The Innovation Formula

CHAPTER 10 GOAL CLARITY Why blue-sky thinking is for the birds — it's an innovation killer

One of the biggest problems I encounter through the work I do at Inventium is ‘blue-sky thinking'. You may be reading this and thinking, ‘But I thought blue-sky thinking was a good thing. In fact, I participated in a blue-sky workshop just last month!' I hear this kind of thing a lot and I cringe when I hear it. Blue-sky workshops, where there is not a set goal or challenge — just a bunch of people sitting in a room being asked to come up with the next big thing for their industry — are a huge waste of time. Asking people to go blue-sky when it comes to innovation is like playing darts without a dartboard: you simply don't know where to aim. And while you may have a great time in the idea-generation workshop and feel really excited, ultimately you end up with a lot of ideas that collect dust on someone's desk and never see the light of day.

Another version of blue-sky thinking workshops occurs when organisations implement idea management software (a fancy phrase for an online suggestion box) and open it up to all employees to suggest absolutely any idea. I have seen this happen countless times and what inevitably happens — in the absence of clear challenges to solve — is that the innovation team will receive a stack of ideas. Hundreds, if not thousands. And the team sits around scratching their heads wondering a) how to give feedback about all these ideas and b) how to make decisions ...