If someone tells you, "come up with a great idea," your mind probably goes blank. It's an overwhelming request.
But it doesn't have to be, says psychologist Allison Butler — you just need to know what steps to follow.
Whether you want to impress your boss, invent something or start a successful business, Butler recommends a methodology called "design thinking" that she says can help anyone come up with great ideas.
"People sometimes get overwhelmed ... 'OK, I want to invent something or [have a big idea]. Where should I even begin?'" says Butler, a psychology professor and director of the Innovation and Design Experience for All program at Bryant University.
Here are some of her keys to making the five-step process, used by executives at companies like Apple and Google, work for you.
Challenge your assumptions
Design thinking's five steps are:
- Research
- Define
- Ideate
- Prototype
- Test
In case that sounds like jargon, think of it this way, Butler says: Start with some empathy, by researching the person or people whose problem you're trying to solve. Try to get a better understanding of what they need from you.
Next, translate that research into useful feedback for yourself, and use that feedback to develop your idea. Once you've developed your idea, ask other people for their thoughts to help hone it. Finally, test it in the real world.
"The idea is that it seems like a checklist: Watch people, learn from them, craft insights, brainstorm great ideas [and] start to prototype," says Butler.
Following that roadmap can spur creativity by forcing you to challenge your assumptions, she notes. It makes you talk to the people who might use and benefit from your idea, and saves you from making decisions based on incomplete or incorrect information.
"Dig deep" and go beyond simple, surface-level observations, says Butler. "If you can figure out what people need — what they truly need, not what they tell you they need — that is the hook from which you then begin ideating [and] that allows you to reframe your lens and your scope."
Embrace feedback
For design thinking to work, you have to wholeheartedly believe that "feedback is a gift" — which doesn't come naturally for most people, says Butler.
"We're supposed to pitch ideas and get feedback and grow and iterate from that. But humans [are] terrible at accepting critical feedback," she says. "We block it out."
If you struggle to take feedback gracefully, try asking people to provide you with aspects of your idea they both like and don't like, Butler recommends. "Turn up your powers of observation, and listen to people," she says. "Be really curious."
Embracing critical feedback can help you do more than improve your ideas, too. A willingness to listen to diverse perspectives and accept valid critiques in order to grow is a sign of confidence and emotional security, psychologist Cortney Warren told CNBC Make It earlier this month.
Try it at work
If there's tension between you and your boss, and you can't figure out what to do, Butler recommends starting with the first stage of design thinking: empathy.
Observe your boss. Think about their biggest frustrations and obstacles at work, how they measure success, and what they most need to achieve it.
"What is this person seeing, hearing, thinking, feeling?" Butler says. "Take the perspective of your boss ... What are the pressures that she has on her plate? What is a win from her perspective [and] what are the struggles that she has?"
Getting a clearer picture of your boss' biggest goals and frustrations makes it much easier to come up with ways to work toward the former and diminish the latter, Butler says.
"[It] could be a game-changer for someone who's having trouble with interpersonal relationships and dynamics" at work, she adds.
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