I haven’t met a business or IT leader yet that doesn’t think great ideas and innovation are a good thing for their organisation. We regularly run workshops with business and IT leaders in enterprises across Asia Pacific and it’s clear to us that not everyone can come up with their own great ideas or identify opportunities for innovation when they see it – especially when technology is involved.

In truth that’s not surprising. Yes, there are lots of ideas to be had and lots of ways people are innovating with tech that we could point to. But uncovering the ideas and innovation that are most suited to what you want to achieve, or which you are suited to pursue (even if it doesn’t match what you originally set out to do or even if you don’t initially think that’s the case) is fundamentally hard. Bringing in a third party can help, as can doing some background reading or activities that force you to think differently.

It really is a matter of finding out what sparks your own unique imagination and then having the courage and means to pursue it – this may vary widely depending on the person, team, or organisation. We off the following list of resources as a start:

3 Steps to a Lean Innovation Workshop

5 successful ideation session essentials

The 7 all-time greatest ideation techniques

The Lean Startup

ReWork

10 steps to a successful innovation workshop

An introduction to design thinking

Running Ideation Workshops

Problems with Innovation Workshops

101 Design Methods: A Structured Approach for Driving Innovation in Your Organization

Serious Creativity: Using the Power of Lateral Thinking to Create New Ideas

The Medici Effect: What Elephants and Epidemics Can Teach Us About Innovation

How to run an ideation workshop that actually leads to innovation

The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America's Leading Design Firm

The Biomimicry Institute