I’m not a fan of internal ideations. OK, yes I am a little biased since we are an innovation firm and we love to plan and facilitate sessions. But honestly, I’ve seen what happens when facilitating an internal ideation session with no outside thinkers. First, you’re lucky if you can get everyone to focus for 2 hours of time. On-site locations are notorious for constant interruptions and distractions – like Blackberries. And then there’s the output…everyone either loves most of the ideas created, or they have no excitement for any of the ideas. These ideas are typically more of the same with no real breakthroughs. It’s typically a disaster and the person that becomes the scapegoat is the facilitator. But what a minute….what really happened here?

Let me digress and share a story with you. Have you ever noticed an excitement or energy that happens when you start a new job? Typically, there’s a huge learning curve and everything is getting processed and questioned in your mind as you begin to “learn the ropes.” Smart managers love when a new hire joins the firm. Seriously, it’s a great time to renovate systems and get a fresh, new perspective on the specific job, or the challenges facing the product, the category or the industry that can lead to new revenue-building ideas.

There’s a catch…there’s only a short window of opportunity. The most meaningful ideas will happen within the first 6 months of being on the job. After that, the new hire will become trained in corporate procedures and processes as well as jaded by other employees to “see” the world in the same way as them. The curious questioning and innovative thinking will quietly disappear into thin air. This type of “like-minds” thinking that happens among employees was identified by Irving Janis in 1972 as Group Think. Organizations know this can happen – and does happen – which is why companies are looking more and more for creative thinkers and entrepreneurial spirits to add to their mix. Often they must engage outside agencies or business consultants to get diverse thinking around business challenges.

Getting back to the question I posed above…so what really happened? Internal ideation sessions are nothing more than Group Think. In order to have a successful ideation with meaningful new product or services concepts that will move forward, you must assemble a team of people that bring diverse thinking into the room. Multi-functional responsibilities from the client side are important to include, but just as important are people from different walks of life – representative (or not) of your target audience – with more or less knowledge regarding the challenge. These different perspectives are the building blocks for fresh thinking, new insights, and new ways to bring value to your customers – old and new.

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