{"id":704,"date":"2012-02-23T05:43:50","date_gmt":"2012-02-23T10:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/facilitativeleadership.wordpress.com\/?p=704"},"modified":"2026-05-01T15:35:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T19:35:16","slug":"facilitate-innovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/facilitate-innovation\/","title":{"rendered":"Facilitate Innovation By Using the Brainstorming Tool as Intended"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\">To facilitate <a title=\"How to Facilitate Meeting Results that Stimulate Process and Product Innovation\" href=\" https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/olympic-scoring\/\">innovation<\/a> for products or processes provides a significant life force and has become a strategic priority for most companies and organizations.<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">An <a class=\"zem_slink\" title=\"LSE: IBM\" href=\"http:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=LON:IBM&amp;tbm=fin&amp;gws_rd=ssl\" rel=\"googlefinance\">IBM<\/a> poll of fifteen hundred CEOs identified creativity as the number one \u201cleadership competency\u201d of the future. A new and remarkable discovery is that the ability to facilitate innovation and innovative ideas is not merely a function of the mind, but it is also a function of behaviors.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Product Innovation, a Mindset that Generates Profit<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><img wpfc-lazyload-disable=\"true\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-10642 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Screen-Shot-2019-08-01-at-3.59.36-PM.png\" alt=\"Facilitate innovation\" width=\"464\" height=\"687\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Screen-Shot-2019-08-01-at-3.59.36-PM.png 464w, https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/Screen-Shot-2019-08-01-at-3.59.36-PM-203x300.png 203w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 464px) 100vw, 464px\" \/>The Harvard Business Press book \u201cThe Innovator\u2019s DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators\u201d provides compelling ways to stir product innovation. The work of authors Jeffrey Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clayton Christensen emerged from an eight-year collaborative study to uncover the origins of innovation. They were less concerned with the companies\u2019 strategies and focused on understanding the people responsible for turning creativity into value propositions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Five <a href=\" https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/how-to-ensure-neutral-facilitation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">skills<\/a> surfaced from their investigation including one cognitive (i.e., genetic) talent and four acquired behaviors. The cognitive skill is called \u201cassociational thinking\u201d or the ability to make connections across seemingly unrelated fields, problems, or ideas. The other four skills are learned (i.e., behavioral) and include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Experimenting<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Networking<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Observing<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Questioning<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Facilitate Innovation for Products or Processes<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">To our regular readers, perhaps not surprisingly, the required behaviors are virtually identical to the core skills of our professionally trained <em>MGR<span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">USH<\/span><\/em> facilitators. The researchers discovered that innovators are much more likely to question, observe, network, and experiment than typical executives. They also discovered that innovative companies are always (ALWAYS) led by innovative leaders.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px; text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">\u00a0\u201c . . . Innovative people systematically engage in questioning, observing, networking, and experimenting behaviors to spark new ideas.\u00a0 Similarly, innovative organizations systematically develop processes that encourage questioning, observing, networking, and experimenting by new employees.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">How to Facilitate Innovation<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">In their discussion of innovative failures, the authors discovered that people did not ask all the right questions . . . thus they emphasize the value of the discovery skill. In other words, we must be willing to challenge our people to think clearly. According to the authors, the behavioral focus found in our facilitative leadership training could pay for the training in a matter of weeks.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Their book also provides details on how to calculate an innovation premium for companies; i.e., the proportion of a company\u2019s market value that cannot be accounted for from cash flows of current products or markets. Investors take note. This factor alone could pay for the time you took to read this blog, many times over. The innovation advantage found in our curriculum can be converted into a premium for your organizational value by building the code (i.e., DNA) for innovation directly into your people, methods, and guiding philosophies\u2014beginning with a facilitative and collaborative culture.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Encouraging and developing ideas is the easiest of the three activities required to operate the tool called &#8220;Brainstorming.&#8221; The other two activities include analysis and convergence (or, decision). Whether you use an easel or a spreadsheet, Post-it\u00ae notes, or illustrated drawings, the first principle of brainstorming, as intended by Alex Osborne, is to encourage capturing lots of ideas without constraint or judgment. Most novice facilitators become the first person in the meeting to violate this principle by asking for a definition or further explanation, such as \u201cTell us more about _____.\u201d Facilitate innovation by . . .<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Regardless of HOW you gather ideas, embrace the first principle we call &#8220;Ideation.&#8221; First, to facilitate innovation, begin by embracing a discrete set of ground rules during the ideation activity.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Ideation Ground Rules<\/span><\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">No discussion<\/span><\/strong><\/span>\n<p><div id=\"attachment_943\" style=\"width: 247px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-943\" class=\"wp-image-943 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/get_out_of-the_box-237x300.png\" alt=\"Get Out of the Box Facilitate Ideation\" width=\"237\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/get_out_of-the_box-237x300.png 237w, https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/get_out_of-the_box.png 421w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 237px) 100vw, 237px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-943\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">Facilitate Innovation: Get Out of the Box<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">Fast pacing, high-energy<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">All ideas allowed<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><strong><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;\">Be creative\u2014experiment<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Build on the ideas of others<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Suspend judgment, evaluation, and criticism<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Passion is good<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Accept the views of others<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Stay focused on the topic<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">Everyone participates<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">No word-smithing<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">When in doubt, leave it in<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">The ideation step is informal<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14pt;\">5-Minute Limit Rule (i.e., ELMO doll &#8212; Enough, Let\u2019s Move On)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">What to Expect When You Facilitate Innovation<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">In our experience, having used all of these rules at one time or another, the first four (shown in <strong>bold<\/strong> font) consistently add value. For example, a few of the ideation rules suggest that someone has made a remark (e.g., No word-smithing). If the facilitator carefully polices the very first ground-rule (i.e., No discussion), then it obviates the need for some of the other ground rules. When you facilitate ideation, always stress the first two especially.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">The ELMO rule is also not necessary if the activity is closely policed. How long can a group maintain \u201chigh energy\u201d? If the group is working with high energy at the five-minute mark, do you really want to shut them down? It is likely that energy will begin to die down in the next few minutes anyway, so if closely monitored, the formal rule is not necessary. Typically the facilitator should expect to wind down the ideation activity within six to eight minutes anyway. Larger groups may keep up high energy for ten to twelve minutes, but it is most unlikely that any group will maintain true \u201chigh energy\u201d for fifteen to twenty minutes when you facilitate ideation. Of course, you can always change their perspectives.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Once the ideation activity is complete, the real work begins. What are you going to do with the list? The first challenge is normally about definition and what something specifically means. Then comes the hard part, analysis. What are you going to do with that list?<\/span><\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #ff0000; font-size: 14pt;\"><strong>______<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Don\u2019t ruin your career by hosting <a href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/bad-meetings\/\">bad meetings<\/a>. Sign up for a <a href=\"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/public-facilitation-training\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">workshop<\/a> or send this to someone who should. <em><a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20260106090117\/https:\/\/mgrush.com\/\">MGR<span style=\"font-size: 12pt;\">USH<\/span><\/a><\/em> workshops focus on meeting design and practice. Each person practices tools, methods, and activities every day during the week. Therefore, while some call this immersion, we call it the road to building high-value facilitation skills.<\/span><\/p>\n<h6 class=\"zemanta-related-title\" style=\"font-size: 1em;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Related articles<\/span><\/h6>\n<ul class=\"zemanta-article-ul\">\n<li class=\"zemanta-article-ul-li\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/hbr.org\/2012\/07\/yes-you-can-brainstorm-without\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Yes, You Can Brainstorm Without Groupthink<\/a> (blogs.hbr.org)<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"zemanta-article-ul-li\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">5 Idea Generators (&amp; Idea Killers) (inc.com)<\/span><\/li>\n<li class=\"zemanta-article-ul-li\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Can Innovation Be a Structured Repeatable Process? (customerthink.com)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To facilitate innovation for products or processes provides a significant life force and has become a strategic priority for most companies and organizations. An IBM poll of fifteen hundred CEOs identified creativity as the number one \u201cleadership competency\u201d of the future. A new and remarkable discovery is that the ability to facilitate innovation and innovative [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":504,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[453185955],"tags":[15582,453190647,453190630],"class_list":["post-704","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-meeting-tools","tag-brainstorming","tag-facilitate-innovation","tag-innovation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.8 (Yoast SEO v27.8) - 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