We urgently need new ideas. How??

Dear Aunty B,

We have been sitting back blaming the GFC for our crisis and have realised instead that our industry has changed beneath our feet (because of the GFC).

We have to change fast. But we don’t know how. I called an “ideas meeting” with key staff and we came up with a few ideas, but I am not convinced they will work. How can we get more ideas? And don’t tell us to bring in consultants. We did that and they led us up the proverbial garden.

DF,
Tas

Dear DF,

You must be in media, I am guessing, to sit back and not see it all coming.

Look, what you have to do is go back to your basic value proposition and work out what has changed and how. Then you need to study your customers. What problems can you solve at a price that is going to give a return to shareholders? When you have done that base strategy work, set aside some time and do something different. It is very hard to come up with ideas when you are staring at the same four walls every day.

Thinking expert Ken Wood says that no one ever gets their best ideas at work. He and some researchers looked at anecdotal research across a range of countries and found that people got their best ideas from here:
1. Shower, bath, bathroom – 57%
2. Bed – 51%
3. Driving (or passenger) – 42%
4. Walking – 28%
5. Exercise, running, swimming – 25%

I’m not suggesting that you have a group shower, but you need to set a mood that encourages those surprising connections, which are the backbone of creative ideas. And Ken says all of these places offer the opportunity for resting (the gym??) as a way of ‘getting away’ from the pressure to find the great idea.

I do, I have to admit, get my best ideas running or pumping iron but certainly not in a gym class with that awful music.

So here is what you must do. Forget the beanbags. Hire a room upstairs at a nice pub. Make sure you bring the people directly working in the problem areas. For example, if it is sales bring the sales people – not just the general manager. What would he/she know about how the market place is really changing?

Maybe have a professional facilitator use an idea generation method and then evaluate the results. Set a prize for the best idea of the day and then make sure you all have a drink together in front of a warm fire. I bet a few more ideas emerge then!

Good luck,
Your Aunty B

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