Think Like A Team

Chasing Bubbles: How to rein in unrealistic ideas and get the most out of brainstorming

/ SJ / Leave a comment

You may not have blown many bubbles lately, but it’s hard to argue the delight and whimsy that comes from taking a deep breath and creating gleaming spheres of light that float on the breeze. Am I right? Such joy is also the case with unabashed brainstorming and letting your creative juices flow to develop new and exciting ideas.

Although everyone has their own take on how ideas should be sourced. For example, the fine folks at Fast Company can’t seem to make up their mind on whether “brainstorming” is a good idea or not.

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Since 2011 they’ve reversed their decision 5 times by posting contradicting articles on the topic. But whether you call it brainstorming, team-building exercises, creative collaboration or whatever, there’s definitely a need to call one of these pow-wows every once in a while to get fresh ideas on the table.

However in this post I’m not going to focus on what you should call it, but instead outline some recommendations for structure, defining goals before you get started and how to rein in unrealistic ideas without being labeled “dream-crusher”. (Because no one wants that written on their name tag.)

Bubble Making 101

Before you start looking at the calendar and sending Outlook invites to the whole office, it’s important to have an outline of what you want to accomplish. Also make sure your boss (or whoever the key decision maker is) has signed off, because if you’re going left and they’re going right it’ll end up being a waste of everyone’s time.

Here’s a quick list of things you want to be sure you have locked down:

What’s the task at hand? Are you coming up with something new or revamping something already on the market?

What’s the goal at the end of the brainstorming? Do you want a list of 500 general ideas or 10 further developed concept ideas?

How much time do you have for the meeting? If this is an all-day affair, there’s definitely room to include some unstructured time, but if it’s only 2-3 hours you’ll need to make sure you have a firm agenda and stick to it.

Who’s driving the bus? It’s important to identify who will be running the session and that they keep everyone focused on the task at hand.

Beneath The Suds

Technically the definition of brainstorming is throwing any kind-of idea out there to see if it sticks, but it’s also important to be realistic. If there are things you know the company will never go for, set up those guardrails early and enforce them. Otherwise you’re devoting time and resources to develop ideas that will never see the light of day, and much like our glistening bubble friends, they may look pretty but they don’t last long.

Stay on TaskIn addition to that, be wary of good ideas that get blown up by unnecessary or unrealistic add-ons. (If a small bubble is shiny, then a bigger bubble must be even shinier!) Whoa there. This goes back to what was said in the beginning: know your goals for the session and what’s really possible to execute.

From personal experience, I’ve seen lengthy conversations develop over the discussion of completely over the top, high-cost and potentially unmanageable marketing ideas. How is that a good use of anyone’s time? That’s why it’s imperative to stay on task, with one eye on the goal and the other on the agenda.

Runaway Bubbles
You might be thinking at this point, why do we keep talking about bubbles? (Or maybe, “I need to stop and pick up some Calgon…” Who knows ☺) But for the purposes of this post, the idea of chasing a bubble seemed like a good analogy to illustrate how quickly ideas can be developed, overblown and then quickly fade away. So in this last section, let’s quickly talk about reining in bad ideas before they get out of control.

pigWe covered some of this in the paragraphs above, but that’s if you’re able to put the kibosh on something before it even gets started. But what if something is already in play? Maybe the purpose of your brainstorm session is to correct a bad idea that’s already been executed. In which case it’s important to proceed thoughtfully – otherwise you risk putting lipstick on a pig – and in our case we’re trying to save Wilbur from a Mary Kay makeover.

Bad ideas can get started in a number of ways, but a likely culprit is someone making a decision for an area of the business that they shouldn’t be. For example: accounting making a decision for marketing or vice versa. If that’s the case, don’t be afraid to shut it down. Accounting shouldn’t be dictating a marketing campaign just like marketing isn’t telling them how to pay invoices.

Of course it’s always better to play nice in the office and across departments, so if this is the situation you’re in, the best way to unravel the knot is to open up a dialog.


“What’s the total cost?”

“What’s the expected ROI?

“Does this speak to our demographic?

“Does this bring us new customers?”

“How long has the program been running and what have we gained – or lost?”

“Does this align with our brand?”

These will vary depending on the program and your business model, but you get the idea behind the questioning. It’s to identify: “Why are we doing this” and “What are we getting out of it?” Oh and remember to let the bubbles float on by… there’s no ROI if you catch one.

The sky is falling! When lack of information (and planning) creates mass confusion and chaos

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Pretty sure we’ve all been through a situation like this. It usually starts off when something breaks and the person that discovers it first starts an email chain (with everyone on the 3rd floor cc’d, including the boss) and panic ensues. Although usually buried somewhere in the sea of cc’s is at least one or two people who actually know what this is about – but before they can hit the ‘reply all’ button to draft a response, the Chicken Little of the office (there’s always one) has thrown a bucket of gasoline on this fire and everyone is on the next train to chaos-ville. Oy.

reply-all

In that situation, there’s not a lot you can do to stop the train – short of unplugging the email server from the wall – but if it does happen and you happen to be one of the lucky ones (?) who actually knows what’s going on and how to fix it, this is your time to step up and shine.

First off, reach out to any and all contacts you may have that can help (and only include those absolutely necessary on the email, if anyone at all). However do send a note to your immediate boss and let them know you are leveraging your contacts and will report back with any news asap.

Secondly, insert yourself into any emergency meetings or conversations so you know what’s going on. Like I mentioned earlier, it’s highly unlikely that you’re going to be able to contain the crazy, but at least if you know what the crazy is doing you won’t be doubling up on the same work.

Thirdly, if at all possible, try to establish some sort-of chain of command that dictates who should be chasing down what. (Note: this will also be important for something I’m going to talk about later.) Most likely you’ll need these key roles filled:

3-CIRCLES

The Communicator; this is the person that will communicate updates to the executive team and any of key stakeholders
The Do-er; this person (most likely you) is the one who is going to work with whatever people and/or teams to resolve
The Techie; all problems are different, but in almost any scenario you’re going to need someone who’s technologically savvy, whether it’s a hardware or software issue you’re having

Besides those 3 roles, and any outside resources that you may be leaning on, close the circle. The more cooks you have in the kitchen the more likely you’ll start a fire.

As long as the communicator is doing their job, any execs or nosy-Nancy’s who are looking for answers are just going to have to be patient.

Once you get to the post-apocalypse stage, keep shining and showing your leadership skills!

Make a plan
Take everything that you learned getting through the recent chaos and use that to create a plan of attack that you can use should a crisis strike again in the future.

Man your battle stations!
I don’t know if that’s really what they say in the military or not, but regardless I know they do not say “run in every direction you can and just start pushing buttons”. So once you’ve established the plan and chain of command assignments: regroup with your new team, share the plan, make sure they understand what they are responsible for and let them ask questions. You may discover unexpected areas that have been missed!

Maintain open communication
Even if things are rolling along without any incidents, set up a monthly or quarterly check in with your team and any key resources. (Think of it like a practice fire drill without the loud noises, flashing lights and stampede as everyone makes their way to the one stairwell in the building.) Use these meeting to ask questions; Has any changed within the internal processes or with any outside vendors? Has anyone switched roles and you need get someone new in place? Also find out if there have been any updates to processes or systems, this may affect your plan and you need to know!