This is the sixth in a series of 16 daily posts celebrating my 16th anniversary in business with 16 lessons I've learned. Scroll down to read others, or read the introductory post here.

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Creativity and innovation has been something I've done more than dabble in over the past 16 years. I think I have always been interested, but while I was still at Chevron, I had the chance to teach a two day creativity and innovation workshop that I loved. It spurred my thinking, peaked my curiosity and got me on a learning path about creativity and innovation.

I've studied the subject, read about and applied many techniques - both for myself and for our clients. I've taught, wrote and spoken on the subject, and developed some techniques myself.

Through all of this, I've learned some important things. . .

All of us can be creative.

We have the capability at birth. Look at kids. They get a new toy, but play with the box! They have imaginations, ask curious questions (a necessary precursor to creative thought) and aren't afraid to ask those questions or try new things.

You were that kid once. You didn't lose those skills, you lost the behaviors and habits that allowed your creativity to be exposed. It is still inside, ready to be tapped. We just have to allow it to come out - and maybe practice some too (this is where creativity exercises and techniques help us most).

When we allow ourselves to think and be more cretive, good things will happen to us. I highly recommend it, AND . . .

Creativity itself is just part of the game.

As adults, in business or in trying to solve any problem or meet any challenge, fnding cretive ideas and solutions are really important! Ifwe don't create the ideas, we can't possibly try them. If we don't get the more creative approaches into the conversation they can't be used.

So . . .

Creativity is fun, but innovation makes the difference.

We can't get the big innovations without creative ideas and practices, so we must cultivate our creativity. But we can't make creativity the goal (at least in terms of creating success for ourselves and in our organizations). Creativity is a wonderful waystation - and fablously fun and rewarding endeavor, but it isn't the end game.

Because . . .

Innovation is about action.

And I can prove it. Ever had an idea and later you saw that idea being used, or the product on the shelf? Your idea was great, obviously, but it is of no real value (other than the excitement of the initial creative process) unless you take action on the idea - unless you take a risk, and take some action.

Innovation is about action.

So . . .

I chose to talk about innovation as my personal lesson today, because today we are unveiling the third part of our 16th Anniversary celebration. this is the most creative part of the celebration - an online live streaming television show where you can ask me questions, I will share thoughts and ideas, you can listen to special guests and have the chance to learn about 16 surprises I will announce during the show.

This idea was a bit different (and the seed of the idea came from Jenny Pratt), but once we took action on it, we had other ideas, other streams of thought, and it all began to come together.

One of those creative ideas was to use a video to promote our online party. I've included it here - I hope you enjoy it - and I hope you go to our party invitation, and choose to join us (and tell your friends) on October 16th!

Labels: creativity, innovation

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If you've ever taken a shower or gone on a walk, then you've had an idea. If you've ever been to a meeting, then you've either shared or heard an idea. And even though you've had plenty of new ideas, do you consider yourself creative? Many people don't - no matter how many new ideas they have each day.

If you think idea generation is directly related to innovation, and you don't think you are very creative, your ability to be innovative will be hampered.

In reality, generating ideas is just one part of the innovation process; recognizing that you need more than ideas is an important step towards being more innovative.

There are six specific things you can do to generate innovations individually or as the leader of a group. These steps will predictably lead you to more than just better ideas but to innovations that - when implemented - will make a difference in your results.

The next time you are facing a challenge, opportunity or problem personally, as part of a team or within an organization you lead, walk through these six steps.

1. Agree on the situation. The best place to begin in any problem solving or innovation project is to have a clear understanding and mutual agreement on what the problem, situation or opportunity is. Take the time to get past what might seem obvious. Experience shows that many opportunities are never fully capitalized on because this initial step is never completed.
2. Step back for a look. Once you have a clear understanding of the focus of your innovation, step back and gain some perspective. This may be done by asking questions to prompt a new perspective and/or by providing time and space before continuing the innovation process. If possible, pose some perspective changing questions and table the task until later. While you certainly want to discuss your situation from new perspectives, it is also helpful to give people time to soak on these perspectives.
3. Take stock of what you've got. Give yourself or the group time to take inventory of what resources, ideas and strengths you already possess that will help you in this innovation exercise. Too often these things aren't considered until much later. By considering and inventorying them now, it will begin to spur ideas and allow your innovations to complement your strengths and resources.
4. Affirm that you can. In order to create more ideas, you must believe that you can. Doing the first three steps primes the ideas in your mind, creating a process for spurring ideas and providing proof that you can do it. Make no mistake, your belief that we can be creative is important. Taking the first three steps here will automatically bolster your belief through action.
5. Rev up your thinking. This is the traditional step of brainstorming (in other words this is where most people start this process!). When you rev the motor of your car, you put the "pedal to the metal." When you rev up your thinking, we put your mental pedal to the medal. Remove all limitations to your thinking. Use all of the work you have done up until now to get started, but dive into your situation and think of any and all ideas that could possibly help solve your problem or help you capitalize on the situation.
6. Think Yes! Once you have a large (even tremendous) list of ideas, review them looking for yeses. Yeses are things that could be implemented or could be part of a solution. Don't simply look for the single, right answer. Think instead in terms of how many of these ideas to which you can say yes. How many of them can become a part of your solution? Once you have your list of yeses, you are ready for the next step.

The next step?

You may be thinking, "but, Kevin, you told me there were six steps." You're right, that is exactly what I said; but really there are seven. The seventh step comes from the first letters of the other six: A START.

The next step is to recognize that all of the other steps are just a start. What comes next is to actually start.

The final key to innovation action is to act.

Too often more time is spent on the process of creating ideas and plans with hardly any time spent capitalizing on those ideas quickly enough or at all.

As an individual or a leader don't fall into that trap - always remember the end goal of any innovation is new and improved results. When you follow all of these steps, you improve your chances of creating innovations of all kinds - from small improvements to major breakthroughs.

Potential Pointer: Innovation is about more than ideas. Ideas in and of themselves have no value. Innovation comes from putting the ideas into a plan, and putting that plan into motion. To improve your results and solve problems more effectively, take innovative action.

Labels: innovation

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