| It has become such a part of corporate life, it | | | | come up with an ad campaign for a new product, |
| now ranks right up there with the morning coffee | | | | have your people make a list of every ad |
| and the water cooler powwow. The | | | | campaign they can think of and have them list |
| company-wide brainstorming session has taken its | | | | what they like and don't like. Start a mature, adult |
| place among the most common, most attended, | | | | conversation about what really works in ads and |
| and unfortunately, the most dreaded of all | | | | what doesn't. Turn the brainstorm into a |
| corporate events. Many times, companies with | | | | thoughtful, intelligent discussion and you'll be |
| incorporate principles of team-building and even | | | | shocked at how much progress you make. |
| competition into brainstorming sessions, but these | | | | Are ads not your business? How about product |
| frills really aren't necessary. Let's take a closer | | | | development? Have your people make a list of |
| look at brainstorming and how you can turn this | | | | products they miss from their childhood that they |
| ho hum, Monday morning ritual into something | | | | wish were still around. Or how about lists of |
| your people genuinely enjoy. | | | | regional products they used and liked but can't |
| The first step is to not treat your people like | | | | find in their area? Or even a product list of things |
| children. And this goes for every aspect of the | | | | that don't' even exist yet! You can have |
| workplace, but especially meetings and | | | | successful brainstorming without resulting to |
| brainstorming sessions. You want your employees | | | | gimmicky games, competition and absurd team |
| to feel welcomed and appreciated, not tricked into | | | | building exercises that everyone secrets despises. |
| playing games that were originally devised for | | | | Finally, if you can't come up with any additional |
| kindergartners to help them think up the next big | | | | brainstorming ideas, it is more than OK to ask the |
| ad campaign or the next successful product line. If | | | | people you're trying to help for ideas! After all, |
| you want to stop your people from dreading the | | | | they are the ones that are being asked to do the |
| Monday morning brainstorm, start making them | | | | work, why not let them have some feedback on |
| feel welcome! | | | | the methods and techniques being used to |
| The second important tip is to come up with | | | | extract them? This can seem like a foreign |
| innovative but adult ways of stimulating new and | | | | concept for management because it sounds like |
| original thought. Instead of pitting your people | | | | they are admitting they don't have any fresh |
| against each other in artificial, meaningless teams, | | | | ideas. It's actually exactly the opposite. A good |
| or stealing something from your 8-year-old's class | | | | manager knows to ask the people they are trying |
| activity book, try to come up with fun methods | | | | to help how they can communicate more |
| of brainstorming that don't insult the intelligence of | | | | effectively. |
| the group you're trying to help. If you need to | | | | |