Insights

The short answer is NEVER!

As soon as you start to cut corners during brainstorming to save time, the process falls apart. You’ll soon be back to square one, staring at each other across the boardroom table asking if anyone has an idea!

From time to time I have had clients ask me to do a ‘light’ version of the process. Bottom line, there is no ‘light’ version that works — certainly not one that generates the quantity and quality of ideas that are worthy of people’s time.

I can think of two stories I would love to share with you. Neither of them involves ‘breaking the rules’, but each of them involves stopping a brainstorming session!

I was working with a large group in Texas when in the middle of the session a woman stood up and screamed, “I’ve lost my diamond engagement ring!”

I asked everyone to stay very still while we called the hotel concierge staff and asked them to send as many people as they could.

When the hotel staff arrived, we all got down on our hands and knees and crawled around the room looking for the ring… No luck. It wasn’t there.

I asked the hotel staff to accompany the guest so she could retrace every step she had taken from the time she got up that morning.

The rest of us resumed our brainstorming session.

Within an hour, our guest returned wearing her ring! Apparently it had slipped off her finger during the night, and she found it under the bed in her room.

The second story takes place during a brainstorming session at the conference centre in Whistler. As a team was presenting their big ideas, we lost all the power to the building. Everything went pitch black and it stayed that way for about 10 minutes. We waited for a backup generator to kick in… But it never did.

We stopped our session while many guests turned on the flashlight feature on their phones. They also taught other guests how to use it.

The session was with Miracle Ear. We were working on big ideas focusing on communicating with hearing impaired consumers that were in denial.

The power outage provided us with an unexpected stimulus — if this is how it feels to not be able to see, imagine the ‘dark’ world these people are living in who can’t hear! The session took on a life of its own.

One of my favourite quotes is from Katharine Hepburn: ‘If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun’.

I live my life by this rule, except when it comes to brainstorming!

Brainstorming rules and creativity training

For more brainstorming rules and ideas to kick-start creativity, contact the Barefoot Brainstorming team today.

One of the main reasons people say they love to attend conferences is for the ability to network. Yet, when I speak at conferences, I notice that what is happening is exactly the opposite of networking.

People walk around with their herd, their tribe—the people they already know.

When they go into a breakout room, they save seats at their table for their tribe members, and those seats are directly beside each other.

When I speak at a conference, one of the first things I do is to ask people to go and sit beside someone they don’t know and introduce him or herself while exchanging business cards.

Next comes the question, “How do you introduce yourself in a memorable way?”

When someone asks you what you do, it’s just not interesting or engaging to answer him or her as a ‘talking brochure’.

WOW, HOW, NOW: How it can help you network

WOW, HOW, NOW is a favourite technique of mine that works like a charm. Here’s how it works:

1. WOW: Say something intriguing (even puzzling) that will make the other person want to hear more. A creative summary of what you do that demands some clarification. Ideally, the stranger’s reaction will be to cock their head and ask, “What does that mean?”
2. HOW: Answer the stated (or unspoken) question and explain exactly what you do.
3. NOW: Shift into storytelling mode, giving a concrete example. The key phrase is “Now, for example…”

Let’s take a look at WOW, HOW, NOW in action:

Stranger: So, what do you do?

Me: I help create Big Hairy Audacious Ideas!

Stranger: Huh?

Me: I facilitate brainstorming sessions that unlock the creativity in corporate teams. I show people how to work together to create big, hairy, audacious ideas to make their business more profitable.

The next time you have the opportunity to network, try your best to break away from your herd, and try on the WOW, HOW, NOW approach! For more networking and brainstorming for business tips, connect with us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Aaron Orendorff’s article on the three things you should kill before they kill your creativity is brilliant and worth the read!

Aaron hits the nail on the head when he lists these three things: excuses, ego and timeline.

And as a special “Barefoot Bonus”, I’d like to add: technology.

1. Excuses

I love to record memorable sayings that I hear when I attend conferences. I recently heard a speaker make a statement about excuses.

Here is what he said:

‘An excuse is a lie that you tell yourself, and then try to sell to everyone else!’

Needless to say, I agree wholeheartedly!

2. Ego

‘The hardwired desire to pursue our passions, satiate our desires, and ultimately serve ourselves — is death’ when it comes to creativity!

Humility is a much tougher state of mind, no question… But it also works much harder for you than ego. Check your ego at the door and creativity will flourish!

3. Timeline

‘To kill your timeline isn’t about throwing out your schedule. Instead, it means adopting a new orientation towards time itself, one that lives beneath the reality that time is limited… So don’t waste it talking about work. Get to work!’

Far too many people talk about what they plan to do, rather than doing it. I think this is another form of an excuse!

Time is precious — don’t waste it! Squeeze every second you can out of every day, particularly when it comes to creative thinking.

Barefoot Bonus: Technology

My Barefoot Bonus addition to Aaron’s article is technology. Please kill all forms of technology when you are thinking creatively.

Science tells us that we need time to daydream since daydreaming boosts our creativity. If we’re filling any possible downtime with our devices, are we inhibiting that daydream time?

Creativity is often referred to as a “use it or lose it” discipline. You might work in a creative job, but you could be strangling your creativity by being fastened to a device.

For more brainstorming rules and creativity training and tips, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.