Traditional brainstorming isn’t cutting it anymore. Employees are frustrated with this incomplete tool. They know they can do better, they just don’t know how. There is a demand like never before on employees to think differently because of intense competitive pressure. The need for a new skill set has emerged – High-Stakes meeting facilitation. But, it hasn’t been actively developed at most companies, yet.
If any of the following statements are true in your business, perhaps it is time to develop your own profitable in-house innovation leaders skilled at helping teams to “out-think” the competition.
The top 10 reasons to develop your own in-house High-Stakes Meeting Facilitators. Which of these statements describes a condition at your company?
1. The brainstorming sessions our employees are currently leading are failing miserably costing us millions in lost revenue and time delays.
2. We are still using the outdated SWOT tool (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) to develop corporate strategy. The result – competition has intensified.
3. We got caught up in the dotcom business fad and watched our capital go down the drain. Excitement and emotions ruled the day!
4. We have to run the gauntlet to hire innovation experts because of corporate secrecy.
5. We don’t have a core group of highly skilled employees that we can call on to facilitate ideation and strategy sessions that consistently lead to powerful new solutions.
6. Our employees are great at meeting etiquette. (All that meeting training is paying off! Or is it?) But, they are fed up at the amount of time they waste in meetings, not to mention how much money it represents in payroll!
7. Egos rule the day. This is very dangerous to our business.
8. Our company has made big mistakes that have cost us millions because important information was not considered, pitfalls were overlooked, customers did not understand the value in our new products/services, etc.
9. “I don’t get paid to think” is a statement our employees will make. Yet, the only reason we hired them is for their thinking!
10. Our employees are so focused on problem solving, things that happened in the past; they don’t have time to focus on the future – where our business will play out!
How many of these statements describe conditions at your company? Is that acceptable to you?
In my experience it is not uncommon for organizations to spend far more than $250 thousand on consulting projects (outside experts) to improve the condition of the organization. These projects usually involve lots of meeting facilitation to tap into the thinking of employees led by these outside experts. Lots of times these projects are not that successful. Yet, at the same time, the same organizations balk at spending money on developing the ideation facilitation skills of their own experts – their employees, who would be perfectly capable of leading a lot of these sessions, if they only knew how. The result would be support for solutions.
I believe the answers to your business challenges lie waiting to be uncovered in the brains of your employees. All you need to do is learn how to tap into their thinking power. Trained ideation process facilitators can certainly help you out. It just may be time to develop your own in-house high-stakes meeting facilitators. Work with Lynda Curtin to boost this necessary skill set of your employees. The payback will be more than worth the investment.
Lynda Curtin is an expert ideation facilitator, professional speaker, trainer and author in the fields of business creativity, marketing and speaking. To book Lynda for your event call 818-507-6055 or email info@LyndaCurtin.com For more information on her programs go to www.LyndaCurtin.com
