High Impact Team Brainstorming

Today, creativity is not just useful, it is crucial !      Why?

Throughout human history, creativity runs in cycles.  We give significant names to early times when innovations occurred:  the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, the Iron Age.  Then the Greeks brought us Democracy, Mathematics, Art - big stuff.  During the Dark Ages, not much happened.  A new wave started in the Renaissance.  But, compare today with any of these other periods.  It's a whole new ball game.  We introduce more change in 10 years today than the world saw in any 1000 year period before.  That's why creativity is crucial.  The modern world is on a treadmill which is set for top speed.  We're like Alice and the Queen in Wonderland.  You have to run as fast as you can just to stay in one place.  And those that don't, fall behind.  Have you ever heard of DEC, Wang, Underwood Typewriter, American Motors, TWA?

A lot of people think creativity is pretty rare.  Not so.  What we interpret as a lack of creativity is the inability of people to put their ideas into a form that others can understand and use.  If we approach creativity as a "team" effort, however, with special facilitators in key positions, this hidden resource can be drawn out.

The High Impact Brainstorming Program was developed specifically to do this.  In short, it's TEAM BRAINSTORMING.

What is the role of the team in this effort?  Human society has always been very competitive. But competitiveness can occur in very different forms.  The Olympics, for example, in many events, is actually a cooperative sport.   In the Olympics, many events are a race against time or space.  Ten runners line up.  The gun goes off.  You run for all you're worth.  While we make a big deal about the gold medal, the real goal is the clock.  The real goal is to beat the world record.

The dynamics of competition improve the results.  The runner next to you is right on your heels.  You are being pushed.  You are falling behind.  You push harder.  But our view of competition make this interaction ironic.  This competitor is not an enemy.  This competitor is a mentor!  The stronger the competition, the better you perform.  You do your best when others help you move forward.

Team Brainstorming is just like this.  It is a process of pulling out forward looking ideas.  In its true sense, it follows the Olympic model.  Every comment should be used to move the collective information forward.

The Team Brainstorming Program

Team Brainstorming is a group activity. Groups can include from about 5 to 20 people.  Where larger staffs wish to be accommodated, they would be broken into small groups.  The program occurs in 8 parts:

• Preliminary preparation
• Introduction
• 3 interactive sessions
• Data analysis
• Results presentation
• Follow-on integration

The preliminary effort allows High Impact IP staff to become familiar with a companies products, goals and culture.

The introduction is dependent on group size.  For small groups, it is usually handled as part of the first interactive session.  For larger staffs, it would be done with written or network materials.  Each of the interactive sessions will take about 1 hour.  The sessions are best done spaced apart over a period of about two weeks.

The data analysis is done by High Impact IP.  The time required depends on the number of participants and the IP culture of the company.  For small groups, the analysis only takes a day or so.  For large organizations with tight IP control, the process can take many months.

The results presentation again depends on group size and company culture.  Small groups can gather for an informal presentation and discussion.  Large staffs may be presented with written or network results.  This may contain a lot of details or only summary discussion.

Follow-on integration is a process of helping various functions in a company decide how they will handle the results.  For example, the results of a typical program will be 50 to 100 potential new products, all already prescreened against a company's product line.  If passed to the operational groups in raw form, without coordination, the resulting chaos would undo the benefit of the creativity.

With introduction and result discussions, the whole process will require about 4 hours of commitment for each individual.

Program Costs

A basic program for a single group of up to 20 people is $3300 plus travel.  This includes:

• One day preliminary preparation
• 3 interactive sessions with the introduction part of session one.
• One day of data analysis
• An informal result presentation
• One day of follow-on discussions, primarily with marketing and engineering

Larger programs will be priced on an individual basis.