people give you crap ideas
4. Explain that seemingly crap ideas often turn into genius ideas. The power of brainstorms is that we feed off each others ideas. A crap idea can spark a brilliant idea in someone else…i see this happen a lot
5. Remind participants to be ok with the crap ideas as the core team will reconvene after the brainstorm - all ideas will go through a filter and only creative and effective ideas will be considered at that stage.

Stay creative and go for crap ideas!

Cheers, 

Nicole.

Leave your desk and do something productive: The rise of passion projects, creativity and increased work output.

For years words such as ‘desk’ and ‘office’ have conjured up ideas of work and productivity. In such a setting we relentlessly try to tell ourselves that each sentence typed or memo taken is making us a more accomplished person. Given all this, it’s easy to see how this setting easily becomes mundane.

The solution? Leave it. 

We’re not saying you should storm out of the building, waving your fists in the air. No, instead we’re suggesting you should just work breaks into your daily routine, as studies have suggested the creativity and enthusiasm gained from periods of not working will have a positive effect on your work life. It’s not just flashy lab scientists recognising this either - Patagonia, a surf-wear company, orders staff to leave the office and go surfing whenever the surfs up. They do this because they realise the best ideas don’t happen when you’re sitting at your desk - They happen when you’re experiencing something new or out in nature.

Across all industries we are beginning to see more and more of this behaviour: Jeff Goodby of Goodby Silverstein and Partners paints rocks to look like fruit, whilst brand director James Townsend produces classical music in his spare time. Why? Because the idea that furthering your ambitions comes from pursuing the same repetitive tasks day after day is simply not relevant to modern society. In fact some of the greatest technologies and cultural staples were side projects – social media giant ‘Twitter’ started as just a quirky idea. The power of time out, coupled with the genius of a side project may produce work that inspires and moves yourself and others.

So think about how you could use this Christmas break wisely. Take an idea that’s been in your head and get it down on paper. Start a side project or get out into nature and experience new things - then use that inspiration to generate fresh ideas to kick start 2014 when you return to the office in January. 

Literal Thinking...

Embracing Creative Failure

So many people, so many organizations, spend their days trying to play it safe only to discover that playing it safe has become the riskiest move of all...
http://www.forbes.com/sites/joshlinkner/2013/03/13/embracing-creative-failure/

IMAGINATION by Jason Silva

An extremely passionate and inspiring film on imagination "We're rendering our visions, our dreams on the instantiated, euclidean meatspace!"Jason Silva, IMAGINATION http://vimeo.com/34902950

Finding Creative Talent - It Might Be Right Under Your Nose...

CEO's have identified that creativity and ideas are the key to success for business in the coming years. As a result of this, HR depts are desperately trying to find and hire people with good creative thinking skills. Kate Canales is a Creative Director at Frog. She thinks that the first place to look is within your organisation and I tend to agree. Closet creatives are everywhere and I guarantee they are walking your halls. In this article, Kate gives some ideas on how to identify them and how to support them. http://www.theatlantic.com/life/archive/2011/06/finding-creative-people-is-easy-and-heres-how/240069/

Write Your Ideas Down - The Power of Your Moleskine...

In this video from the PSFK conference in New York City we see how precious our ideas are. But only if you actually write them down. From Molskine to Marketplace tells the story of how initial ideas written down in Joe and the founders’ notebooks have provided most of the Airbnb's company structure and creative solutions. It might be worth flicking through your Moleskine to see what ideas you've forgotten about...http://vimeo.com/23275754