Many of us have faced significant challenges that we couldn’t solve alone. Tackling these issues in isolation often leads to the same solutions we initially conceived, which likely didn’t work or didn’t meet our needs. Involving various people in these challenging missions offers numerous benefits, such as different perspectives, technical solutions beyond the host’s understanding, engaging the team with the organization’s challenges, involving different departments, and even lightening the decision-making load.

However, organizing an ideation session can be a daunting task. Extracting valuable insights from the minds of participants requires strategy. Here, I’ll share some tips and secrets I’ve gathered from my national innovation tour to help you capture those original ideas from your team:

The Most Important Secret:

Create an Environment that Unleashes Creative Thinking.

Emphasize “unleashes” because, in the innovation process, there are times when the host should minimally interfere with the outcomes. During the ideation phase, it’s crucial to let imagination run free. The host must strip their mind of biases, judgment, and control. But, and I know this, such sessions can sometimes yield everything but ideas. To ensure your ideation session is successful, take note of the following key points:

Key #1: More Important Than Innovation Is Knowing What to Innovate.

Don’t enter a session without a clear focus and purpose. Before reaching this stage, you should have gone through the strategic definition of innovation focus areas, identified the challenge, and conducted deep research to understand the problem. If you don’t know what you’re looking for, you won’t find it. The ideation stage answers the “how.” If your goal is to find solutions, be clear about the problem.

Key #2: Start with a Clear and Exciting Question.

You’ve likely heard that the answer lies in the question. It’s easier to find answers if the challenge is framed as a question, but not just any question. Think back to situations where someone (your boss, partner, collaborator, parents, significant other, etc.) asked you a big, holistic, overly comprehensive question that spun around in your head without eliciting a concrete thought. Your brain probably got stuck in an endless loop of analyzing too much information, overwhelmed by the pressure of providing a quick and immediate response.

Instead of asking, “How can we increase sales by 30%?” reframe it as, “What should our product have to make moms prefer buying it before breakfast?”

Working on clear aspects like product features, new markets, and new service experiences will have a greater impact on increasing sales than simply lowering prices, which will likely be the first and only idea if the questions are too big and serious.

Key #3: Use Techniques to Capture Ideas.

Everything mentioned in the session should be noted. Use techniques to ensure ideas are captured and visible to others; it’s valid and highly valuable to build on others’ ideas. One effective technique is mind mapping.

Key #4: Change the Mindset with Games!

Everyone carries a series of thoughts, tasks, or worries throughout the day. It’s not easy to detach from them and adopt a problem-solving attitude. Our mission as hosts is to break these distractions and put participants in a creative mode. A great way to do this is through a small playful activity. Games are immersive activities requiring high attention, activating our fun side, and making us competitive. Here are some effective games and where to find them:

Game: Graphic

This game includes various abstract shape cards, situational or character cards categorized by a number from 1 to 6, a six-sided die, and a 90-second hourglass.

Instructions: Randomly distribute two or three abstract shape cards, a die, and an hourglass. The instructor rolls the die and, based on the number, selects a matching situational card. Participants, using their non-dominant hand, draw as many objects related to that situation as possible within the hourglass time. This activity engages people, makes them smile, and helps break the ice.

You can conduct this activity without the game, but if you’re interested, you can purchase it here.

Key #5: Space Acupuncture

Organize and decorate a space where participants can move, dream, eat, and be inspired to think differently. Consider using a newspaper sheet as a tablecloth that participants can doodle on, provide colourful markers, post-its, scissors, and idea capture tools at each place, keep the coffee station nearby, offer snacks, ensure good lighting, and decorate with vibrant colours. Feel free to channel your inner interior decorator.

Key #6: Bring Your Tools

Don’t forget to bring:

•Idea Capturers: Bibliographic cards or post-its in various colours. The rule is one idea per capturer.

•Markers and Pens: In different colours.

•Large Sheets of Paper: Ideal for creating mind maps.

•Scissors

•Tape

•Formats for Downloading Ideas

By following these steps, you can effectively harness the collective brainpower of your team and drive meaningful innovation in your organization.

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