Brainstorming in the Digital Age

By Jake Anderson

 

Brainstorming isn’t what it used to be. Once upon a time everybody just used to get together in a room, or even a bar, put the problem on the table then work on dismantling it. Finding solutions, coming up with innovations, and cutting loose creatively has been lost to a meeting culture that is stifling and mind numbing. Restoring brainstorming to its proper place in the workplace is necessary, and desperately needed.

 

First the Bad News

 

Workers who do not feel that they are being heard or that their contributions are acknowledged can become rapidly alienated and eventually disconnected. A recent Gallup poll showed a majority of workers in their most creative and passionate years are instead the most disengaged workers of all. Engaged workers are passionate, creative, and involved with their workplace and their projects. Disengaged workers might have their butt in the chair, but they’ve already checked out. The reasons for this vary, but the impact to the bottom line can be devastating. Even the Corporate Leadership Council is getting on board with bringing up employee engagement numbers, noting that 70 percent of business leaders who say that employee engagement is critical for their business.

 

Now the Good News

 

Disengagement is not a permanent condition, and re-engaging with employees can reduce absenteeism, staff turnover, and improve client satisfaction. Revamping your communication strategy is a must. Two-way communication and acknowledgment plays a big part in worker satisfaction. When staff feels genuinely listened to and acknowledged by management, they’re much more likely to feel enthusiasm for their work, and a deeper commitment to their company. Bringing back the art of brainstorming can help you reap huge benefits as you reconnect with your staff.

 

Back to Brain

 

Brainstorming in the digital age is a little different, and with the right tools you can create a great communication and collaboration culture that will allow you to reap the benefits of your staff’s creativity and commitment. You don’t even need a meeting room, in the digital age brainstorming can be done right from the smartphone, tablet, desktop, or other systems you might already have in place. With cloud-based applications such as Bluejeans, calling a brainstorming session is as easy as sending out invitations. With Bluejeans collaboration tools, you and your team can share documents and media easily, and even record the meeting for later playback.

 

Building a Good Meeting

 

Brainstorming sessions are meetings, and the point of these meetings is to come up with creative solutions. Brainstorming via videoconference allows you to get more people in the room, without actually needing them to be physically present. Your workforce will benefit from the flexibility of being able to have a meeting from wherever they are, while still meeting personal and family commitments outside of the office. You can also build your long-distance relationships with those who are either across town, or across multiple time zones. Instead of having all communication run through management you can put all of your teams and staff together in one videoconference and see where they take you.

 

Best Meeting Tips

 

Effective meetings does not mean that you should have constant meetings. In a Verizon white paper many professionals said that they were required to attend more meetings than they possibly. Ninety percent of these pundits said that they love meetings, and valued them as a chance to contribute be heard. However, they also held meetings responsible significant stress options in workflow, and impacts on personal commitments. Take a hard look at how many meetings you are typically calling during a given month, and ruthless in eliminating those that can be handled by other methods such as email, telephone calls, or just walking across the hall and knocking on a door.

 

Set the Agenda

 

Meetings work best when everybody knows what to expect from relating an agenda ahead of time, then distributing it for comment, you open yourself to valuable feedback about and timing of meetings, and making room for those who do not normally speak to be heard. Very often senior colleagues can dominate meetings simply because of their rank and seniority. Millennials are among the most disengaged members of the workforce, often feeling like they are not allowed to work to a standard of which they know themselves capable. By opening up the floor to contributions from everyone you may find brainstorming via videoconferencing to be one of the best ideas yet.

 

Remember to also set a definite starting and ending time, so that attendees can arrange their workflow around the expected interruption. Keep the meeting on track, and allowed time after each speaker for a question and answer period. Your people need not only to interact with you and other management, but with each other in order to produce and develop their ideas. See what a cloud-based videoconferencing app can do for your hard and soft costs.

Jake Anderson

Twitter:https://twitter.com/_ShoutatJake

Bio : “Awestruck by Star trek as a kid, Jake Anderson has been relentless in his pursuit for covering the big technological innovations which will  shape the future. A self-proclaimed gadget freak, he loves getting his hands on every piece of gadget he can afford.”