You know those brainstorming meetings where you all sit around, throwing ideas out there, and no one really says what they want to because the boss is also there? Yeah, those ones.
Today's HumberLaunch Fall Series Workshop was run by Jennifer Morozowich, Principal of INideas, who walked us through how to dive deeper into the brainstorming process to really get at the solution to any problems a client may be having.
The workshop usually takes two days, but we ran through it in two hours ... so by Jennifer's admission it was an overview rather than a full-on intense study.
One of the aspects that came across in the session is not to shut people down, but be open to ideas. For example, when hearing someone's idea, it's better to lead with, "Yes, and ..." rather than the negative, "No, but ..."
We also looked at:
- Divergent Thinking -- Generating lots of ideas
- Convergent Thinking -- Evaluating ideas/options and making decisions
These two steps encourage people to come up with "off the wall" ideas to begin with, then examine those more closely to what are realistic and doable as it relates to helping a client solve their problem(s) or need(s).
Jennifer asked us to write down a problem anonymously, and she picked one for the group to examine. I was the lucky winner so had the good fortune of hearing my fellow attendees' thoughts and feedback on solutions to my small business needs.
I'm finding these HumberLaunch sessions extremely useful, from a knowledge standpoint and also networking opportunities with fellow entrepreneurs.
[As an aside, Jennifer is also starting up a cat cafe in Toronto!]
John.