I’m sure everyone reading this has fallen victim to a spontaneous brainstorming session. Out of nowhere, you suddenly feel the urge to sit down with co-workers in a conference room and bat around some ideas.
Your intentions are good, but what typically follows is a painfully slow-moving discussion that doesn’t get very far. Whether your staff feels intimidated by the setting, distracted by other tasks, or taken aback by the impulsiveness of it all, spontaneous brainstorming sessions never really end up being all that productive.
Brainstorming is a vital business activity. In fact, the National Center for the Middle Market released a report indicating that the highest-growth midmarket companies make establishing a formal innovation process a top priority.
But due to the small size of leadership teams and a large emphasis placed on other business endeavors, midmarket companies too often treat it like an unscripted, one-off event. The best ideas happen when you’re not scrambling to get to them. In fact, they usually come when you least expect them — like when you’re sitting in traffic, taking a shower, or falling asleep.
Your team needs a new way to brainstorm — one that doesn’t involve sitting around a table in a familiar setting. You need to go on a brainstorming retreat.
Here are seven tips for planning a productive one:
Get out of the office. There’s nothing inspiring about monotony. Even if you’ve built a fun, creative work environment, your staff sees the same walls, plants, and foosball tables every day. To get the most out of a brainstorming session, disconnect your team from its routine.Find somewhere new to go. It can be as exotic as a park or as sterile as a different office — it doesn’t matter. New surroundings spark new ideas.
Circulate the topic. A primary issue with on-the-fly brainstorming is that your staff will feel unprepared to share ideas. That’s why these sessions end up feeling flat and uninspired. Remedy this by circulating the topics you wish to discuss ahead of time. Pose a question like “What would be the result of not solving this problem?” If you give your team ample time to brush up on the subject and formulate opinions before putting them on the spot, you’ll up the success of your brainstorming session.
Set a time box. The most wearing brainstorming sessions are those that sprawl on for hours with no sign of coming to a conclusion. That’s why it’s crucial to always set a time box. Adding the urgency of a time constraint will promote healthy, productive, and pointed discussion. Brainstorming works best if it’s spread out over small sessions that span multiple days. This allows participants plenty of time to digest ideas, develop new ones, and perhaps even have a light bulb moment (or two) in the shower.
Invite an end user or two to the party. Illuminate your brainstorm by adding the perspective of end users. These are the people who deal with the issues you’re trying to solve and stand to benefit from your new product or solution. Involve them in your discussions and listen closely to what they have to say. Their complaints, opinions, and advice will be invaluable for your entire team to hear.
Begin with personal brainstorming. While team discussion is the ultimate goal, jumping straight into a group setting could easily lead to conformity and groupthink. My company begins every brainstorming retreat by encouraging everyone to write down their thoughts on sticky notes. Then, after 10 minutes, we put all the notes on a wall and look for patterns. This is a great way to get beyond coyness and self-censorship, and it provides a visual representation of every unique view your team possesses.
Get to something tangible. This is the No. 1 rule my company lives by. Too often, brainstorms disappear into the ether because nothing concrete comes from the session. Ideas get floated around, and heads will nod in agreement — but without a tangible outcome, the brainstorm is ultimately a waste of time. This could mean producing a couple of sketches, developing a clickable prototype, or coding up a few screens. Having this goal forces you to think beyond the idea state and dig into whether your ideas are actually worth pursuing. Brainstorming is typically only associated with idea generation, but integrating the need to create something tangible will add a whole new element of productivity to your session.
Have a takeaway. By the end of the brainstorm, your team ought to have a sense of which ideas are worth pursuing and which aren’t. With that in mind, everyone should walk away from the retreat with a clear plan of attack.
If you turn your spontaneous brainstorming sessions into brainstorming retreats, you’ll put your team in the perfect position to create, discuss, and innovate without that traditional round-table pressure. Ideas will be brighter, team dynamics will be tighter, and everyone will enjoy a break from the day-to-day grind. ¤
Erika Carney is CMO at Skookum, a custom software design and development firm with offices in Charlotte, N.C., and Denver, Colo. She oversees the company’s marketing and communications programs, as well as its internal product development. She has more than eight years of experience in product development and marketing at high-growth software companies. Follow her on Twitter at @erikalcarney.
