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Techniques for generating ideas have been around for a long time; however, like many other things that have also been around along time, it is a special skill unto itself. Excellence at the skill of generating great ideas can pay great dividends personally and professionally.

The basics of ideal generation

One way to generate ideas by yourself is to simply get into a quiet spot by yourself and tell yourself and allow yourself to write down 20 ideas, to solve your problem, as follows:

1. At the top of your list clearly write down your question – the question or problem that you want to generate ideas for.
2. As soon as you feel satisfied – and it should be pretty quick – that you have clearly laid out the problem, start recording your ideas.
3. Set a goal to generate 20 ideas. What this will do is enable you to generate some of the easier more obvious ideas initially, and as you put them down you will free your mind to think about other ideals.
4. In my experience, once I get 10, 12 or 13 ideas, or so, it starts getting tougher. Keep at it, as often the best ideas begin to occur and begin to gel near the bottom of the list – even at number 20.

I learned this technique from a great teacher in the field of personal development - Brian Tracy, of Nightingale Conant.

The golden rule of idea generation

Whether you want ideas generated on your project team, within your organization, in your work group, or in your meeting, one rule sits above all. It is tougher than it sounds; the rule is

“It’s amazing what we can accomplish if no one cares who gets the credit”.

You’ve probably heard this quote somewhere along the line. The problem is, it is more difficult to really implement than you think. What is required is to create a culture of credit for everything but credit for nothing. In other words, be highly appreciative of what people do, but don’t over do it to the point where people are always trying to get credit. After all, the goal really is for the team and organization to accomplish its goals. Personal goals will be accomplished along the way.

The better situated in your culture is the golden rule of idea generation, the more likely it is you will have success when your group endeavors to generate ideas. Don’t fret if you don’t have the golden rule down pat. You may never have it exactly where you want it to be but keep striving for it.

Give your team credit

Always make sure to give your team the credit for what it accomplishes in goal generation. Try to avoid singling out individuals on the team. If you give credit to your team everyone will feel part of this entity which is bigger than them, and you will find that whenever you need to generate ideas to solve problems, your resources will be there ready to go.

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John Reiling, PMP

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