Coming up with fresh ideas isn’t effortless. Especially when your job requires churning them out on a daily basis. It can be easy to hit a wall – hard. That is why brainstorming sessions can be beyond helpful. The most important thing about a brainstorming session are the action items delegated after to help implement the best ideas. The best way to release the creativity beast is not by shouting out ideas to your team at a conference table, but by creating an atmosphere that breaks people out of their mental comfort zone.
How can you create this atmosphere? We’re thrilled you asked. Here are 3 out of the box ways to help liven up your brainstorming sessions to reinvigorate your team’s mindset to produce more engaging, successful campaigns.
It’s always awkward being the first person to chuck out a few ideas while everyone else tries to gather their thoughts, but someone has to do it! One way to loosen your team up is to start by spending 10 minutes coming up with a bunch of horrible ideas at first. Be sure to lead by example. Throw out an initial idea first to warm up the room. This will help you set a much more open and playful atmosphere. An idea that isn’t so great on its own could end up sparking something really ingenious!
Quick tip: don’t follow one train of thought for too long. Once you have spent some time sharing throwaway ideas (and a couple laughs), refocus on the task at hand.
As goofy as it sounds, word games can be an extremely useful tool to help shake up generic ideas. One great word exercise is creating a “word storm.” A word storm is where you come up with one word, and then your team comes up with a ton of other words that they believe associate with the original word. These words will help you build the connotation of the project, visuals, and other creative assets to move forward with the newly cultivated idea. Word storms are great when you need to rebrand a mundane product or knock out a few strong social media headlines.
One way to loosen your team up is to start by spending 10 minutes coming up with a bunch of horrible ideas at first.
Switching up your environment can bring a change of pace to your team, alleviate the typical restrictions, and reduce any limits experienced by teammates that may stifle their confidence to speak out. Pack up your squad and head out the office for your brainstorming sessions. The location can be anywhere: coffee shop, a co-worker’s backyard, or a walk to a local tourist hot spot. Getting up and about will increase brain flow and produce out of the box ideas through utilizing your environment and experiences as a group together.
Good ideas don’t become great ideas on their own. With a safe space for brainstorming and a hefty dose of play, you’ll be able to more quickly refine your ideas into award-winning campaigns.
