Idea Facilitation—A Tool for Experience and Service Innovation

Product and service innovation does not happen in isolation; it requires a cross-functional team—most of whom are not designers and may not even be familiar with design practices. In digital product or service offering, more often than not the core team developing/enhancing product consists of multiple functions—from design and engineering to marketing and sales, with little or no familiarity with design processes and practices such as creative ideation. In such cases, ideation becomes a platform for groupthink and corporate inertia, deterring lateral thinking and innovation.

Hence, a structured approach to idea facilitation can help achieve the maximum opportunities availed by ideation sessions: innovative experience and service ideas. Structured ideation frameworks can discourage linear thinking and encourage teams to think strategically and laterally—by switching perspectives, identifying multiple points of view, challenging assumptions, and contextualizing problems.

This paper provides a number of idea facilitation frameworks that enable creative and innovative outcomes when working with a multifunctional team—with design and nondesign professionals with various levels of product–service development experience. These frameworks bridge the gap between insights and strategy and create conditions necessary for creative and lateral thinking. Additionally, it provides best practices to help operationalize idea management.