Forced Relationships
Use this creativity technique by making analogies between your challenge or project and something that has little or nothing to do with it. Forced relationships can yield unorthodox ideas. Forced relationships work best the farther apart the elements are. What ideas will come about when you compare your organization to vegetable farming, or build a relationship between your church's guest services and a board game? How about a marriage and a Bugs Bunny cartoon? Far-fetched scenarios yield far-out ideas.
Example.
What happens when you force a relationship between a theme park and a bicycle? Walt Disney came up with the "hub and spoke" design of Disneyland--a central meeting and reference point with other activities radiating out from the center, much like a bicycle tire. It revolutionized theme park design and has been copied by virtually every theme park built since.
Action Ideas.
- Take a list of objects, places and people and put them on index cards. Select one at random and make analogies between that element and your challenge or project.
- Use a random input technique to generate an object or topic with which to form a forced relationship with your project.
Copyright Eugene L. Mason. All rights reserved.
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