Roy Spence, president of GSD&M, built an advertising company along with three college friends back in 1971. Today that firm employs more than three hundred people and bills more than $500 million annually. He was named 'Ad Man Of the Century' by Texas Monthly and 'Innovator Of The Year' by Advertising Age Magazine. Roy says, "We're not in the advertising business. We are in the 'visionary ideas business.' The fastest and best ideas are the currency of the 21st Century. Arrogance is the enemy of ideas and creativity." GSD&M has taken this belief so far as to name their corporate headquarters Idea City.

The challenge for many people is to find a way to generate breakthrough ideas on a regular basis. In addition to not having a clear, practical method for generating ideas, these same people are often stopped by two common myths about creativity:

Myth #1: Some people simply do not have the capacity to be creative

Myth #2: Creative ideas must always be on a grand scale

Neither one of these is true. Every person regardless of their age, title, income or job description has the potential to develop creative ideas. Also, a series of small breakthrough ideas built one on top of another can double the effectiveness of an organization in a relatively short period of time.

First, a definition: creativity is the ability to visualize an end result that does not exist or does not exist to that level AND the process for achieving it. It is not enough just to see the end result and the impact it could have on your business. You must also see at least a rough sketch of what the path to success looks like.

Here is a way to generate creative ideas that I call The Creative Process:

1. Establish Creative Spaces
2. Select One Issue
3. Turn It Into A Specific, Value-Driven Question
4. Clear The Mental Clutter
5. Eliminate Doubts
6. Rotate The Crops
7. Select Your Best Idea
8. Develop An Action Plan
9. Implement The Plan On A Small Scale
10. Identify What You Learned
11. Make Adjustments And Move Back Into Action

The environment for thinking is important. Find a place away from your home and office and work where you can clear your mind and think. One person I coach goes to the lobby of a huge hotel. Another goes to a bagel shop. Sometimes I sent in the back of a McDonald's restaurant. The key is a space where you won't be interrupted by someone you know or a crisis.

SELECT ONE ISSUE

One of the reasons some people have a hard time generating creative ideas is they are focusing on too many issues at the same time. When that happens, they revert to fire fighting and being extremely tactical. The key is to select only one issue to concentrate on. By doing this, you can gather all of your energy and mental resources and direct it toward that issue. Consequently, I suggest you select your highest priority issue.

TURN IT INTO A SPECIFIC, VALUE-DRIVEN QUESTION

Every issue has a wide variety of perspectives. Say, for example, that your topic is "sales." You might be interested in growing sales, growing sales with a narrower client base, growing sales with a broader client base, maintaining sales while reducing costs and increasing profit, growing sales for a specific niche market, or maintaining sales while working fewer hours. The single issue could have multiple meanings. Therefore, the key is to ask your self a specific, value-driven question. By this, I mean that if you can find an answer to the question then that answer will be of great value to you and your organization. Here is an example,

"How can I add greater real and perceived value to my customers that I can grow my profit and revenues by 20% while working the same number of or fewer hours?"

CLEAR THE MENTAL CLUTTER

With that question in front of you, the next step is to clear away all of the mental clutter that can get in the way of you answering it successfully. One way to do that is to consciously daydream. For example, recall a favorite time in your life. Focus on what you are seeing for thirty seconds. Next focus on what you are hearing. Let it sink in. Then focus on what you are feeling at that moment. After two minutes snap out of your daydream and come directly to your question. I've done that exercise with hundreds of people, and it never ceases to amaze me how quickly and vividly they can recall a situation that happened thirty years ago. The goal is to mentally let go of your to-do list and your concerns of the moment. Free your mind to think clearly.

ELIMINATE DOUBTS

The other thing to let go of before trying to answer this question is all of your doubts regarding this topic. Until your doubts are acknowledged and removed, you will have a limited chance of generating any truly breakthrough concepts. Consequently, I suggest you write down a list of all the reasons why you cannot successfully answer the question. In our example, you would make a list of all the reasons why you cannot grow your revenue and profit by 25% without working any more hours. Your list might include the following:

I will price myself out of the market

The increase will frighten people away

I will be looked upon as greedy

I'm not really worth it

Then take each doubt and complete this statement:
I will overcome this doubt by ________________

Take each doubt one at a time and describe how you will overcome it. If you come down to a few doubts that you just can't figure out a way to resolve, then identify the greatest doubt and turn that into your specific, value-driven question and replace the original one with it.

ROTATE THE CROPS

Once you have settled on one specific question to answer, the next step is to "rotate the crops." When a farmer plants the same crop on the same plot of land year after year, the nutrients in the soil begin to wear out and the land is less productive. The same happens to you when you examine the same problem from the same perspective over and over again. Eventually, you run out of new ideas from improving that issue. Consequently, it is important for you to view the issue from a variety of perspectives. One way to shift your perspective is to ask different questions. The other way is to shift your role. For example, you might try to answer the question from the perspective of the corporate president, a mid-level manager, an extremely loyal customer, a very difficult customer, a competitor, a salesperson with twenty years experience, and a brand new sales person. Make a list of all the answers you generated to the specific, value-driven question.

SELECT YOUR MOST EFFECTIVE IDEA

After you've developed thirty or more answers, then take a look at your list and select what you consider to be the most effective answer. (Of course, all of these steps could be accomplished by a group of individuals working together as well. In the end, the group would discuss and select what they consider to be the most effective answer that was created.)

DEVELOP AN ACTION PLAN

At this point, you shift back into your tactical gear. Take your most effective idea and answer the questions: what, why, who, when, where and how. What will be achieved? Why is this of the greatest value? Who will be responsible for implementing the idea? When will it be implemented? Where will this take place? How will the idea be carried out? Clarify your action plan so that it can be executed in the most efficient way possible.

IMPLEMENT THE PLAN ON A SMALL SCALE

Your idea is still in the embryonic stage. It needs to be tested on a very small scale to see if it has potential. Hitting a homerun on a large scale rarely generates enough income to make up for five or six really big losers. I'm not suggesting that you do focus groups for a year. Action is important. On the other hand, you don't have to try the idea on a huge scale to find out whether or not it has potential.

IDENTIFY WHAT YOU LEARNED

Throughout this trial period, focus on what you are learning. This isn't a pass/fail test. The purpose is to find out what worked, what did not work, what lessons you learned and how you can apply those lessons learned toward achieving better results. Involve the people who are actually implementing the idea in the learning process. Regularly check in with them and ask, "As you did this, what did you learn. What would you do differently the next time?" Keep a journal of these key learnings.

MAKE ADJUSTMENTS AND MOVE BACK INTO ACTION

After your trial period has expired, examine your key learnings and decide how you will implement these lessons in a way that will make your idea even more effective. Then move back into action on a slightly larger scale and implement it again. There may come a point where you will decide to scrap the idea all together. This conclusion should be a natural evolution based on continually learning what is working and what is not working. It should not be a decision based on frustration. More likely, you will develop a kernel of an idea that will grow and grow until it pops into a new and more effective way of doing business.

By applying The Creative Process over and over again, you can steadily generate creative ideas for enhancing any issue you are dealing with. I suggest that you carve out sixty minutes a week for steps one through seven. The implementation of the plan will obviously take much longer. However, the key to enhancing performance is not merely to jump into action, but rather to step back and clarify the value you want created and attack it from a variety of angles.

Dan Coughlin is a professional speaker, executive coach and consultant who specializes in enhanced individual effectiveness.

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