Blue Sky Visioning is Under-utilized
Improve Personal or Professional Innovation Roadmaps
“Be careful what you wish for” is a cliché you hear now and then.
It occurs to me that innovation teams, often, don’t wish imaginatively enough. This is also true for individuals seeking new and interesting projects for their lives.
If you want to innovate, solve a big problem, or make a positive change in a business or your life — it starts with wildly imaginative wishing. Some term it Visioning. How can you get what you desire if you don’t have an exciting vision for a highly desired outcome?
Wildly Imaginative Wishing Take Practice
Don’t obey the cliche and wish carefully. Wish With Abandon.
This is not as easy as it sounds. It takes practice, and a skilled facilitator helps.
We tend to rein in wishes. We think, “that’s a stupid wish because I don’t have the money,” or, the resources, the talent, or the guts to make the wish happen. So we wish practically and list unexciting project ideas. Those projects are not likely to achieve a breakthrough. Visioning takes practice. The more you do it, the better you get at it. Tools and frameworks help.
That Innovation Project List
Most Innovation teams have a roadmap of scheduled projects. If not that, at least a list of potential projects to consider for future innovation efforts.
The lists I’ve reviewed are not visionary enough, and, are populated with obvious projects. Obvious projects address the glaring holes. It might be a missing in the product line. Or a service offering that needs improvement. It might be improving operations. There’s nothing wrong with obvious ideas, they tend to be practical. Every innovation project list should have low risk/high reward practical projects. That said, the first items in any creative list are usually not insightful or surprising. If you don’t push beyond this, you’re in trouble.
Surprising, Scary, Deeply Insightful Projects
Without doing the work of imaginative, creative, visioning there won’t be any game changers.
That’s a missed opportunity that will plague an organization for years. You’ll get incremental innovation, at best. You need to innovate your project list!
How often do you (or your team) spend time thinking imaginatively about what innovation projects you might do?
Idea For Project One: Make An Imaginative List of Innovation Projects
Another idea: Call in a professional facilitator to plan the project list meeting (which could be virtual) and get that list made, or refreshed. Who you gonna call? Maybe an uber-experienced facilitator? You need tools and frameworks for:
- Looking at your current research for fresh insights,
- Casting a wide net for new possibilities, new ways to innovate,
- Considering new technology and existing shelved IP
Get teams thinking of wildly imaginative innovation projects. Projects that, when done, fuel growth for years to come.
If a session found even one major new vision and project idea would that be of value to your organization?
Are several fresh project ideas for innovation, and a roadmap of your innovation future, of value?
Get it done. If you need help, get in touch.
