Idea Generation - Intuiting for Success

Bright Ideas. Big Ideas. Small Ideas.

Ideas. Ideas. Ideas.

In recent years, organizations have pushed for employees to brainstorm and express ideas in almost every job title and function. If you aren’t coming up with an idea, you might possibly receive a “does not meet expectations” on your performance appraisals. You might be considered low talent/low potential on a talent management tool. Managers may tend to think an employee is low-performing if they are not generating at least one “bright idea’ every six months.

Before you jump to the conclusion that your employee is a “dead head” and can’t generate an idea to save their job, let’s think about Idea Generation from a gift perspective.

Idea generation comes from our Intuiting mental function. This function may be Extroverted and you may see this as the ability for an employee to effectively brainstorm with others in large or small groups. This function may be Introverted and you may see an employee not actively participating in a team “group think.” Be cautious about your observation. Still waters may run deep. Individuals with dominant or well-developed Introverted Intuition may be carefully reflecting. An idea may come later at an odd time – in the middle of the night, jogging or cutting vegetables while preparing dinner. So be ready to follow-up the next day and see if anyone has additional input to a prior brainstorming discussion.

What are some things you need to consider about Idea Generation in your workforce?

Here are five things:

1) Think carefully if Idea Generation is a required job function or competency in an employee’s job before you evaluate performance.
2) If you want to encourage Idea Generation in an employee or team, consider their MBTI type into the equation.
3) Where does Intuiting “sit” in the employee’s conscious mental functions? Is it a “more natural” function or a “least natural” function?
4) Is Intuiting dominant or auxiliary (Great! Easier to observe and assess) or tertiary or inferior (may be more difficult to develop or demonstrate).
5) Be patient with employees whose most natural mental function is Introverted Intuition– allow time to process and follow-up at a later time. Provide them opportunities to develop Extroverted Intuition as a comfortable and more natural mental function.

If you want to development Idea Generation in your employees, either Introverted, Extroverted or both, you can develop these skills in an employee or team through some simple activities targeting these specific mental functions.