From Ideas to Reality

How you move from an idea to reality? How do you ensure creativity and innovation are part of the equation?

What are you doing to capture ideas and then keep things moving in the direction of better?

Brainstorm? Post-it palooza? White-board? Test and evaluate?

The folks over at the Catalyst Blog (a really creative bunch of people) have a helpful glimpse of the 5 elements that drive what is regarded as the most creative conference in the country:

1. Create - This is about brainstorming, but it is also about volume. Imagine looking for 300 ideas for the creative elements of a conference! Could it be that this kind of volume happens when we don't stop too soon? To achieve this kind of volume you'll need to embrace a "yes and" culture (as opposed to a "but/or").

2. Criticize - This is big. Think about your creative meetings or team sessions; what happens when an idea is criticized? Can you imagine a culture where critique was not only welcomed, but expected? Wanted?

3. Optimize - What if there was an expectation that every good idea could be built on? What if you asked "how can it be better?" What would happen in an entire organization truly allowed iron to sharpen iron and spurred each other to a higher level? What if we embraced and lived next level thinking and acting?

4. Validate - Does the idea line up with the vision? Is it consistent with what you're trying to do? If not, does anyone have the courage to say no? Can we validate that it passes our values filter?

5. Execute - Creativity and innovation aren't enough. Executing on what you've planned is the payoff. Creating, critiquing, optimizing, and validating are all great...but it's the execution that makes it worth while. Execution is essential...the best ideas that are only partially executed or never executed fail to make a significant Kingdom difference.