Brainstorming and creativity has, for the most part, been embraced by businesses (and trumpeted by innovation experts) and yet, it is still fairly underused and misunderstood. This is probably the fault of consultants and agencies who have built lots of unnecessary mystique around creativity. When discussing the need to come up with new ideas (often during planning cycles), I have heard clients say “That’s the job of the agency – they’re good at ideas” and “I’m not creative, anyway”. Why is it that corporations give consultants and agencies more leeway than they give themselves to re-think and re-invent their brands and businesses?

It’s time to change this mentality. We are all creative in our own way. And if you feel you aren’t creative, then you should start practicing. After all, creativity is like a muscle – it can be developed. You can practice brainstorming on little problems – how you might run a meeting differently, where to go for a team lunch, or even where you will take your next vacation.

Corporations also need to truly embrace new ideas, making creative thinking them part of everyday work (not just isolated brainstorming workshops). Good agencies and consultants will help by catalyzing the thinking and providing insights and fresh techniques. Instead of handing off the job, try brainstorming together. Then spend time developing the ideas and making them your own. This kind of collaboration and iteration makes for great working relationships and makes good ideas even better.

In order to thrive, we need to be more creative and have more fun. Brainstorming is energizing and it brings people together. Do it more often!

The phenomenon of not speaking candidly is surprisingly pervasive in business (and in life, to be fair) for both good and bad reasons.  The desire to avoid conflict, show the best side of a situation,* and not stick one’s neck out (or impose on someone else’s terrain) are natural and very humanistic explanations for why and when people speak up versus sit quiet.

In addition, the situations in which there is a need for candor can be as sensitive and politically charged as speaking truth to power, or as helpful as sharing an objective point of view that is unique or unpopular, but sheds new light on a problem or opportunity.

Ferrazzi describes the “pointless meeting” where “we twiddle our thumbs… waiting for the meeting to end so that the real conversations – which usually happen in private – can begin.”  I would suggest that those “real conversations” are very much part of the bigger discussions, and while I agree that they can’t happen exclusively in private, they are also part of nurturing a candid working environment.

In my own personal experience, one-on-one dialogue between board members is essential to nurturing the conversations that can happen at full board meetings.  Especially when discussing sensitive personnel questions or particularly “sticky” problems, it is those private conversations that help make being candid when it counts possible.

Great facilitators know how to play the very critical role of drawing out the best (and most honest) thinking from each individual in a team and nurturing their courage to articulate that thinking and share their point of view with their colleagues.  Quite often, this requires creating “safe places” for test-driving ideas and exploring how best to share alternative perspectives.

There is no question that the integrity that comes with candid conversation is essential to better problem-solving and decision-making.  I say, let’s be candid in meetings big and small, formal and informal – let’s encourage it in ourselves and others.

* for example, see Barbara Ehrenreich’s book, “Bright-sided: How Positive Thinking is Undermining America”

In a good way, we are focused – focused on getting to an answer, grabbing what we need, and running with it.  But in the process of brainstorming and problem solving, we end up leaving a lot on the table – potential insights and ideas that aren’t part of the solution to today’s problem, but rich fodder for the next challenge or planning cycle.

While the desire for new ideas is inexhaustible in business, is it necessary to start from scratch every time?  Often I think to myself, “What about all the thinking we did at the last meeting?  Where did that go?”

Late last year, I worked with a 100 year-old brand that had recently re-launched (with a new positioning and identity).  In order to substantiate the new positioning, the marketing team asked me to help them develop a 3 to 5 year product enhancement plan.

At my first meeting with the team, they shared the new positioning and their focus was clear: “We have a new positioning and we need new ideas!”  They handed me a pile of presentations (representing their “thinking to date”) and I agreed to go away, review the material, and devise a four-day session plan that would bring together marketing and innovation teams in a kind of “ideas summit”.

When I returned to my office and started working through the material in detail, I realized we were on the wrong track.  The thinking which they positioned to me as “background thinking to date” was actually very rich.  In fact, from my assessment, there was little need to generate new ideas.  The already had lots of ideas – more than they could possibly use!  Instead, the what we needed to do was sort through their raw thoughts and translate them into tangible product development initiatives that they could all rally behind.

And so our scope changed dramatically.  The “ideas summit” became a pragmatic, “let’s roll up our sleeves” work session.  We agreed to a process that started with identifying areas of the new brand positioning that most needed product substantiation, developing criteria, and mining previous work to evaluate and refine the mass of thoughts and ideas already lying around.

In business, quite understandbly, we get very excited about new ideas.  So whenever a need comes along, unsurprisingly, we are tempted to start from scratch – set up new projects (often with fancy names), recruit new team members, plan brainstorming sessions, and so on.

But more often than not, we aren’t starting with a blank piece of paper.  Most issues or challenges we face are things we’ve been discussing, mulling over and brainstorming (at least tangentially) for some time.  So it makes sense to take the time to recycle work done in the past and mine it for nuggets.  I know it isn’t sexy or fun, but it’s the best shortcut to good thinking, and it’s also really good for the environment.

This blog is about how people work together in business – the trials, tribulations, small wins and big achievements possible when teams vision, plan and take action together.

My work is about pursuing meaningful results in meaningful ways.  By that, I mean helping senior teams make strategic decisions, solve problems and set priorities with clarity, confidence and conviction.  The purpose of this blog is to capture, reflect and share my learnings from those experiences.

Everything written here is based on my observations from years of consulting, teaching and facilitating strategic planning processes in global corporations.  It includes honest accounts (both serious and humorous), personal points of view, questions and occasionally, a call to action or expression of frustration.

I would love to hear form you (comments, questions, …anything!).  To email me, just click on the mail button in the top-right corner of this blog page.  You can also subscribe via RSS or follow me on Twitter.  And to learn more about me and Luminous, click on ABOUT at the top of this page.

Thanks for visiting and keep in touch!

Noël

Please note:  Some of what I write about is personally or professionally sensitive.  All references and examples are concealed for the purposes of confidentiality and privacy.  I never disclose client details without permission.  If you have any questions or concerns, please email me.