People need stimulus to generate ideas. Simply thinking of ideas spontaneously can only get you so far. In workshops, we need inputs and techniques to force us to make lateral connections. There are many to choose from, but if you’re not sure where to begin, here are three tried and trusted exercises I always turn to.

1 Related or Parallel Worlds

 As Voltaire said, ‘Originality is nothing but judicious imitation’

This technique is all about reflecting on developments in categories or ‘worlds’ close to yours and adapting the learning to your situation. For example, if you’re working in the food category and are looking for new ideas, take a look at adjacent categories in say personal care. If you’re working in beer, look at what’s happening in say non-alcoholic drinks. The trick is choosing the most appropriate and stimulating related worlds. 

In a workshop scenario you would simply:

a)    In advance, capture and print out the examples/developments in these related worlds

b)    Ask the teams to review and reflect on these examples or developments

c)    Then ask them which they can apply to the task they’re working on

2 Random Visuals

Whereas the first technique was quite a directive exercise, sometimes it’s good to provide the brain with more random stimulus. Random words work well, but people love random visuals, particularly in a workshop scenario as they can be interpreted in so many ways. Nowadays it’s really easy to gather together visual stimuli. Cool postcards are sold at places like Paperchase. You can create your own via moo.com. You can source fab images at free image sites such as Unsplash or Pixabay and print them yourself. Try to gather your own library of stimulating imagery. Ensure they’re as diverse as possible - anything goes.

The exercise works like this:

a)     Print out or bring along a gallery of random images and display them on the wall

b)    Ask teams or individuals to look for images that ‘speak’ to them. Capture the meaning the images convey

c)     Use this as a stimulus to idea generation

3 Consumer Role Play

All idea generation workshops should include some kind of consumer role-play exercise. This involves looking at the challenge you’re facing from the perspective of the people you’re trying to apply to. It requires empathy and a deep understanding of this audience, which will inevitably result in relevant and powerful ideas. 

Typically it works like this:

a)     Ask each team to ‘become’ a person or typology. It could be your target customer or a retailer, depending on the challenge you’re facing. Provide stimulus to help – some data or else a template for people to fill in

b)    Ask teams to look at the challenge you’re facing from the perspective of this target audience

c)     Use this as a stimulus for idea generation

So, to sum up:

All innovation workshops will require creative exercises to stimulate fresh thinking and make lateral connections. There are many to choose from, but if in doubt, start here. They’re easy to use, are all quite different, and can be adapted to all kinds of challenges. And most importantly, they’ll help you generate lots of brilliant ideas.

For more creative exercises, click here.