A Guide to the Ultimate Brainstorm

ICYMI - I'm headed to Australia for the entire month of August! To prepare, I published a blog post with Ode Management about how to effectively brainstorm. Take a look:

We've all been there - the business is going in a new direction and you need to collectively think of ideas to support this, or maybe you have a client demanding a fresh approach and so a time and date are set; it's brainstorming time. You and the team sit in a room armed with pens and paper but the ideas just aren't flowing.

It's awkwardly silent, nobody feels comfortable speaking out and the mounting pressure is making everyone feel stressed - in these situations it can be all too easy to give up and declare you just aren't that creative, but resist that temptation. In all my years facilitating all kinds of businesses' innovation sessions, and inspiring people to exhibit the behaviors of innovation, I've found a few very simple tweaks to the brainstorming process can elicit incredible results.

Give these easy tips a try:

1)      Choose a physical space outside the typical workspace; a change of environment helps the mind migrate away from ‘same old, same old ideas’

2)      Send out some pre-brainstorm information that allows the participants to know both the behavioral guidelines AND the why/purpose of the session

3)      Ask participants a topic they would like to brainstorm as a way to give back, ie ten ideas of fun things to do that weekend

4)      Room setup: comfortable, flexible, and several seating options

5)      Even if you are only brainstorming one topic, split it up into several sub-topics or buckets to fill.

6)      Quantify the number of ideas for topics as your goal, i.e. let’s come up with 50 new product names or 75 new marketing ideas

7)      Music and sunlight (if possible), especially at the beginning of the session, will stimulate their mood and their physical presence

8)      A brief physical activity to get the participants’ blood flowing

9)      Begin with a non-business topic to start the energy flow and demonstrate the rules. Example: 50 things to do at a children’s birthday party that would make it the best party ever

10)   Let the participants know that volume and quantity trump quality at this stage of the innovation process—we’re not looking for the best idea, we’re just looking for the next idea.

11)   Continue to throw in unrelated and fun topics

12)   Include palette-cleansing coaching suggestions like Ten Things that Would Get Us All Fired or Ten Ideas that our customers would hate. These will help stretch your brain into areas it would not typically go.

13)   Find several ways to collect ideas and give each participant several options, i.e. verbalize your idea, write down your idea on a notecard, white board your ideas, come up with ideas as a team, spend your time alone in quiet.

Everyone has the ability to think and behave innovatively, more often than not it's our mindset that stifles us - put these steps into practice and I guarantee you will be innovative fighting fit in no time at all - best of luck!