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08.07
Unleash
Your Inner Innovator
By John R.
Platt
I first met Jeff (not his real
name) at a bookstore in central New Jersey. Jeff
was an IEEE member and an engineer, but he
didn't seem to have a very high opinion of
himself. "I just do my job," he told me. "I'm
not one of those R&D guys."
This surprised me. I asked him,
"Don't you think you'll invent something some
day?" "Nah," he replied. "I don't think I have
it in me to do something really innovative."
I felt bad for Jeff, because of
those two words he used: "really innovative."
Without even realizing it, Jeff was placing so
much pressure on himself and his creativity that
he wasn't even willing to try.
The truth is, ideas come in all
shapes and sizes, and anyone can come up an
innovative idea. But unfortunately, not everyone
puts themselves in an intellectual place where
they are ready to take advantage of their own
creativity to do something innovative.
So... how do you come up with
something innovative? Sometimes all it takes is
putting yourself in the right frame of mind.
Here are some strategies and approaches you can
take to help unleash your own inner innovator.
Step 1: Ignore the
Nay-Sayers... Including Yourself
The first step toward coming up
with an innovative idea is to give yourself
permission to innovate. You can't do anything if
you're holding yourself back. If you have ideas,
let them live. Write them down. Try them out.
Test them. Voice them. Exercise your creativity.
The more you let yourself think in new ways,
them more often you will do it.
Don't let others shoot your
ideas down, either. This can happen far too
often on an organizational level. "That won't
work here" or "We've always done it this way"
are no longer excuses. Rigidity leads to
stagnation. Don't be afraid of change. Embrace
it.
Step 2: Start Small (Unless
You Think Big)
Not every innovation changes the
world in one giant step. Sometimes it's just as
important to make small, incremental changes.
Think about it: can you make a
small improvement to something that already
exists? Can you add value to an existing
application? If you could improve a device that
you use every day, how would you do it? Can you
combine two ideas and make them better or easier
when the work together?
Along the same line, many
processes are ripe for improvement and
innovation. Start by taking a look at the
processes you use every day. If something takes
ten steps, can you do it in nine? If not, can
you trim the time for any of the steps and make
them more efficient? Is there an entirely
different way of doing something which will
produce the same or similar result? Can you cut
costs? These are all vital questions, and
answering them is just as important as coming up
with a new product.
You don't have to start small,
of course. Your ability to innovate is limited
only by your ability to dream. Speaking of
which...
Step 3: Inspire/Challenge
Your Creativity
You've probably heard the
expression "think outside the box." It's a good
phrase, but how do you actually do it?
Here's one example. In 1975,
musician Brian Eno and painter Peter Schmidt
came up with a technique to break themselves out
of creative stalemates. They produced a deck of
cards they called "Oblique Strategies." Each
card contained a simple, challenging statement,
like "change instrument roles,""turn it upside
down" and "emphasize the flaws." While some of
the cards obviously have more to do with music
than anything else, they have been used for
years by numerous writers and creative people to
help point their work in directions they might
not otherwise have expected.
The lessons of "Oblique
Strategies" are simple: ask questions, don't
make assumptions, don't force yourself down the
same path over and over again, look outside
yourself, and trust yourself to come up with the
answers you need.
Step 4: Role Play
Let's say you're working a
particularly thorny problem, and you just can't
come up with an answer. But perhaps you know of
someone else in your field -- let's call him
Fred -- who excels at this type of work. Don't
go ask Fred for help, but instead, ask yourself:
"What would Fred do in this situation?" Get
inside Fred's head and put yourself in his
shoes. By looking at things from Fred's
perspective, you might be able to role-play
yourself into an answer.
This technique also works in
reverse. Just ask yourself, "What wouldn't
Fred do?" Sometimes taking the opposite approach
of the experts in your field can yield
surprising results.
Another form of role playing can
be of great use when working on new products.
Try to put yourself in the mindset of your
end-user. How will they use a product? What need
will it serve? What problems would get in the
way of their enjoyment? What would make it more
useful? Understanding your customer is more than
a marketing technique, it can help you to fill a
need that isn't being filled.
Step 5: Absorb Everything
Your mind is just like your
stomach: it needs to be fed in order to fuel
your creativity. Read everything you can get
your hands on. Try new things. Cram your head
with concepts and ideas and realities. Once your
head is full, your subconscious mind can start
to sort through all of those little bits of
information and combine them in unexpected ways.
When something new comes along, it may trigger a
memory of something else, and your mind may
combine the two to create something entirely
new.
One man who understands this
practice is science-fiction and comic-book
writer Warren Ellis (Planetary,
Crooked Little Vein). Ellis is known for the
wild ideas which populate his fiction. He also
has a very good take on where inspiration,
creativity and innovation come from: "You take
it from everywhere. It's like making compost:
you stack up a big pile of crap until it starts
steaming, and hope something useful fuses
together at the bottom of the pile. You take in
as much information, as much experience, as
possible, and let it float around until bits
connect together and form something new. That's
inspiration. That's writing."
That's also innovation. Give it
a try. See if your mind can take one plus one
and come up with three.
Step 6: Try, Try, Try, then
Fail Again
Not every idea is going to pan
out. Don't worry about it. Learn from your
mistakes, and keep trying. Or examine where you
went wrong, and ask if it might lead to
something different than what you were trying in
the first place.
After that, start again. You've
got nothing to lose.
John R. Platt is a freelance writer and
marketing consultant. He can be found online at
www.john-platt.com.
Comments may
be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org.
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