The Creativity Cull
November 24, 2008 by Stuart
The word “cull” is possibly a bit extreme; it conjures up thoughts of killing and death. So often ideas are killed off before they even have time to take their first breath. We are excellent at telling anyone who comes up with an idea what is wrong with it, but we rarely stop to think what the benefits and values of the idea might be. This can be overcome using the Six Thinking Hats®, which encourages parallel thinking and ensures that all ideas can get a “fair hearing”.
A new idea is like a newborn baby, it needs to be nurtured and carefully developed.
Handling a large number of ideas can be a real challenge and therefore the word “harvesting” (as opposed to cull) is much more positive, friendly and non-threatening.
The Holst Group has produced an excellent process called “Managing Your Ideas Pool” which allows you to handle all your ideas successfully and quickly. However many ideas are generated, you are able to harvest, refine and evaluate them and more importantly, identify the real high value ideas that can be implemented.
The process is used extensively in facilitations and is a core element in The Innovator’s Toolkit workshop. Many companies throughout the UK and Europe have used it successfully and there is an excellent case study available demonstrating how the process was used within the NHS with amazing results.
For more information please call 0800 043 3950 or visit www.holstgroup.co.uk
Idea Pool is certainly a good term for nurturing ideas, for with it is also associated the term swim.One needs to swim with ones ideas to shore lest they drown in the pool. In absence of such creativity incubators ideas find difficulty in surviving.
Knowing the asymetric pattern forming habbit of human brain,it appreas often when we get a faint /weak idea which in turn gets linked to another and that to another..and we lose its track.The ideadies its natural death.