5 Creative Ways to Brainstorm Solutions

This is a Guest Post

It is hard finding good solutions to your process issues

How do you get those creative juices flowing and think outside of the box? In this article we talk through some creative ways to find answers to your process problems!

1. Play the “why” game!

Those of you who have young children will have experience of this. Those of us who remember our younger siblings know exactly what I am talking about!

Write your problem in the middle of a whiteboard – surround it with why questions.

I.e. why does it take so long? Why do we need this? Answer those questions and then, in true childlike style…. for each answer ask several more “why” questions!

You can see where I am going with this.

2. Post-it P’s

This is about focusing on different types of solution across the four key areas:

• People
• Processes
• Data
• Technology

Ok, so they don’t all begin with a P!

Split your staff into four teams and give each one a different colour of post-it note. (The colours represent the key areas: people, process etc… )

Ask them to spend 10-15 minutes jotting down as many different solutions within the key area as they can think of, putting the post-its on the board as soon as they write them out. Then move each team onto the next area.

Don’t read out the ideas ’till they have each done 10 minutes on each section. You want unique ideas and no influence from other teams.

If competition inspires your staff, have a prize for the most ideas per area! The fact they are getting up to place post-its on the board will keep them active and the oxygen circling to their brains!

3. Stepladder technique

This is a great tool when you have a contrast of personalities within your staff. Sometimes the quietest team members get overlooked! This method allows each person to express their ideas without hesitation.

Present the problem to everyone. Give individuals a chance to think through the problem and come up with solutions.

Put two people together and ask them to explain their ideas to each other. Start with the quietest/least outgoing of the bunch.  Once they have finished, ask another person to join them and explain their ideas, then another etc etc.

Even if they present similar ideas, there could be a slight tweak that one person has thought of that the rest haven’t. The staged discussion of ideas prevents anyone from being quiet.

4. Cross it!

Go cross department. Sometimes the best ideas come from people who don’t know exactly what, why and how you do things.

Get people involved from a totally unrelated department. If you have enough people put together cross departmental teams. One person from each department in each brainstorming power group. E.g. If you have problems with finance processes, the finance team can give context. Then the other’s fresh perspectives will give some really great ideas!

5. What’s stopping you?

This is about digging into the barriers behind the problem. I.e. if the goal is to produce monthly reports faster…write down what’s stopping you!

You will be amazed what the team come up with e.g.

• Computer running slow
• Have to combine two reports manually
• Have to separate out the travel and expenses
• Have to manually enter all the time sheets

Brainstorm each element and work out how you can remove the barriers. Focus on the issues stopping you from achieving your goal.

So there you have it

5 creative ways to brainstorm solutions to your process problems. Of course there is a lot more than just brainstorming in getting things working efficiently. You need to try your ideas out!

Hannah is the lead solution consultant from itas.  Why not check out their e-book  The Ultimate Guide to Streamlining Your Finance Processes

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Image by Andy Langager