Ideation®
People especially talented in the Ideation theme are fascinated by ideas. They are able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena.
Score Distribution
Shows scores for this strength across all staff.
Users with Ideation strength
In their TOP FIVE strengths:
Theme Description
You are fascinated by ideas. What is an idea? An idea is a concept, the best explanation of the most events. You are delighted when you discover beneath the complex surface an elegantly simple concept to explain why things are the way they are. An idea is a connection. Yours is the kind of mind that is always looking for connections, and so you are intrigued when seemingly disparate phenomena can be linked by an obscure connection. An idea is a new perspective on familiar challenges. You revel in taking the world we all know and turning it around so we can view it from a strange but strangely enlightening angle. You love all these ideas because they are profound, because they are novel, because they are clarifying, because they are contrary, because they are bizarre. For all these reasons you derive a jolt of energy whenever a new idea occurs to you. Others may label you creative or original or conceptual or even smart. Perhaps you are all of these. Who can be sure? What you are sure of is that ideas are thrilling. And on most days this is enough.
Action Items
- Seek work in which you will be paid for your ideas, such as marketing, advertising, journalism, design, or new product development. Find work in which you will be given credit for your ideas.
- Yours is the kind of mind that bores quickly, so make small changes in your work or home life. Experiment. Play mental games with yourself. All of these will help keep you stimulated.
- Seek brainstorming sessions. With your abundance of ideas, you will make these sessions more exciting and more productive.
- Schedule time to read, because the ideas and experiences of others can become your raw material for new ideas. Schedule time to think, because thinking energizes you.
- Discuss your ideas with other people. Their responses will help you keep refining your ideas.
- Finish your thoughts and ideas before communicating them. Lacking your Ideation strength, others might not be able to "join the dots" of an interesting but incomplete idea, and thus might dismiss it.
- Partner with someone with a strong Activator theme. This person can push you to put your ideas into practice. This kind of exposure can only be good for your ideas.
- Partner with someone with a strong Analytical theme. This person will question you and challenge you, therefore strengthening your ideas.
How to Manage a Person Especially Talented in the Ideation Theme
- This person has creative ideas. Be sure to position her where her ideas will be valued.
- She will be particularly effective as a designer, whether of sales strategies, marketing campaigns, customer service solutions, or new products. Whatever her field, try to make the most of her ability to design.
- Since she thrives on ideas, try to feed her new ideas that lie within the focus of your organization. She will not only be more excited about her work, but will also use these ideas to generate new insights and discoveries of her own.
- Encourage her to think of useful ideas or insights that can be shared with your best customers. From Gallup's research it is clear that when a company deliberately teaches its customers something, their level of loyalty increases.
- She enjoys the power of words. Whenever you come across a word combination that perfectly captures a concept, idea, or pattern, share it with her. It will stimulate her thinking.
- She needs to know that everything fits together. When decisions are made, take time to show her how each decision is rooted in the same theory or concept.
- On those few occasions when a particular decision does not fit into the overarching concept, be sure to explain to her that this decision is an exception or an experiment. Without this explanation she may start to worry that the organization is becoming incoherent.