THE IGNITE SKILLS

SKILL ONE — Being able to generate lots of options and possiblities

Back in the early 2000s, I worked as an innovation director in a research agency. We were responsible for helping big brands such as American Express, Coca-Cola, P&G, Diageo and Vodafone generate ideas and develop them into new products and services. What we discovered was that ideas could be greatly enhanced by including what we called ‘Creative Consumers/Customers’ – ordinary people that purchased and used products or services from the category in which we wanted to innovate, who were also creative and could generate lots of ideas. For example, when working with a beverages company to create new concepts, we involved creative, young men between the ages of 20–25 who liked to drink beer. The Creative Consumers were not there to critique or give their opinions on ideas that had already been generated, but to create them, in collaboration with the client, and, in so doing, challenge the client’s way of thinking. Today, this practice often is referred to as co-creation – to co-create ideas and solutions for problems or opportunities with people outside of your organisation. The challenge is to find people who are creative as well as potential customers.

SKILL TWO — Being able to challenge assumptions

When I was a little girl, I used to love playing in the kitchen while my mum cooked dinner. I would empty the cupboards and take out the pots and pans, plastic bottles and containers and start to play. In my mind, the pots and pans were starships and rockets and all manner of imaginary things. Gradually, I stopped playing. I grew up. I had neatly filed into my brain that pots were for cooking, they were not starships after all.

As children, we make sense of the world by creating associations, or ‘schemas’. These create the basis of the branching of our neurons in our brain. As we learn new things, our neurons develop like a tree and new branches are formed. The brain automatically sorts and files information according to these schemas. As we grow older, we are using the same pathways time and time again that become larger and deeper. The flow of new ideas starts to slow down but the flow of information speeds up. The brain becomes faster at classifying information by recognition and requires less and less reflection. This is why many adults find it hard to be creative. While there are great benefits to being able to look at an object and interpret its use in multiple ways, I would look silly now if I thought a pot was a starship. Therefore, when it comes to challenging the way that we think, the deep neural pathways, which allow us to process the world in a more efficient manner, simultaneously stop us from thinking differently.

There is a need for stimulus – a search for new experiences that jolt us into making new and unique connections. This could be anything that is not in our current pathway of thinking. It jolts us from one mental pathway to another and allows lateral connections, enabling the brain to create alternative ways of thinking.

SKILL THREE — Being able to see how ideas could be combined or connected

Brain classification is an advantage as it allows us to handle a huge amount of data and information, but there are two big drawbacks to making such rapid classifications. First, the assumptions the brain makes can sometimes be wrong and cause us to jump to conclusions and make snap decisions about people or situations. Second, the way the brain processes information can inhibit creativity – every time we try to think of something new, the brain will use the same pathways. We get stuck in a rut. We cannot think out of the box. We find making new connections difficult.

Many of us are familiar with the terms right and left brain, right being responsible for creativity and left for logical analysis. While these terms are evolving and changing with the developments in neuroscience, it is important to be aware of how much time we spend doing tasks or activities that reinforce a particular way of thinking as this can inhibit our ability to make connections between ideas. Our societies, our schools and our work places largely reward logic, rational thinking, analysis, judgement and control. I have not known many organisations, or lived in many environments, which reward and reinforce daydreaming, emotion, art, colour, music, conversation and holistic ways of thinking. This is why it takes more effort; this is why it is often difficult to think differently. While the behaviours of judgement and control are necessary, in fact, even vital to innovation, they can kill off the early shoots of creativity that give an idea novelty.

If you do not think of yourself as particularly creative, the good news that this research identifies is that we can learn to be more creative and, if we lead or manage others, we can help to create an environment that stimulates creative thinking.

SKILL FOUR — Being broadminded about learning new things

We are all familiar with the term ‘thinking out of the box’, but what is the box? The box is made up of our experience, perceptions and knowledge of how we make sense of things. It is our worldview. It is relatively easy to have ideas within a domain in which we are interested or have experience, as there is familiarity, knowledge and comfort in what is already known. While there is nothing inherently wrong in this, when we are trying to innovate, we need to think outside of what already exists. Brain classification does not help us here either, as we get stuck with what we know. This is the box that we need to break out of. Coupled with this is the human tendency to conform to group culture – normal or expected behaviour. If we challenge what is deemed to be right, correct and proper, then we will be seen as an outsider to the group. This causes a big dilemma in organisations as they need to cultivate creativity and curiosity in their employees, but they also want them to obey the rules. Organisations have largely been built for efficiency and growth and have rewarded people who can implement plans and drive productivity. Again, there is nothing necessarily wrong in this but, if we want to cultivate new thinking, we have to challenge what already exists, in ourselves, as well as the organisations and societies in which we work and live.

The brain needs new inputs to draw from in order to create ideas. As you build these approaches into your daily living, you will find random thoughts start to percolate and images, words and ideas will appear and start to stimulate new thinking.

SKILL FIVE — Being able to stimulate others to contribute their ideas

Have you ever shared an idea with a colleague only to have it shot down? If that happens over and over again, I can guarantee you will stop sharing your ideas with this person. Yet, ideas are the fuel of innovation. So, what makes us share our ideas with some people and not others? Maybe the person is open-minded and curious, maybe they are great at building on our ideas to make them better and maybe they are influential and willing to support us. It could be a lot of things, but fundamental to this relationship – particularly at the early stages of innovation when ideas are often raw and undefined – is the sense of feeling safe and being heard.

In one of my previous roles, I was hired to help an organisation to become more customer focused. Energy and enthusiasm was in the air and there was a great feeling of new possibility. Within two years, I, and many other people, had left. Despite being hired specifically for our creativity, the culture just did not support it. If I heard, ‘Oh, we have tried that before’, ‘That will never work’, ‘A great idea, but it will never get approval’, once, I heard it many times. The most creative person can be stifled in their creativity if their work environments are not supportive of new ideas. We can think of these behaviours as a bit soft, yet the atmosphere in which people work, generated often by the behaviour of managers, is fundamental to getting the best out of people, which, ultimately, affects motivation.

SKILL SIX — Being able to create a culture where there is freedom of expression

A couple of years ago, I attended a conference in New York on neuroleadership, where thought leaders from the world of neuroscience and leadership development came together to explore what science can teach us about how we lead people and develop innovative places to work. One of the guest speakers, Dr Karen Stephenson, a leading expert in the field of social network analysis (SNA), opened my thinking to why organisations find it so hard to build and sustain a culture of innovation. Innovation can be in your mission statement, hanging on the wall or listed as one of your top organisational values – but if trust is not being cultivated within the flow of work, innovation will be eroded, diluted or even completely stalled, no matter the wishes of senior management. It is one thing to have new ideas yourself, but if you can create a culture where others feel free to share their ideas, you are able to leverage this skill beyond your own capability.

Work does not necessarily flow through neatly designed organisational charts. It flows randomly and spontaneously through people talking, listening, supporting and challenging each other in different parts of the company. The power these key connectors have is given, not taken. It is given by their numerous trusted relationships with people around them – and, more often than not, senior vice-president will not be on their business card. Want to cultivate innovation? It will not happen if you are asking people to submit or share ideas that are killed off quietly by other power brokers that insist on preserving the status quo. From our experience in working with Dr Stephenson, the organisations that are starting to see the power of harnessing key trust relationships are the ones who have a head start in building and sustaining a culture of innovation.

TOOLS

Networks of trust

On a piece of paper, write your name in the middle and then write up all the names of people that you share new ideas with.

1. Draw a thin line between yourself and others for low trust and a thick line for high trust.
2. If you contact the person a lot, draw a shorter line.
3. How many trusted relationships do you have?
4. Are you overly reliant on one or two people? If so, try to develop other relationships. Reconnect with someone you have not spoken to for a long time. For example, in the drawing here, person A is trusted but not contacted very often, person D is highly trusted and contacted a lot, maybe too much. This person could strengthen their relationship with person E, who is not as close but does have a medium level of trust.

The ability to ignite requires diversity, diverse thinking, diverse inputs and perspectives. How can you encourage more? To dig deeper into developing the skill set of ignite, refer to the resource guide at the end of this chapter.