MENTAL MODELS

First principles. Define the basic principles to reason more clearly. Question what’s actually fundamental in CORAC to bring the pain point and solution into sharper relief. What unnecessary assumptions are being made? What if we had to simply make everything from scratch?

The Pareto principle. About 80% of the output tends to come from 20% of the base. How might we optimize by focusing on the most relevant factors? How can we design for the primary audience or most valuable outcome?

Social proof. As tribal creatures, we want validation before we act. How can we create and communicate social buy-in? Could the crowd itself contribute in some way? Is there a simple way to provide a social feedback loop, testimonials, or other social validation?

Critical mass. Critical mass is a self-sustaining chain reaction. What could we do to create a viral effect whereby the idea of CORAC spreads itself? How can we make it more remarkable or useful enough to become its own amplifier?

Scarcity. We value things that are in short supply. Is there a way to create demand or at least the perception of it? How might limitations be beneficial? If there isn’t a ready-made, well-defined audience, can we create one?

The third story. Consider the impartial perspective. We’re often blind to our own assumptions, and our perceptions about CORAC are colored by our insider understanding. What might someone with no knowledge of CORAC or bias think?

IDEA GENERATION

10 ideas in 10 minutes. Force your internal critic to shut up by generating as many ideas as possible. Quantity over quality will help your mind expand rather than contract. Set a stopwatch for 10 minutes to write down 10 ideas. Keep in mind that they don’t have to be good ideas.

Shower thoughts. The reason we have great ideas in the shower is because we’re not doing anything else. Use your time in the shower, on the bus, during your run, or when walking the dog to consider the challenge you’re trying to overcome.

Draw on inspiration. Instead of writing ideas, simply start doodling or sketching relevant concepts. By activating your visual cortex, you’ll open up new ways to think about things. Don’t try to solve the problem right away, just start moving the pencil.

101 ideas. Give yourself or your team a deadline to compile 101 ideas in a list. By having so many ideas you give yourself permission to have more bad ideas, which in turn opens you up to more good ideas.

Tricktionary. Use random stimuli like reading out words from the dictionary to provoke a response, or try using the last letter of one word as the starting letter for another word. Free-associate words and concepts to spark connections.

Mind map. Write your objective in a bubble in the middle of the page and branch out nested and associated ideas to discover new perspectives as stimuli. Try putting your mind map on the wall while brainstorming.

Meta sequence.

• Deep – research & define: Deep dive and define the objective.
• Wide – creative & divergent: Think openly, play, and minimize criticism.
• Narrow – critical & convergent: Use objective evaluation criteria and critique.
• Up – synthesize & iterate: Keep playing to find a deeper synthesis.

PERSPECTIVE SHIFTS

Inversion. By flipping the perspective you can open up new insights. What’s the opposite of the problem or solution? What would be the worst idea? Who isn’t the intended audience?

Another’s shoes. Meta-brainstorm different perspectives and archetypes that might be relevant to CORAC and your particular area of responsibility. For example, if you have an overall engagement problem, you might map out different types of member roles, then generate ideas of how each might like to get involved from their perspectives.

Extremify. Looking at extremes can bring insights into sharp focus. What would it look like if you amplified the problem or solution? What if it was minuscule or all-consuming? what would a global response look like?

No limits. Removing limitations means removing assumptions, which can result in novel perspectives and solutions. Imagine you have unlimited superpowers, budget, time, or expertise to solve the problem. What would Jesus do?

Recontext. How would you solve the problem in the future or past? What about a different cultural context? Try 5 ideas in 5 minutes to generate different perspectives then pick two or three to ideate from.

Imagine you’re the artist. How might different kinds of artists interpret this problem? Brainstorm from the perspective of a visual artist, actor, novelist, cake decorator, advertising creative, musician, product designer, or poet.

Imagine you’re the ordinary member. What does a day in the life of your ideal audience look like? What are their fears and aspirations? What might they not understand? What might we not understand about them?

Imagine you’re the disruptor. Pretend you’re an organizer who is aiming to shake up the world of grassroots activism with a new vision for what might be. What would a disruptor do to challenge the existing order with a new take on things? How could you forge a new path?

Imagine you’re the joker. Imagine you’re a famous comedian who fits the tone of the situation. What would they joke about? What’s an irreverent insight? Is there an elephant in the room that needs to be outed?

PROVOCATION

Future news. Pretend you’ve already achieved success. What would the news headline or article say? This will spur you to think of big, newsworthy ideas. Explaining how and why it worked so well forces you to consider the steps to success.

5 whys. This technique is often used to get to the root of a problem, but it can also discover insights that lead to innovative thinking. Start with a problem or solution, then keep asking ‘why?’ to see where it leads you.

Journey map. Write your problem or starting point at one end and the ideal outcome at the other. Now fill in the gaps to map out what needs to happen to bring your objective into reality. What steps will need to occur? How might they influence each other?

Will it blend? How could you combine two or more ideas, techniques, aspects, solutions, or problems? Try writing relevant keywords or ideas down on bits of paper then mashing them up randomly.

Starburst questions. Create a mind map star with six points fo each of the classic analysis questions: who, what, when, where, why, and how. Note that the ‘why’ is the most likely to provide relevant insight, and that the ‘how’ can sometimes be a distraction.

Reverse brainstorming. Instead of solutions, brainstorm to generate problems. What other issues might need solving? Will there be flow-on effects requiring different solutions? What’s a different way of thinking about the problem space?

Minimum viable idea. The creative process is iterative, and by getting to the minimum it can open us up to pivot in relevant and interesting ways. What’s the minimum needed to achieve the objective? What’s the quickest, most efficient and cheapest option you can think of?

What if. Simply starting the creative process with “What if…?” can elicit a creative response. Try saying it out loud or writing it down several times in a list to hack your brain to think differently.

IN GROUPS

Role up. Give each person in the group a role to play such as the member, the rebel, the narrator, the joker, the sage, the expert, the squirrel nut, the evangelizer, etc. Then give a scenario involving the problem or situation to role play.

Concept wall. To start your collaborative brainstorming session, everyone writes or draws a few key concepts relating to the subject matter on sticky notes. Then put them up on the wall as stimulus for further brainstorming.

Anonymous post. Each person writes or draws a single idea per sticky note and posts it on the wall in a separate room. or another channel where it’s anonymous. Take turns nominating your favorite idea that wasn’t your own (and hasn’t yet been nominated) and explain why.

Step ladder. Everyone brainstorms individually. The first two people present ideas to each other. A third person is invited into the conversation to present their ideas. Repeat until everyone has presented unaffected by others’ ideas. Finally, recap all ideas for the group.

Brain writing. Everyone writes an idea on a piece of paper. Pass your piece of paper clockwise, the next person builds on the idea. Repeat until everyone has contributed to each other’s ideas.

Heads in the cloud. Rather than verbal collaboration, use a cloud-based service like Google Docs with open sharing permissions so everyone can anonymously collaborate, comment, and build on each other’s ideas.

Diverse inputs. Creative insights often arise from novel perspectives, so try to facilitate diverse group dynamics (e.g. put engineers with artists, military veterans with gardeners, and so on.)