Creativity Tip - Great ideas take time

For almost everyone – and most companies and organisations – money is tight. Spend is restricted, budgets are down – even if cash is still available, we’re asked to do more with it than we ever did before.

But time is even tighter. Deadlines are shorter, demands are greater, and there’s just no time to sit, and think, and ponder.

And a lack of time almost inevitably means a lack of ideas. At least, a lack of good ideas. Ideas need time to develop, to grow, to flourish.

Anyone can come up with an idea quickly. But that idea won’t be great.  A great idea – one that is innovative, or game-changing, or unique – won’t be your first idea. It will be the idea you thought of when you stopped thinking about the problem. It will come to you when you least expect it.

So you need to give yourself time to think – and time to not think! 

I know you can give me an idea by tomorrow. But you can give me something great if I allow you a little more time to ponder.   

Presentation Tip: Start with your #1 hit

In a previous post, I suggested that when presenting ideas, or solutions, you shouldn’t give away the shop too early. In other words, don't open up with the idea, or the solution. You should take your time and provide the idea or solution as a "reveal". 

The most effective structure, I've found, is to build from the problem, to the strategy, to the idea or solution.

However, when you are making a speech to a large audience (as opposed to a presentation to clients or colleagues), you want to start BIG.

You want to grab the audience's attention right from the start. To get them involved or engaged or 'onside' with your opening.

Don’t let the audience sit there wondering “where is this going?” Hit them hard, and hit them early. Get your best stuff in at the start – particularly if it’s funny. If you think your best stories, or examples, or points need a build up, then write a high-impact opening.

What do I mean?  Copy Beyonce.

Did you see her at Glastonbury? Many people wondered whether she was a big enough star to headline the festival. Then she opened with “Crazy in Love” – her biggest hit – and we got our answer. Her second song? “Single Ladies (put a ring on it)” – her next biggest UK hit. The crowd goes wild, and she’s in total control of her audience.

That’s where you want to be – in total control of your audience. So open with your #1 hit. 

Does where you work affect how you think?

I've worked in lots of different offices, and visited many more. Wide open, light and bright. Crowded, dingy and dark. On my own, with a partner, and in a team.

In every place I've worked, a key priority was to come up with ideas. Whether it was for running the team, working with clients, or new marketing campaigns. In every office, we had ideas. But in some of them, we had more ideas - and better ideas - than in others. Over the years, I've become convinced that Environment (or at least how you work with your Environment) is a key cultural condition of creativity.

A great environment contributes to the generation of ideas - and a poor one works against it. Working in a box isn't really conducive to thinking outside it.

Not all of us can work at Google (take a look at their office by putting in "images for google offices" on, er, Google). Or First Direct (the only contact centre I've ever been in where the environment is calm, relaxed and casual). Or even a groovy ad agency with a blue sky painted on the ceiling of the "thinking room".

But we can all improve the way we use our office environment to improve the way we think.

Get away from your desk Sitting in the same place, in the same position, surrounded by the same people, screen and furniture does no good for your creativity. Go for a walk round the building. Switch desks with someone else for a while. Find an empty meeting rooms and work there - cover the walls in flipchart paper and scribble! And while you're at it ...

Go for lunch I know, I know, you're busy. And everyone else eats at their desk. And anyway, that's the only time you have for Facebook. Stop it! Go somewhere new for lunch. Just a new sandwich bar, or the park, or by the river or canal, will make it much easier for you to think. At least once a week, take lunch Al Fresco instead of Al Desko. (Sorry).

Enhance what you have  OK, so you may not have a budget for repainting, knocking down a wall, or even a sofa or mini-football table. But when you need to come up with ideas, all you need to do is change what you have. Find a quiet corner and listen to some music (especially music you don't normally listen to). Surround yourself with creative stimulus (new postcards, pictures, books, magazines). Put up photographs that inspire you and energise your creativity (mine include David Bowie, Eddie Izzard, Paolozzi, Bob Marley and Dali).

Find what works for you, and use it. Some people think creatively when surrounded by colour, natural light, noise, stimulus. For others, they need to get away from that and move to a quiet, all-white room.

Look at what's around you when you find yourself getting ideas, and replicate that in your workplace.

Environment is just one of my 3 Cultural Conditions of Creativity. I'll be talking more about it (and the other conditions, tools and techniques) in the Headsurfing public seminars I'm running this month in Edinburgh (23rd August) and London (30th).

At £190 for Edinburgh and £230 for London they're great value - I'll deliver a full day of creative inspiration, new tools and techniques, attitudes and behaviours that will help you become instantly more creative.

If you'd like to come along, let me know as soon as you can - the last workshops sold out completely.

Creativity wins out - how to think like The Apprentice

So the wait is finally over. After weeks of pitching, selling, leading and following, negotiating, inventing and backstabbing, the winner of the latest series of The Apprentice is...Creativity.

Tom Pellereau is the name, but creativity and innovation is the game. And ideas are his stock in trade.

He is obviously a highly creative guy - and last night on the follow-up interview show "You're Hired!", Tom displayed several of the habits, behaviours and attitudes that all highly creative people tend to have.

These are habits (or to put it another way, tools and techniques) that the rest of us can study, learn and put into practice to improve our own personal creativity.

Firstly, he seems to have plenty of ideas - one after the other. Actually, what he demonstrates is that he doesn't close down an idea simply because it hasn't been thought through. He shouts it out, he gets it out there - he doesn't confuse idea generation with evaluation. When he is supposed to come up with ideas, that's what he does - comes up with ideas. Stop judging your ideas - just shout them out, write them down, and get on to the next one.

That's his second habit - he captures every idea in writing. At on point on the show host Dara O Briain suggested another idea - and Tom whipped out his notepad and pretended to write it down. Dara even said "I love the fact that he's got the notepad!". I suspect, Dara, that you carry a notepad too. All creative people do, and that includes great comedians.

Thirdly, he is incorrigibly optimistic. He believes in ideas, and he believes in his own ability to come up with ideas. A healthy cup of Tom's optimism every day could help us all with our own challenges, I believe.

His optimism, belief in himself and all-round decency came in one stunning phrase last night about the fact that he is dyslexic. "I was extremely lucky" he said "that from a young age I knew there were lots of things I couldn't do. I saw things in ways others couldn't, so I had to concentrate on maths, engineering and designing".

That, Tom, is the power of creative thinking. Many congratulations.

Facilitating a brainstorm - managing the outcomes

The final responsibility of the facilitator of a brainstorm or meeting is manage the outcomes - to make sure that the session has achieved its objectives, and that you have the right outputs in the right format.

The first stage in managing outcomes is to manage expectations in the first place: to know what you want to achieve; to ensure all concerned are agreed on objectives; and to know what the next stage in the process will be.

So have clear in your mind what the outcomes must be. Are you looking for some initial thoughts that can be worked up later? Or a decision on what course of action to take (in which case this meeting isn't for generating ideas, but rather evaluating them)? Do you want the ideas to be pretty substantial in terms of 'completeness'?

And presumably, at least part of the outcomes required will be an action plan to move on to "next steps".

Make sure you have captured ALL the ideas generated - or if the teams have come up with a load of ideas which were not shared, get them to type them up and email on to you. And give them a deadline!

Set aside some time (a couple of days later) to go through these additional ideas - there's always a chance you or the team missed an absolute cracker when you went through them the first time.

Group the ideas together on a whiteboard or on post-it notes. You're looking for themes, big ideas, concepts "with legs".

Get some initial feedback on favourite ideas - but be aware that the group intellect "tends to the norm". In other words, in groups we tend to select the more obvious, instantly recognisable ideas rather than the innovative or unusual ones.

To counteract this, give everyone a few votes - say, five. They have to look at the ideas boards, on their own, then allocate votes as they see fit (for example: two to one idea, and one to three others; or all five votes to one idea). Then they go up one at a time and allocate the votes as written down (or they hand their scoring sheet to you). In this way, you don't get everyone simply following each other once one idea becomes the favourite.

And finally, make sure you share next steps with everyone. People will be happier - and will remain engaged with the project - if they know what's going to happen next.

If you follow these steps, your meetings and brainstorms (and the ideas generated) will be better, faster - and more effective.

Facilitating a brainstorm - managing time

As Douglas Adams said, "Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so". 

It may be an illusion, but time is the most expensive resource you use up while running a meeting or brainstorm. Think of all those expensive colleagues sitting round the table (or lolling on sofas, or stretched out on rugs in the park - where do you hold your brainstorms?). All watching the clock. All trusting that their time is appreciated, and being used well. 

The key to using time well is to have a plan, and stick to it. Sketch out an agenda that covers the key 'events' in the brainstorm - the introduction, the thinking part, the switching of teams, the harvesting of ideas, the summarising at the end. How long will each take? How much will you need to allow for  sessions that are going so well you that don't want to stop?

You needn't share the agenda in detail - although it is a good idea to give your participants a rough idea of where you're going and what you'll be doing. And give deadlines and outlines - saying things like "We'll now break into pairs for a twenty minute challenge". 

Stick to the deadlines. Don't wait for everyone to come back into the room (physically or metaphorically) on time - go get them. In fact, go get them five minutes early - so that they don't delay the re-start by deciding then to go to the loo!

Have the agenda in sight, and in mind, throughout the meeting. Try not to over-run - if you think you might, pick up the pace. 

Keep the tempo up - this raises the energy in the room and seems to contribute to quicker thinking. It also stops everyone taking time for idea evaluation instead of idea generation (evaluate later is one of the golden rules of creative thinking). 

And if you want to earn the undying admiration and love of all concerned, finish ten minutes early. Every time a meeting finishes early, a lovely fluffy kitten is born. 

Facilitating a brainstorm - managing participants

Do you ever get the feeling that managing meetings would be easy - if it wasn't for the people involved?

I think we've all been there. But handling people - even problem participants - is easy when you know how. You need to think about the problem in advance, learn a few engagement techniques - and then implement them as the meeting or brainstorm progresses.

There are certain types of "problem participants" who occur all too often:

• The motormouth, who wants to dominate every conversation
• The wallflower, who doesn't want to talk at all
• The person who seems only to see the negative in everything
• The aggressive person, who delights in personal criticism and attacks (but only on others)
• The person who is always late and perpetually distracted

In the first instance, agree groundrules in advance - and keep them on display. These should include the rule  that the times of the brainstorm will be honoured, that all attendees are expected to participate, and that only one person should talk at one time (the "one singer, one song" rule). 

In addition, almost all "problem" behaviours can be handled by facilitation techniques. 

In order of escalation they are: 

1. Mention their name (most people respond and attend when they hear their own name)
2. Move towards them
3. Put a hand on their shoulder (but be aware of cultural issues which discourage touching) and
4. Call a coffee or natural break, and have a word with the person causing the problem.

In the last instance, if their behaviour is truly breaking up the brainstorm, explain the problem and ask them to leave the meeting if they cannot behave in a way that will contribute to achieving what the meeting needs to. 

In addition, be aware that people have different ways of engaging at work. Their personalities differ, and the way they work and communicate with other people can differ dramatically. There are several ways of understanding different personality styles -  from Belbin and Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), to NLP Representational Styles (Auditory, Visual, Kinaesthetic etc) and the Insights Colour system.

The sense behind each of them is that if you understand your own "type", and can flex to communicate in the way others prefer, you'll have much more success in communicating with them.

The system I use is Social Styles, with the primary types of Driver, Analytical, Amiable and Expressive. I find it simple to understand and translate into action, and I use it to understand any type of communication issue and any type of audience.

It's worth trying to work with these communication systems - check them out online, or talk to your HR colleagues.