Innovation Leadership TrainingDay Three

February 19, 2009

All materials © NetCentrics 2008 unless otherwise noted

Welcome• Welcome back to innovation training• Today we’ll quickly recap the learnings from

the last program• Then turn our attention to idea generation

techniques

What We Want to Accomplish

Goals for this section

• Our goal this section– Understand important characteristics of a good

ideation facilitator– Take a turn at facilitating the group

Key Points

• We’ve examined best practices and built a framing document– This provides the context for the brainstorm

• A strong facilitator will “make or break” an ideation event– Learn the skills and capabilities, and allow the

facilitator to control the meeting

Leading a brainstorm

• Leading a brainstorm is similar to being a therapist or a gameshow host– Make sure no one person dominates– Guide the discussion without forcing it down a

specific path– Achieve involvement from everyone– Your vested interest is the team’s success

Facilitation

• Often the best facilitation is by a neutral third party – someone who does not have a stake in the outcome

• The facilitator plays six roles– Establishes the rules and who is in charge– Encourages those who are more reticent– Moderates those who may dominant conversation– Asks provocative or “stupid” questions– Keeps the group on track– Clarifies the idea or directs the discussion

Establishing Rules

• We’ve discussed the rules for successful brainstorming previously

• The facilitator needs to establish the rules and the scope for brainstorming and ensure the team remains within that scope– Rejecting judgment on ideas– Encouraging wild ideas– Helping people stretch their thinking

Encourage Involvement

• As a facilitator, you’ll find at least one or two people in any brainstorming activity are reticent to share their ideas– Concerned the ideas won’t measure up or will be

ridiculed– Wants to keep the idea secret or seek more

“glory” for the idea

• Your job is to involve these people in the dialog

Moderate the Talkers

• In any session, there will be people who tend to dominate the conversation– They have more ideas or are more “creative”– They are energized by the ideation– They want to dominate the discussion and direct it

to a specific set of idea

• Your job in this case is to moderate that person by directing the conversation to other people

Asking the “Stupid” Question

• Ideation leaders get paid to ask the stupid question – to question the status quo– Why do we do things this way– What if we dramatically changed our models– What if we cannibalized our products

• It is the facilitator’s job to stretch the group when their thinking is too safe

Staying on Track

• The ideation leader must keep the group focused on its core objectives– Idea generation in that phase of the work– Idea ranking/prioritization in that phase of the

work

• Too often the team moves from idea generation to evaluation and implementation plans, getting bogged down in practical details too early

Clarifying

• The ideation leader must occasionally seek clarification or better definition for an idea

• Without this work the ideas may not be well defined or well articulated, leading to confusion later

• This is not judging, just ensuring the ideas are captured and there is a common understanding

Active Participation

• A brainstorm is a creative, fun event, but is a work related effort. People need to actively participate.

• Submit ideas and build on the ideas of others• Discuss and challenge assumptions• Silence is not acceptance, it is failure

Questions?

Exercise

• Let’s conduct a live brainstorm– Following the rules– Each person takes a turn facilitating

Key Takeaways

• Even more important than good preparation for brainstorming success is excellent facilitation

• As a facilitator or ideation leader, you must reinforce the best practices and establish an environment conducive to idea generation

• Teams that are poorly lead or facilitated will struggle to create great ideas