Riding Tandem

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00:00:04 Welcome to Riding Tandem Works, a podcast about building businesses, leadership and creating positive impact for our communities. I'm your host, Vivian Kvam, and I invite you to ride Tandem Works with me as I have candid conversations with inspiring business owners, leaders, and experts who are building on their dreams and creating path. Get ready to be encouraged and learn practical tactics to help us build successful businesses, become incredible leaders, and have positive ripple effects. Let's go. Hello, my friends, and welcome to this episode of Tandem Works Works.

00:00:40 I am here today to talk to you about the power of brainstorming. This is one of my favorite things to do, and so I want to talk about why regular brainstorming sessions are so essential to small business success and to big business success. Brainstorming is just a key. It's something that we are very passionate about in our company at Tandem Works works that we help a lot of businesses with. Large businesses, small businesses.

00:01:09 But today I'm going to really focus in on when you're brainstorming with a small group and a couple of tips I'm going to throw in along the way here. So welcome to the podcast. This is going to be a really great day, and definitely one where you may want a notebook and a pen and paper or pull out your favorite notetaking if you're driving, obviously you'll have to take a couple of mental notes, but this one's going to have a lot of great tips for you today. As a business owner, you probably find yourself wearing many hats and have a lot of responsibilities. I have not met a business owner of any size business who doesn't find that they're wearing many hats.

00:01:46 But taking the time to regularly brainstorm with your team can have a huge impact on the success of your business. And when you have so many responsibilities, it can feel like you just don't have time for this. And so my job today is to encourage you that you do have time, that this doesn't have to be anything crazy. Even if you don't feel like a creative person, you still can run a successful brainstorm. And this is one of the hats that you definitely want to get on, at least on occasion within your business.

00:02:17 So in this episode, we're going to discuss why brainstorming is important, what it really is, how to conduct effective brainstorming sessions, and then some tips for making the most out of your brainstorming time when you do, get these on the calendar. Okay? So one of the things to point out first is that generating great ideas doesn't have to be left to the creatives in the room. I think this is a huge misconception. There's so many people out there who go, I'm just not creative.

00:02:45 I don't think outside of the box, and so I feel stuck. And we hear that all the time. So some of the ways that might manifest is we hear people say, I'm struggling to fill up a content calendar. I just don't have any more ideas or I can't think what to name a product, or we need to launch a new product and I'm just not sure what components are needed or how to put together the system. Brainstorming sometimes can be around creative things, but it can also be around systems like customer service or how we can do our invoicing better.

00:03:16 So brainstorms don't just have to be used to come up with cool, creative, fun things. It can also be used to create new ways of doing things or solving a problem, or even just tackling how to have a conversation, a difficult conversation with somebody. You can have a little mini brainstorm around that and go, here's the various ways that we could approach that. So when you're feeling a little dry in these areas, a brainstorm is essential. And a little secret here, people say I'm not creative, but I just want to insert right now is you are creative.

00:03:52 Every person has a creative streak in them. They can think a little differently, a little outside of the box. Now, maybe there's some people who have more creativity on this scale or spectrum, but every single person does have at least a little bit of creativity in them. Sometimes we just need a framework to help us get those creative ideas flowing. And that's what we're going to be able to talk about today.

00:04:14 And that's where conducting a great brainstorm can become a fabulous secret weapon. So a brainstorming session is a relaxed approach to solving a problem by generating ideas with a group of others. And it's a tool designed to use lateral thinking. So let's take a quick stop here and talk about what is lateral thinking. If you haven't heard that term before, lateral thinking is a problem solving technique and it was developed by Edward DiBono and he's a Maltese physician.

00:04:48 He was a psychologist, author, inventor, broadcaster. Just a brilliant thinker. One of the books he wrote is Six Thinking Habits, which I haven't read yet, but I'm really interested in checking out, among other books. But he invented this idea, this term called lateral thinking. Lateral thinking involves approaching problems in a creative unconventional way.

00:05:12 It's a way of thinking that looks at a problem from different angles and perspectives. That way you're able to find new and innovative solutions that maybe aren't immediately obvious. Oftentimes when we have a problem or something we're trying to solve for, there are some immediate solutions that can be obvious, but those aren't always the best solution, right? Or we need to vet all the solutions to know and confidently move ahead with one of those. And so lateral thinking involves breaking free from traditional patterns of thinking and just really exploring new possibilities.

00:05:57 And that's why I love it so much. This can involve brainstorming experimenting with different ideas and concepts, challenging assumptions about a problem. And one of the key principles of lateral thinking is the idea that there are often multiple solutions to a problem and that the best solution may not be the most obvious one. This approach is especially useful when you're dealing with complex or ambiguous problems that don't seem to have a clear cut solution that comes to you immediately. But again, even when you do think, oh, I just know the answer and I'm guilty of that a lot, I'm like, oh, I've got the problem, I know the answer.

00:06:42 Using a brainstorm is a really great way to slow down and make sure that you're not just having action bias. I have a lot of action bias, which basically means I want to jump into action immediately. And that doesn't always mean that it's the right action or that it's a healthy action. So overall, lateral thinking, it's a powerful tool for generating creative solutions, approaching problems in a fresh and innovative way. And it really encourages individuals to think outside the box, challenge traditional ways of thinking, and then that of course, can lead to breakthrough ideas and new perspectives, which is always great.

00:07:19 I mean, that's the heart of innovation, right? So to make that simple, think of it as taking approach to a problem, any problem at hand, and not jumping to one answer too soon. That's probably the best way to sum it up. Okay, so let's talk just really briefly about why brainstorming is so important to your business. So a couple of points here, probably the most obvious, and you're thinking, yes, that makes sense, is brainstorming can help generate new ideas and solutions to problems that you may not have thought of on your own.

00:07:55 And one of the things with a brainstorm is that you usually try to do it with a group of people. And so that's where it gets really exciting. It encourages because of that group aspect, it encourages collaboration, it encourages teamwork, it can help improve employee engagement and morale because when we include people in, they just automatically have buy in. They feel valued, they feel heard, they really get to bring something to the table and that gives people a lot of purpose. And so a brainstorming session, if nothing else, if it creates that collaboration, teamwork and trust among a team, then it's so worth doing.

00:08:33 When you invite people in and you welcome them into the business and into the problems, it just has a great buy in. Brainstorming can also help you identify potential risks and opportunities for your business. And what I love about that is, again, you might have the solution in mind, but have you really thought about all of the possible outcomes, the risks that could come? And when you invite other people into it, all of a sudden all these other ideas and sometimes issues get raised and then you can brainstorm around those and then that raises new ones and you brainstorm around those. And so it has this really neat ripple effect out into the business.

00:09:09 So when you're identifying those as you go, you're able to get ahead of them sooner, which is just beautiful. And then by regular brainstorming, you can stay ahead of the competition and be adapting to changes in the market in real time. This is probably one of the coolest things in a way about brainstorming is how it really does help you stay ahead and be competitive and be in this mode of fresh thinking and not getting stuck in, well, we're being successful and everything's going well, and so we're just going to keep continuing down this path. Brainstorms don't have to be used just when there is a air quotes here problem or when you need an idea. You could be like, let's brainstorm.

00:09:56 If we could be doing something better or how we could work more in sync with our competition, maybe there's like a great partnership we could have here and you could get to the end of the brainstorm and go, no, there isn't, and that's okay. But more often than not, there's something that comes out of it and that can keep you very cutting edge and staying ahead and adapting to things as they're coming at you. And it can also help with that overwhelm. When you have to adapt to things happening, this can be a really great tool. Okay, so let's talk a little bit about how to conduct an effective brainstorm session.

00:10:30 Michaela and I and our team, we do brainstorming sessions all the time. We probably have at least a mini brainstorm session about every day. But formally we also do brainstorming sessions where we help lead those, guide those, design those with lots of teams. And some of those are with individuals, solo brands, they're with nonprofit organizations, they're with for profits, small businesses, large businesses. And it's something we really enjoy and we've developed a really great framework around it.

00:11:01 And so that's what I'm going to share with you here. So the first step is to set clear goals and objectives for each brainstorming session. You want to clearly define and state the issue or the idea or the problem that you want to be surrounding. And it's really important that you are clearly stating it. So you want to give an example so that the whole team, whether there's two people or eight people there, everyone truly understands what we're solving for rather than people thinking they know what they're solving for.

00:11:35 So that's key. It's step number one. And we often recommend having this actually written down or defining it together and maybe using a whiteboard and making sure you have a clearly defined statement written down in front of everybody so that you can be coming back to that throughout the brainstorming session. So, for example, it could be something like, I need content to post on my social media and I feel out of ideas for video posts, right? So it's very specific.

00:12:03 We all know what we're brainstorming around. Okay? The second thing is we could call it pick your wizard. And that really is a facilitator, is what we're talking about. But wizard is such a fun word and so we say pick your wizard.

00:12:17 A good brainstorming facilitator is many things and so it is sort of wizardly. The facilitator is a collaborator, a true collaborator. That's important, they're positive, but they are also a rule enforcer. And we'll get to the rules here shortly. And I know that sounds a little bit strong, but it is important to have some structure.

00:12:39 Brainstorming is such a fun atmosphere that sometimes you can get a little too off the rails. And so this wizard, the facilitator, is going to help kindly but firmly bring us back so that we really have good outcomes. They're going to be a flexible person, but with a bit of that structure they're also going to be quick on their feet, a little bit funny because you need a little bit of humor in there and they don't mind being up front and center. So it is kind of a special person. And so you want to think about somebody on your team or if you're going to be that person.

00:13:11 And you can flex into these skills even if you're like. Well, I'm not normally like this. If you go into it prepared and thinking ahead about what you need to be of, sometimes I have a hard time keeping track of time. That's okay, you can use your timer on your phone or something like that. But if you know what the requirements are, then you can flex to those.

00:13:30 And then of course if you don't have somebody like that on your team, then you can invite someone from outside of your team, maybe from your friends or your mentor groups. Or of course you can book one of us. We'd be happy to come do that. So think a little outside of the box. One of the things with this is if you want to be involved in the brainstorm, then it's really hard for you to be the wizard and the facilitator because your brain is just kind of working in a different way.

00:13:58 And so keep that in mind when you're picking your wizard. Sometimes it helps to pull somebody in from outside of the department or outside of the problem or the issue that you're discussing. That way they can really focus on keeping things moving, capturing things on a board. And then that way you can really participate in the brainstorm. Okay, a couple of brainstorming techniques that you can use would be mind mapping is a great one.

00:14:22 Free writing, having some group discussion. To generate ideas. We like to use something called an eight by eight. This is one that we do often within brainstorms where we take a sheet of paper and we fold it or use a marker to divide it into eight sections. And then we just say, okay, everyone by yourself.

00:14:40 Pen and paper, marker and paper. Come up with eight ideas or eight ways we could address this or eight solutions to this on your own. And then that will help us start generating some ideas, and we start throwing them out, talking about them, throwing them up on the board. So an eight by eight is a really fun activity that you can use. It's very simple.

00:14:58 Materials are easy. Another thing you want to do is to secure a location off site with a whiteboard. We love whiteboards. They're so handy. And it can be the traditional whiteboard.

00:15:12 It could be a digital whiteboard. But this is so important to get out of your normal visual routine and comfort zone. So if your team usually meets in a conference room, you want to try to have the brainstorm outside of that conference room. Go to a different spot on your campus or in your building, or utilize something in the community. So we have great community partners, and we'll use a conference room at someone else's business.

00:15:36 One of our clients will call up and say, hey, can we use your boardroom for a brainstorm? And they're like, yes, absolutely. So libraries often have rooms that you can use for breakout rooms and sessions. There's co working spaces, utilizing clients, and then sometimes chambers and things like that will also have rooms that you can use. And we utilize that quite a bit with our chamber.

00:15:59 We love to do that. It just resets the tone. It rewires the brain when you think of a different way so that you can think of a different way. If you can't get off site for some reason, maybe you have an impromptu brainstorm that you're just going to do real quickly. Something that can help is to just quickly rearrange the room, turn the table a different way, or everyone sits in a different chair.

00:16:22 If they normally all sit in the same chairs, ask everyone to scramble around the room. If you normally face one direction, try facing the other direction. If usually sit, stand. If usually stand, sit. So there's a couple of ways that you can do that, even if you can't get off site.

00:16:34 Okay, next up is you want to bring the party. So when you're having a brainstorm, if you're having a bigger brainstorm, we're not talking just a quick little impromptu one. You want to have some good snacks and drinks on hand. Hangry people are not creative people. And a lot of brainstorms that we do will be 60, 90 even.

00:16:52 Some of them are more workshop brainstorms. They're 4 hours. And so we have to have snacks because you don't want hangry people. And then of course, that brings up the great next point, which is to plan a break or two. If you're doing something over 60 minutes, we recommend putting in five to ten minute breaks.

00:17:09 And so when we do say for example, a four hour workshop, we try to get two to three breaks in there so people can just refuel, look out the window, reset their brains, things like that. And then the last one here to just kind of cap this part all off is provide toys. And this one people sometimes laugh. We come into our brainstorming sessions and our workshops and we always have these tubs of toys and I think we're becoming known for it a little bit if we end up in a meeting and it's not like a brainstorm, like gosh, where are the toys? Because they're just fun.

00:17:43 But we bring fidget spinners, one of our favorite things, as well as Crayola's model magic is great. So we buy cases of that. It's kind of like a playdoh kinetic sand playdoh mashup, modeling clay that's not messy and it's so much fun. I like to put it out and just wait to see who's the first one to finally open the package and it's just great fun. Stress balls, slinkies.

00:18:11 You want to encourage fidgeting and playing or doodling because research suggests that the simple act of playing with a toy or clay while thinking about something else can generate more productivity and more creativity. Our body is physically connected to our minds, right? Our thoughts and our body are not disconnected. And so when we're using our body and we're moving our body, our brains generate different types of ideas. And so sometimes we'll even do brainstorm sessions where we have people physically get up and move around the room.

00:18:52 We'll often incorporate that in again because we're connecting our thoughts and ideas with movement in our body. Some of our favorite fidget toys actually just come off of Amazon. We buy them in packs and in fact we'll just go ahead and put a link here for you to some of our favorite fidget toys. And then one of the other tools we use are timers. We'll use sand timers and that again talking about that wizard that facilitator so that they can have a visual to make sure that they're staying on track with time and agenda.

00:19:23 If we say, okay, we're going to spend ten minutes thinking about this and generate as many ideas as possible, we'll flip the timer. It just kind of gives everybody a visual that's less harsh than maybe like ringing a bell or something like that. So I'll make sure there's some links here for you guys in case you're interested in the tools that we like to use specifically. Okay, so let's talk a little bit about just some tips for making the most out of the actual brainstorming time that you're spending. One of the most important things beyond the getting off site is that you want to create a safe and supportive environment so that all ideas feel welcomed, that ideas feel encouraged.

00:20:01 You don't want to squash ideas. And safety and trust is so important. So we actually have a card that we have made that has our kind of Brainstorming 101 rules, and this is the Facilitator's job. But then the group in general will help hold everyone accountable to this. So number one is a judgment free zone, and that means no criticizing.

00:20:23 Let ideas flow and don't qualify or disqualify ideas. So a way to remember this is this type of statement is never allowed. You'll hear people say it all time, this might be a dumb idea, but and so we really encourage don't qualify or disqualify your ideas. You don't want to say, I have a really great idea XYZ, or this might be a really dumb idea, but because what we've done is we've started qualifying the ideas already, and we don't want to do that. You just want to get all the ideas out of your head and leave all negativity and even the positivity at the door.

00:21:01 Because what happens when somebody says, this is maybe a dumb idea is everyone goes, yeah, it probably is, right? Or if somebody goes, this is a really great idea, then someone else in the room might be like, oh gosh, I don't know if my idea is going to be as great, so I'm probably not going to say it. And then what happens is you've robbed the room of the next idea. Because when somebody says something, it sparks an idea for someone else and sparks an idea and then sparks an idea that is just a natural phenomenon that happens. But if we don't say the first idea, then the next idea can't spark.

00:21:32 And that's really where the magic is. So their second rule is there are no bad ideas at first, right? So we're going to throw any and all ideas up on the board, on the paper, crazy idea or not, because your crazy idea, that can't be done tomorrow. It might cultivate an idea for someone else that can be done tomorrow. So like I was saying, it starts to have this ripple effect out.

00:21:57 So you want to save the discussion and qualify good and bad for later. And we call that divergent thinking. So we're going to do divergent thinking first, and then we'll do convergent thinking towards the end of the brainstorm, or maybe in a second session where we bring everything back together. All right, so the next rule that we use is don't get married. Don't get married to an idea.

00:22:17 And this is sometimes a hard one for me. So have an idea, write it down, and then keep going. Sometimes we get fixated on, oh my gosh, this idea is the best idea. And it's like all we can talk about. Remember, the point of a brainstorm is to get as many ideas as possible.

00:22:35 Brainstorm mode is about unlocking creativity, while also unlocking the creativity of the person sitting next to you. And that is key. You don't have to come with the most golden idea you just need to be there to collaborate and help generate ideas together as a group. So we don't want to get married because then we start robbing the group of more ideas and that leads to quantity over quality. So it's important to run with this and you want to sprint basically to the next idea as fast as possible.

00:23:08 In the beginning of a brainstorm, you want to get, let's say you're using a whiteboard, you want to get the board full and don't stop until you have 10, 20, 50 ideas, fill the board, and then later you're going to go through and evaluate and you're going to do a process we call keep, combine and kill. But that's not at the beginning of a brainstorm. And so I'll often challenge a group, especially if we're starting to get married to ideas, because that happens. You've got about ten ideas on the board and someone's like, oh man. And then they just really want to run with discussing one of them.

00:23:38 And so that's where that wizard will step in. And I will say something like, this is great, let's put a pin in that. If you have more thoughts on it, be sure to write it down on your paper so that you don't lose it. But our goal is in the next, and I'll flip a timer in the next five minutes, let's try to get 25 ideas. And so we're really sprinting, sprinting, sprinting.

00:23:58 And what's fun about it is people do start throwing out some pretty bizarre stuff, but it is almost always, I'd say 99% of the time it's within that sprint of just filling the board that some of the most brilliant solutions or ideas come out. And so that's a fun way to do that. Okay. Another way to just be sure that you are getting the most out of any brainstorming time you do is to schedule it regularly. It's okay to have impromptu ones.

00:24:27 That's great too. But if you schedule brainstorming sessions regularly, what's great is people start to get comfortable with it. They're expecting it, they know that it's coming, they'll start generating some thoughts and ideas even before they get there. And then there's safety in knowing that when they leave that brainstorming session that there will be another one. And so this wasn't like an end all be all, which is important for people to know on your team that it's okay.

00:24:53 Even if you didn't feel like we came to a conclusion yet, or if you have more ideas that come later, it's not going to be years until you get to express that again. We're going to have another brainstorming session. And so we recommend people doing brainstorming sessions about once a month or once a quarter around various types of topics in their business. And then when you're having your brainstorming session, whenever possible, if you're planning ahead for these, you want to invite a diverse group of people to the session so that you can get a variety of perspectives and ideas. So a great example of this would be maybe you are brainstorming around a marketing issue.

00:25:32 We need ideas for a radio ad. Let's say it can be common for people to only invite marketing team people, right? However, it is often helpful to invite in the customer service person or to invite in a salesperson, or to invite in a management person or a tech. When you invite some diversity in, it really starts to create different flow of ideas and especially within marketing, I'll say you want to be a little different, right? And so it brings this infusion of fresh perspective.

00:26:03 Or people will raise a question and go, well I don't understand that, which then can help you go, oh my gosh, okay, that leads me to another idea on how we could explain that better. I often will also recommend that people invite a client in that can be really great, or a community partner who has a really outside perspective. And this can work for HR brainstorming, brainstorming names for products or a new launch of something for what a website page should have. You can have a brainstorm like that and you want to invite a diverse group of people in. And then last up here a couple of things would just be you can use technology tools like virtual whiteboards or collaborative software to facilitate remote brainstorming sessions.

00:26:45 So if you know some people are going to be remote, you want to look into some great tools for that. Zoom for example, does have a whiteboard, there's others out there as well. But some other technology that I've been using really recently would be Chat GPT and I have to laugh about it because it's like all I can talk about right now is just chat GPT and so many things going on with AI, which I think a lot of people are talking about. But one of the ways I use chat GPT for brainstorming specifically is sometimes to kickstart ideas, especially with a small group. So if you're brainstorming, say like two or three people, we'll have a little mini brainstorm, sometimes we're just not coming up with ideas, right, we just feel stuck and we're using all the tools.

00:27:29 So I have plugged into chat GPT, for example, just recently we were trying to come up with a name for a new type of program and we were just kind of bouncing ideas and just nothing felt right. And so I plugged into Chat GPT and I said how would you name a program about and described what the program was going to encompass, what would be some naming ideas and it just spit out like 1015 names instantly, which kick started us again. And so we got thinking again like oh yeah, we could combine this and this. And so essentially we invited diversity into our brainstorming session by using AI to help kick start some. Ideas.

00:28:08 So very helpful and something I've been excited about. Okay. And then last up here would be you want to encourage an open honest communication during the brainstorm process. So all those rules and things we talked about helps create that safety. But one other thing to consider is who's in the room?

00:28:28 Do you have the right people in the room? First off, that diversity. But also are there people you need to exclude from the room? Which doesn't sound very inclusive, but sometimes this is the case. We have had a number of brainstorm sessions or workshops that we've done within organizations where they have decided to remove leadership from the room because they really wanted people to feel the freedom to share and talk without fear of repercussions from management.

00:28:55 As well as we've had times where they were going to be combined, but they wanted to be sure that that safety was still there. And so we just cleared the air and stated kind of the elephant in the room, use a little bit of humor just to make sure that honest. Yeah, I guess we just say honest and open communication was able to happen. And so sometimes you just need to clear the air or even decide that certain people aren't going to be included for strategic reasons and make sure everybody's on board with that. And then at the end of a brainstorming session, this is probably one of the most important things that can so often get overlooked that we are sticklers on.

00:29:34 We don't leave any brainstorming session or really anything we do with a client without. This is once that has concluded and you have gone through the exercises and you have done the convergent thinking and you have narrowed down and decided, okay, we want to pursue these things, look into this more or move with this. It's really important to assign action items and accountability. So who's going to do it, when do they need to do it by? And who are they going to report that to or tell or connect with to make sure that it's happening.

00:30:09 And so having that follow up on the ideas that were generated during the session are so important. Otherwise what we've done is we've just sat around and come up with all of this great stuff and then everyone walks out the door and nothing happens. And that happens so often. So it's really important to put in there that there's at least 510 minutes at the end of whatever the amount of time is that you have to say, okay, great, let's assign some action items out of this. Maybe you could go research this or we are going to implement this.

00:30:36 Can you cascade that message out to the rest of the team or to the HR person or what have you? That way things actually happen. Action is so important. Otherwise it's just cool sticky notes and a great filled whiteboard and that's really it and none of us have time for that. Okay?

00:30:50 So let's wrap this up here just to kind of bring it all back into perspective, right? Regular brainstorming sessions can be a game changer for small businesses. They allow you to generate new ideas, identify risks, opportunities, stay ahead of the competition. So important, making sure that they're regular is essential for your business, that they are happening regularly, both in a formal way and in an impromptu way, and then creating supportive and collaborative environment is key. So using effective brainstorming techniques, making sure you have that wizard making the most out of your brainstorming time can take your business to the next level.

00:31:34 So that's what I have for you today on Brainstorming. I just love this topic. I could talk about it at nauseam. And so if you're interested in connecting more about brainstorming, be sure to check out our blog. We have a couple of blogs that talk about brainstorming techniques and things that we use.

00:31:52 I'd love for you to check that out. That's at theTandem Worksworks.com. Right at the top of the page, there's a button you can click and check out our blog. There's some great things there. Mikayla writes a lot of those.

00:32:03 I collaborate on some of them as well. So we try to put helpful tools there. So thanks so much for listening today to the podcast and Happy Brainstorming.