I’ve always enjoyed brainstorming. In school, it was hanging out in the honors lounge throwing out crazy ideas and having everyone build on top of that until we had something huge. I enjoyed the creativity and the energy that came from thinking outside of the box. Sometimes it felt as if we were using science to take the fiction out of science fiction, but mostly we were exploring the dreams and aspirations that were dancing in our brains freshly loaded with education. As I entered the corporate world, brainstorming was different and at first seemed pointless. I’d throw an idea up on the white board then a bunch of people would explain to me why it wouldn’t work. I thought everyone just had a bad attitude, I thought they had lost their sense of dreaming.
But I learned how to turn that energy around and use it, and it really turned me around as well. I learned to write up on the board each of the reasons they threw at me for things not working, all of the obstacles. Then when we had a good list of 6 or 8, I would go one by one and ask everyone how we could get around the obstacle, remove the obstacle, or just avoid it all together. It was amazing what would happen once a tangible obstacle was put in front of this group of engineers. Their creativity and innovation cells started generating new ideas, and before long we not only had a big idea, we had an excellent plan of how to get it implemented.
1. Schedule a meeting and invite your team.
So you have this great idea but you haven’t done anything with it or you just don’t know where to go with it or how to start. Who are the experts on your team? What expertise and experience can your associates bring to the table? Create a vision statement or describe your idea in a sentence or two. A vision without a plan of action is just a pipe dream.
2. Conduct a brainstorming session.
Present your vision to the group and solicit feedback. You may pick up some great expansions to your idea or new directions you can take it. Great! But when the “you can’t do that” crowd starts to talk, listen and write it down. Obstacles become the fuel for innovation.
3. Capture the problems first.
Don’t try to solve them as they come in, use the energy to get through the list or you’ll get stuck. Don’t worry, you’ll get a chance to talk through each one of these. The most diligent problem creators are often the best problem solvers.
4. Tackle each problem like it’s the only one.
Go one by one through each obstacle and brainstorm ways to solve that one issue. Innovation transforms vision into reality.
5. Turn your solutions into an action list.
Now go through your lists of solutions. For each of your obstacles for which you’ve come up with a list of ways to solve the issues, come up with the first step, the action that can be performed now to get started. Make sure you have a person and deadline or check-in date assigned to each one. If the team leaves still thinking about the problems, they won’t believe in the idea.
So now I go into each brainstorming session looking for trouble, because that trouble is just what I need to make the big idea bigger and make it happen. Those obstacles have made me think bigger and plan better bringing more of my ideas into the realm of reality than any other thing I’ve tried.
Question: Do you have a vision that needs an action plan? When will you brainstorm this and who will help you? Share your answer on Facebook, or Twitter