Creative and Creatable. Inventive and Innovative. New, Novel, and Noteworthy. People with the Ideation CliftonStrengths® talent theme are geniuses when it come to creating simple explanations for complex concepts. They derive great joy from their creations and concepts. They can see connections and patterns where others see disconnection and incongruence. The result is a concept, product, or innovation that is artful and practical. Furthermore, people with Ideation in their top-5 don’t just create for the sake of creation, they are purposeful.
Welcome, Ideators! Your mind is like a playground, isn’t it? You love to take in the world around you and find new ways to understand it. You find new connections, perspectives, and possibilities that enlighten others and bring depth and breadth to our understanding of how and why the world works the way it works. Your ideas are like children to you. You love them because they are unique, contrary, clarifying, bizarre, and even profound.
On teams, people with Ideation may seem like distractors to those without this talent. Ah, but it is often the Ideators who bring a needed spark of creativity and a much deeper understanding of your product, work, and purpose. When you need a fresh perspective or a new take on a tired, old copncept, summon those with strong Ideation. They can provide innovation and inspiration that fuels the change process.
People with Ideation in their top 5 CliftonStrengths themes are especially helpful when brainstorming, prototyping, or reviewing a project. If you want something done the same way every time, don’t ask someone with Ideation to do it. She will fiddle, tinker, and ponder to create a fresh approach to stale standards. If you want something refined or reinvented, by all means give it to her! Chances are you will both be happy with the end result.
Other words that may describe someone with strong Ideation:
• Discoverer
• Insightful
• Stimulator
• Designer
• Spontaneous
• Non-conformist
• Rebel
Keep in mind that people strong in Ideation are not necessarily stubborn, contrary, or even rebellious. They genuinely want to help and they do so through sharing their unique ability of seeing the world through a different lens.
If you have Ideation in your top-5 CliftonStrengths, what do you do with all of your ideas? When I coach people with Ideation, one growth step I suggest is to create an “Idea Bucket.” When an idea comes to you, put it in your “bucket.” Set a regular time to review and evaluate your ideas. Invite someone with talents such as Achiever®, Activator®, Deliberative®, or Strategic® to help you evaluate your idea and possibly bring it to life.
CliftonStrengths” and the 34 CliftonStrengths theme names are registered trademarks of Gallup, Inc. The graphic elements copyright © CoreClarity, Inc.