Ideation Strategies: WIBNI

April 18th, 2019

Have you ever gotten stuck on a problem and you’re not sure how to solve it? Maybe you feel so close to it that you need a new perspective. That old expression – “You can’t see the forest through the trees.” You’re in the trees, all right.

Next time this happens to you, try this. Think to yourself, “WIBNI.”

WIBNI stands for “Wouldn’t it be nice if?”

It’s a simple question, but the goal here is to go blue sky. Be visionary. Don’t put boundaries on your thinking. Sky’s the limit. Wouldn’t it be nice if…

… we had the leading product in our industry?

… my sales team had more leads?

… our website had more traffic?

Whatever your problem is, reframe it. Consider related problems. Consider your competitors. Consider your brand. What do you want to be known for? What do you wish you could change? Who do you want to emulate? How can you innovate?

Clear a spot on your white board, grab a handful of post-it notes, and keep an open mind. Set a timer for yourself for 5 minutes and just think – without hesitation, without prejudice, without limitations – wouldn’t it be nice IF. Anything that comes to mind, jot it down.

When the timer goes off, you might be surprised with how many ideas you had. Sure, not all of them are going to be viable, but I bet you’ll see some trends start to form.

Take those trends and dig in a little deeper. Pretty soon, you might find yourself out of the woods.

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