Cultivating Success through New Ideas
by Bill Lisowski

"If we are to achieve things we have never achieved before--

---then we must do things we have never done before."

This quote appeared in my notes from a workshop I took years ago. I don't know who said it then, or who originally said it. However, it is a powerful statement managers must consider if they wish to protect and strengthen their organization's ability to succeed because it forces the realization that in today's quickly changing competitive marketplace, yesterday's way of doing business will not protect your market share or industry position.

It forces managers, leaders and business owners to find fresh, new approaches to service their customer, approaches unique to their organization and culture. The trap, however, is when managers and leaders think that they are responsible for coming up with all of the new ways to handle business; that they must be the only innovators.

Managers, by definition, are facilitators, not experts. Managers must cultivate the brainpower working with them and around them to surface those new ideas. Managers must establish the environment for innovation.
There are many ways to cultivate ideas, but in this short space let's look at how to conduct a formal brainstorming session. This approach can be used for an annual meeting dedicated to generating many new ideas, or it can be slimmed down and used to concentrate on one critical problem.

In either case, the goal is to tap into the perspectives and knowledge base of your team members.

To successfully facilitate brainstorming sessions, it is essential to follow three steps: defining the problem, generating ideas, and selecting the best ideas for which to further develop plans. However, most breakdowns in this process occur because the facilitator fails at the first step, generating ideas.

The easiest way to begin is by creating an Idea Pool. Let participants know they can either center on today's biggest problems and organizational dissatisfactions, or focus on tomorrow's opportunities as they relate to product, market, process, or technology. Sometimes facilitators will need triggers to spur thought. Some useful ones include:

• What would you like to see happen that isn't happening, or not happening very well right now?
  
  
• What makes you angry, or what do you complain most about, right now?
  
  
• What, if done in a new or completely different way, would make a significant difference to most people in the organization or to our customers?
  
  
• What ideas do you have that you would like to see realized now or more quickly?
  
  
• What barriers, bottlenecks or limitations exist right now, that if eliminated would make a significant difference?
  
  
• What organizational objectives or elements of the organizational vision need to be achieved?
  
  
• What have you heard other employees, customers or suppliers say really needs to be improved in order to enhance the success of the organization?
  
  
• What one thing could you do, or stop doing, that would make a difference right now?
  
  
• What future opportunities do you foresee on which you must take action to maximize their benefits?
  
  
• Where are we wasting the most money right now as an organization?

Remind everyone that there is no such thing as a bad idea. Then go around the room and ask participants to complete either of these two challenge statements:

• We must ___________________ so that we can _________________.
  
  
• Wouldn't it be nice if_____________ so that we can _____________?

The first blank portion of the statement must include a positive action verb such as: improve, change, develop, implement, produce, create, satisfy, expand, build, launch, etc… You want to facilitate an action orientation--a positive attitude that change can occur. The second blank portion must define the benefit obtained by achieving these challenges. These two statements are ideal to use when focusing on a specific issue.

(Before working with a group, practice completing several challenge statements yourself.)

Chart the ideas on a white board or flip chart. Next have the participants evaluate each from two perspectives: what is the idea's bottom line value (will it have a high or low probability of saving money or increasing profitability) and what is the organization's capability to execute the idea. Lead the group through ranking the ideas in order of importance so they can choose an idea that has a high impact on the bottom line and one where a high capability to accomplish exists within the organization.

Once you have a target idea, solicit "what if" ideas from the group concerning how to execute on the idea. What if we did this, what if we combined that, what if we enhanced this-and so on? You are now on your way to facilitating a brainstorming session.

Keep the ideas flowing. Remember, there is no such thing as a bad idea, so don't stop the process until either your time limit is exhausted, or the ideas stop flowing. This process may not always immediately solve your problems, but it will open up the creative energy of your organization. That energy is the key to your organization's future successes!

About the author: Bill Lisowski