How to Cross Pollinate

By Peter Lloyd

In an earlier Right Brain Workout, I gave examples of how cross pollination works from The Backyard Astronomer to The Cheerios Effect. Here are some practices and resources you can use to cross pollinate.

Cross Pollination Practices
You should already be inviting representatives of appropriate departments to your idea sessions. In your next brainstorming session, give someone new a shot. Someone from outside your usual list—the janitor, dispatcher, dishwasher, or the driver. They may or may not be great idea generators. If not, a little training may be all they need. If they are, everybody wins.

To the point, everybody has something to offer. Your job is to find a way to get what anybody has to offer into the mix of what you consider. This may not be so easy to do in a live brainstorming session, but it keeps getting easier and easier to gather ideas online. When you do, take full advantage of what online brainstorming brings to the virtual table.

Cross Everybody—we’re talking about ideas not investments. Ideas are easy to dispose to the circular file. So take more in even if you have to throw more out.

Cross Off Nobody—at the risk of repeating myself, never move anyone to the not creative side of your list. Erase that column. Creativity, the ability to generate novel and useful ideas, resides in every primate.

Not Even Your Enemies—include especially people who disagree with you and, if possible, those who compete with you. If we can combat disease with diease, you can create with your competitors.

Get Random—after you’ve made an effort to include contributors normally contraindicated, invite help without a thought to who they are or from where they will ride in. Open a paper or digital phone book and point. If you’ve got a problem with random selection, consider the fact that we’re all here at the auspices of an infinite number of cosmic accidents.

Cross Pollination Resources
The best way these days to collect ideas from random collections of anyone is to install or employ a version of online crowdsourcing. Here is a random list of places to look for random people and ideas.

IdeaConnection—the world’s largest source of technical experts, ready to work on your toughest problems. It costs but you pay only when you are satisfied with the results.

Global Ideas Bank—free access to thousands of random ideas from around the world

Crowdspring—creative pros compete to create logos, websites, and writing for the price you set

Idea Webites—a long list of more of the above

Open Innovation Companies—professionals who will help you solve your problems

Creative Services—for-pay and non-profit organizations, situations, and alliances willing to provide creative help

Creative Communities—groups of inventors, designers, scientists, and others who gather just to be creative

wordGizmo—random English-ish words and their dubious definitions

Digital Miscellanies—a thousand poetic miscellanies published over the course of the eighteenth century

Peter Lloyd is co-creator with Stephen Grossman of Animal Crackers, the breakthrough problem-solving tool designed to crack your toughest problems.

Next Workout »