Get Some Great Ideas

No matter what business problems you are facing – finding new customers, generating cash flow, paying your 2003 taxes or finding good seasonal help – the solution will always start as an idea. Now, the really great thing about ideas is that friends, spouses, employees, customers and even strangers offer them for free. (Consultants’ ideas are so valuable that they get to charge for them.)

The problem with ideas is that they often get shot down before they’ve had a chance to take flight. You’ll know an idea is biting the dust when you hear things like this: "That won’t work in my community." "We tried that once." And my personal favorite, "That’s really a great idea, BUT ... "

There’s no closed season on shooting down ideas, and we can do it alone or as part of a group. If you are the company owner or a boss, it can even be fun to shoot down ideas – it makes you feel strong and sound decisive.

Now, many ideas certainly deserve to be shot down – but doing so on full automatic means we’re dismissing some of the very business ideas we desperately need.

Allow me to share a four-step process I was taught a few years ago that has helped me become a lot more sensitive to hearing good ideas. This process works best in a group setting, so try it with a group of your employees. All you need is a room with a flip chart and some time for brainstorming.

Step one is to focus on one or more specific problems, or on a problem area – like closing more prospects. The more specific the problem, the more specific the ideas can be to solve it. So pick one or two problems for your group to solve and tell them ahead of time that you will be holding a brainstorming session on the specific topic and that they should come prepared with their ideas.

Step two is to lay out the rules at the start of the brainstorming meeting. The rules are that each problem or problem area will be considered one topic at a time. Everyone can throw out as many ideas as they have – just the idea, no commentary, sales pitches, complaints or anything else. One person talks at a time with no interruptions, and to generate maximum contribution go around the table asking for ideas. This session is dedicated to generating ideas, and each idea will be written down on a flip chart no matter how dumb it may sound. Anyone who criticizes an idea, or comments on it in any way will be penalized. The penalty process I learned was being required to drop a dollar bill into a large glass bowl in the center of the table we all sat around (the money went for group eats and drinks). Plan to be surprised at how fast you and others start to make contributions. The brainstorming session ends when no one has any more ideas to suggest. Take all the flip chart pages and tape them along the walls.

Step three is a group discussion and evaluation of each idea generated in the brainstorming session. This is the time for critical discussion, but only one person should speak at a time with no interruptions. Ideas can now be clarified, modified, joined with other ideas and shot down. Ideas that are not shot down are written in their new form on fresh pages of the flip chart. It’s important at this stage to make sure criticisms are directed at ideas and not people. It’s also important to ask others what they think of a criticism.

Step four is to take all the ideas that survived and discuss whether they can and should be tried and to prioritize them based on a cost-benefit basis. Ideas that don’t require a lot of time or money, but which will go a long way to solving the problem, should be done at once. Ideas that take more time and money, and with a less certain chance of success, need to be evaluated further before deciding whether or not to try them.

I encourage you to try this in your company because it works. It gets people involved and gives everyone a chance to contribute without the negatives of having others shoot down their ideas and stifle discussion. Ideas are important, but fragile. In an increasingly competitive market, good ideas are the most important asset you can get.

The author is editor-in-chief/associate publisher of Lawn & Landscape magazine and can be reached at 800/456-0707 or rstanley@lawnandlandscape.com.