Welcome back to the Be A Kitchen Innovator blog series on The Knickerbocker Glory! This is the fourth post in the series that will discuss Idea Generation. I hope you find it useful.
Generating New Ideas
In the first, second and third posts of this series we talked about…
- Writing our statement of purpose and giving it a twist making sure that we were being clear about what we want to accomplish.
- The importance of finding new facts to inspire us.
- Creating themes and opportunity areas – the mis en place of innovation – where we organise our facts to tell a story.
This is the point in the process where we take everything we have learned and, using the statement of purpose, stimulus and themes, start creating new ideas. This is an exciting part of the process because we start to see what new connections are being made between our opportunity and our new inspiration. These new connections are the foundation of our new ideas and the foundation for creating something new! These new connections are the cornerstone of the new WOW moments that are just around the corner!
From Knickerbocker Glory: A Chef’s Guide to Innovation in the Kitchen and Beyond
Here are a few things to consider when creating new ideas.
- Be true to the statement of purpose – if you are working on desserts, no need to create an idea for pork roast.
- Be creative in how you make new connections and create new ideas – keep the inspiration and themes top of mind
- Write the ideas down on paper.
- Don’t rush the ideas! Think them through
- Keep it simple and clear, but include plenty of detail. This will be the guide when it comes time to bringing the idea to life (the next step in the process so include important details.
- Draw a picture if that helps get the point across!
- Get as many quality ideas on paper as possible.
- Use an idea sheet to capture the idea. More on this below
- Don’t be judgmental – There will be time to later to park some of the ideas after all of them have been created.
- Once you have all the ideas, use a set criteria to rank them. Even consider seeking feedback from vested interests.
Here is an example of what an idea sheet looks like.
The idea sheet can be constructed to fit your needs, but, as you can see, it should contain a lot of details. The details will help greatly when the idea is brought to life in the next step. It helps ensure that the spirit of the idea is captured and, when it is brought to life, that a true reflection of the idea is created. The idea sheet helps reduce incremental additions that were not part of the original idea. Additions to the idea can be added, but that should be done after gathering feedback so it is clear what should be changed.
Remember, idea generation is about using our statement of purpose, new inspiration and themes to make new connections and create new ideas! Get those ideas down on paper and don’t judge the ideas until later.
Do you have any questions about Idea Generation? Let us know all about it in the comments or on Facebook.
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