Got Any Great Ideas?

June has just begun. If you're in a calendar-year company that feels it's time for a change, you may begin working on a salary or incentive plan redesign any day now. As part of the design team, you'll need to put your brain in creativity mode and keep the ideas flowing -- about how the business strategy should be executed, what will motivate your employees, what your managers can implement effectively, how to build support from employees and so on.

Have you ever had a great idea that just disappears out of your memory? Insights into business drivers that could be more a more motivating basis for incentives? Or a better alternative for rewarding employees who are redlined? You know the idea was there but when you go back it's gone. When it happens to me, it drives me crazy.

I just ran into some research that explains how this happens, how to avoid it and some things we can do to make sure that we function at our creative best. I thought I'd pass along the practical suggestions because they are easy, and they have really helped me when I am cooking up new ideas.

Harvard psychologist Shelley Carson and author of the upcoming book, Your Creative Brain: Seven Steps to Maximize Imagination, Productivity, and Innovation in Your Life, describes two creative brain states. The first is the deliberate pathway which handles problem solving, reasoning. It's the pathway we use when we are focused on completing a task. The second is the spontaneous pathway. It is involved when we are brainstorming or generating proposals. It can turn on -- or be more easily accessed -- when we defocus our attention. Do you get your best ideas in the shower? In boring meetings? On a long drive? You get the picture.

Most of your creative ideas occur by way of the spontaneous pathway. So, one thing to realize is that sitting in front of a computer screen, hands poised over the keyboard is probably not going to get you to your greatest insights. Formal meetings and PowerPoint presentations probably won't work especially well, either.

Another thing to realize is that the deliberate pathway is often in charge, as we all know. As a result, ideas that occur spontaneously can easily be forgotten because other more immediate things engage us to act deliberately. What can you do about it? Keep a notebook with you at all times and write down your ideas. Or make the most of those gadgets we all love. iPhones and such enable you to record ideas easily either verbally or in writing.

It sounds like something so basic that you can skip it, but if you are really serious about giving your best to your problem solving, keeping these idea notes is essential and quite satisfying.

Specializing in compensation communications and change management, ideas and creativity are income for me so I study how to treat them kindly. Plus I'm a poet, so I need to look deeply into what helps ideas to appear. One more form of life-long learning for me.

I have learned that ideas of any sort need to be nourished. Here's an approach that works based on both research and practice. Small things to consider and share with your project team members that can have big payoffs . . . if you are really serious about making a difference the next time you take on a project.

Margaret O’Hanlon is founder and principal of re:Think Consulting.  She has decades of experience teaming up with clients to ensure great Human Resource ideas deliver valuable business results.  Margaret brings deep expertise in total rewards communication to the dialogue at the Café; before founding re:Think Consulting, she was a Principal in Total Rewards Communications with Towers Perrin.  Margaret earned her M.S. and Ed.S. in Instructional Technology at Indiana University.  Creative writing is one of her outside passions.

Comments

[Drew Hawkins]

I can definitely relate to using my iPhone for recording ideas. I typically use the voice memo feature or the notepad to jot down things that I know I'll forget moments later. Great suggestions!

[Margaret O'Hanlon]

Thanks Drew. The iPhone can do so many things for so many people, it's always helpful to share ideas.

Have fun with it!

[Wally Bock]

Great post, Margaret. One way to take your point a bit farther is to take the advice we developed in a creativity/innovation course for a major oil company. We asked people in class where they got their good ideas. For some it was the shower. Others got them driving or walking the dog, or exercising or doing housework. It's likely to be a situation where the body goes on autopilot and the mind can roam. Recreate that situation. Take a shower or go for a walk.

Some people known for creativity have a special place in their home or office where they go to "think." Others have a special chair or posture or pre-idea ritual. Find what works for you.

You're absolutely right about capturing the ideas you get. The little darlings are like butterflies, soon gone on the wind. An iphone will work and so will a pocket digital recorder, but make sure you've got a notebook or index cards and a pen, too. Sometimes you'll get a good idea when you're in a place that you can't talk.

[Margaret O'Hanlon]

Wally, thanks for talking about idea stimulators. Everyone has a different version, usually many options depending on the type of creating that they are facing. One thing that helps me is my clothes. If I have a long piece to write or a presentation to design or so on, I have a set of sweat clothes that are comfortable. Using them signals to me that I am going to settle down and invite the ideas to flow. Showers are also a good bet!