Although Thomas presented many great ideas, one of the takeaways I enjoyed most was the brainstrorming guidelines. We’ve all been a part of such ridiculous brainstorming sessions at work that you feel like you are stuck in an episode of The Office. These tips help participants toss away the crossword puzzles and really accomplish something productive.

Start by working alone.
Why did I never think of this before? Write all your good ideas down first so you can walk into the meeting feeling good. (Plus, it’ll give you a few minutes to check out everyone’s outfits.)

Put ideas on sticky notes.
This method can stop the painfully long process of reading out loud all of your ideas, plus it enables you to share your idea without getting shot down. Sticky notes can then be stuck to a flipchart and easily reorganized as the creative vibe takes off.

Make ideas specific and actionable, not general.
When you do speak your ideas, share examples of how your could be implemented, instead of making general statements like “improve ….”

Number all ideas.
This helps you keep the ideas in order, plus you can set a goal for the number of ideas you’d like to achieve. This brings something measurable to the meeting, plus it helps stimulate some competition and energy. According to Thomas: a good brainstorm session generates 100 ideas in one hour!

Avoid judging ideas when discussing.
AMEN! As an outspoken participant in these types of meetings, I would be worn out with the negativity produced by all those who chose to watch and judge rather than participate. Thomas says avoid evaluating ideas and don’t discuss the merits of an idea or express approval or disapproval. Strive for quantity instead of quality at this stage in the process.

Build on others’ ideas.
Add to an idea to make it bigger, smaller or merge it with another idea. You can also make an idea more actionable or look at it from another perspective. Just don’t criticize it.

Go crazy with your ideas.
With this safe envionment, you can be vulnerable. Making a wild idea more mainstream is easier than making a boring idea interesting.

These tips would make a brainstorming session that I would enjoy participating in!

I could blame this website’s interface, but in reality, I just wasn’t paying attention. It’s funny how all these years, I thought I was really detail-oriented. I think I even have it on my resume. And I do have fantastic attention to detail in areas like writing and proofreading.

But my attention to detail doesn’t apply to all areas. I have to leave that for the perfectionists. I know because I am married to a perfectionist. Let me tell you: Brett’s got a whole other level of attention to detail. Wow… that’s all I have to say.

But the good thing about my lack of detail is that I am able to see the big picture: the vision. All the details often clutter perfectionist’s perspective, but I can put those details in a box entitled, “Deal with that later.” I can make a plan to accomplish a big task, and I can usually handle most of the details.

Except occasionally, like today, I move a little too fast for my own good.

What’s your innovation style?
Just like personalities, people bring different innovation styles to the table.

Visioning
To imagine the ideal future

• What is the ideal long-term solution?
• What if we started from scratch?
• Why not?

Modifying
To refine and optimize what has come before

• What can we do to improve upon and optimize what we’ve done?
• What has been done before that we can build upon?

Exploring
To discover new and novel possibilities

• What assumptions can we challenge, and what new ideas would result?
• What is a metaphor for this situation – and how does it give us new insights and ideas?

Experimenting
To combine and test many combinations

• How can we get other people’s creative input on this?
• What can we combine to put together a new solution?

Which style are you?

I think I am a modifying style, although sometimes I also employ the exploring style.

Highlights from the “Research Project on Gratitude and Thankfulness” are available at: http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/labs/emmons.

Some interesting findings:

• Gratitude journals improves physical and mental outlook: Individuals who kept weekly journals of what they were grateful for and why “exercised more regularly, reported fewer physical symptoms, felt better about their lives as a whole, and were more optimistic about the upcoming week, compared with those who recorded hassles or neutral life events” in such journals.
• Gratitude helps reach goals: The study shows that people who keep such journals were more likely to have made progress toward personal goals over a two-month period.
• Gratitude builds empathy: As Associations Now points out, this might be the most important factor for leaders. The study found that “people with strong disposition toward gratitude have the capacity to be empathic and take the perspective of others. They are rated as more generous and more helpful by people in their social networks.”

I’m grateful to be a member of ASAE, where I get access to interesting articles like this!