As an executive coach, the name I chose for my practice - “Agile Ideation” - aims to encapsulate my core approach. One key meaning it conveys is a focus on enhancing innovation through improving processes, not just pursuing the end product.
The Innovation Process Matters
In business, the word “innovation” often centers on outcomes - the new product, technology or business model introduced. But how you arrive at those outcomes equally impacts success.
Innovation depends on a structured process that fuels creativity and learning. Too often, teams “brainstorm” haphazardly with little result. Or they fail to create psychological safety, causing people to hold back ideas.
My coaching builds better innovation capacity by transforming the underlying process. We implement practices for divergent thinking, rapid prototyping, experimentation and feedback loops. Innovation becomes a disciplined competence.
The Power of Effective Ideation
A key part of innovating is ideation - how teams generate, develop and select ideas. I named my business “Agile Ideation” to signal my focus on ideation excellence.
With the right approach, ideation unlocks creativity. We incorporate design thinking frameworks, liberate constraints, explore adjacent spaces, and defer judgment. This sparks unconventional concepts and unexpected synergies between them.
Through coaching, ideation becomes more prolific, inclusive and energetic. Teams regularly ideate as a muscle-building ritual. Leaders embrace wild ideas for their future potential.
Accelerating Innovation's Entire Journey
Of course, ideation is only the first step in delivering impactful innovation. My broader coaching practice also strengthens capacities like:
Rapid prototyping to quickly gather feedback
Experimentation to test assumptions
Pipeline management to develop ideas at different timelines
Cross-functional collaboration to build on diverse inputs
Leadership buy-in to fund exploration
Continuous improvement to refine innovations over time
The end result is innovation that moves reliably from imagination to implementation.
Call to Action
Readers can start improving their ideation immediately with this quick exercise:
Next brainstorming session, have everyone write down at least 3 ideas before discussing. Voicing ideas simultaneously limits creativity.
But elevating innovation as a whole requires a more holistic focus. If you want to transform the way your teams ideate and innovate, let’s explore executive coaching. Just leave a comment below!