The first step to use feedback to enhance your creativity and innovation skills is to clarify what you want to achieve, who can provide you with relevant and reliable feedback, and what standards or benchmarks you will use to measure your progress. For example, if you want to improve your ability to generate original and valuable ideas, you might set a specific goal, such as coming up with 10 new product features for your company in a month. Then, you might identify your sources of feedback, such as your manager, colleagues, customers, or mentors. Finally, you might define your criteria for evaluating your ideas, such as novelty, feasibility, usefulness, or alignment with your company's vision.
In my experience, feedback sources that are neurodivergent help improve our ability to discover new patterns, connections, and potentialities. Identifying sources of feedback that are less conventional than ourselves can trigger greater levels of innovative thinking. This is especially important when we struggle to develop ideas that are more than incremental improvements of the as-is state.
The second step to use feedback to enhance your creativity and innovation skills is to ask for feedback proactively and constructively. This means that you should not wait for feedback to come to you, but actively seek it from your sources at different stages of your creative process. For example, you might ask for feedback on your problem statement, your brainstorming techniques, your idea selection, or your prototype. Moreover, you should ask for feedback constructively, which means that you should be specific, respectful, and appreciative of the feedback giver. For example, you might ask for feedback on a particular aspect of your idea, such as its originality or its feasibility, and express your gratitude and interest in their perspective.
In today's workplace, it is important to respect generational differences in how feedback is given and received. When asking for feedback, be explicit about wanting to hear constructively critical feedback. Acknowledging that responses may be critical relieves the concern others may have about your potential reception of such feedback.
The third step to use feedback to enhance your creativity and innovation skills is to listen and respond to feedback with openness and curiosity. This means that you should not take feedback personally, defensively, or dismissively, but rather as an opportunity to learn and improve. For example, you should not argue, justify, or ignore the feedback, but rather acknowledge, thank, and ask questions to understand the feedback better. Moreover, you should not accept or reject the feedback blindly, but rather evaluate it critically and objectively. For example, you should consider the source, the context, the evidence, and the relevance of the feedback, and decide how much weight or importance you will give to it.
The fourth and final step to use feedback to enhance your creativity and innovation skills is to integrate feedback into your action plan and practice. This means that you should not let feedback sit on your shelf, but rather use it to inform your next steps and actions. For example, you might use feedback to refine your problem statement, generate more or better ideas, select the most promising idea, or improve your prototype. Moreover, you should not stop at one cycle of feedback, but rather seek and apply feedback continuously and iteratively. For example, you might test your prototype with your customers, collect their feedback, make adjustments, and test again until you reach your desired outcome.