Creativity Enhancement Workshops

Hack Your Team's Mindset: 5 Unconventional Warmups for Innovation Workshops 🧠⚡ Ever run an innovation workshop that felt like trying to start a car with a dead battery? That first 30 minutes determines whether you'll get breakthrough ideas or recycled thinking. Something that I call getting into the “psychology of innovation”. After facilitating several sessions, I've discovered something surprising: the traditional "let's go around and introduce ourselves" kills creative energy before it starts. Your team's brains are still in operational mode—not possibility mode. Here are five unconventional warmups I've tested that rewire neural pathways for innovation in under 20 minutes: 1. The Impossible Question Challenge 🔥 Start by asking questions that have no "correct" answers: "How would you design a restaurant on Mars?" or "What if sleep became optional?" This immediately signals we're breaking free from conventional thinking. 2. The Reality Bending Exercise ✨ Have everyone write down three "unchangeable facts" about your industry. Then challenge teams to imagine a world where each "fact" is no longer true. As Steve Jobs said, "Reality can be distorted"—this exercise trains that muscle. 3. The Reverse Assumptions Game 🔄 List 5-10 core assumptions about your business. Then systematically reverse each one: "What if we charged more for less?" or "What if our customers became our employees?" This shatters mental models almost instantly. 4. The "Yes, And..." Chain Reaction ⛓️ One person proposes a wild idea. Instead of evaluating it, the next person must say "Yes, and..." adding something to evolve it further. Continue for 3-5 minutes. This dismantles our innate criticism reflex. 5. Two-Minute Futures ⏱️ Give everyone two minutes to draw what your industry will look like in 2040. The time constraint bypasses the analytical brain and accesses the intuitive one. The crude drawings often reveal surprising insights about shared hopes and fears. Remember: Innovation doesn't need fancy frameworks—it needs minds free from invisible constraints. These warmups aren't just games; they're pattern-disruptors that help your team escape their mental programming. What's your go-to innovation warmup? Have you tried activities that break conventional thinking patterns? #InnovationWorkshops #CreativeThinking #DesignThinking #TeamFacilitation #Creativity #TransformativeMindset

Many of my web tools are designed to help with creative thinking (because that's what I write books about). And this is one of those. It's a tool I built for a training workshop I ran a couple of weeks ago. Research shows that humans are best at generating ideas in short bursts. Our creative muscles are built for sprints, not marathons. It also shows that perfectionism reduces idea generation and blocks flow. So I built this little tool to encourage people to focus on quantity rather than quality of ideas to get things moving at speed. This opens your mind up to opportunities you wouldn't previously have considered. Link to the tool is in the comments 👇 For solo thinkers, I recommend the 90-second and 3-minute settings. If you're working with a small group, try the longer times. But don't waste precious seconds discussing your ideas or trying to flesh them out. And definitely don't critique any ideas as you go (throw the critics out of your group and tell them never to come back). You can do all the judging you want after you've crossed the finish line. The web tool works like this: ❶ You start by picking a time for your idea sprint. ❷ This takes you to a screen with a text input box. You rattle out your basic ideas one at a time, hitting the return key between each one. The tool keeps a tally of the number of ideas you've come up with so that you can spur yourself on to beat your previous record. ❸ When the time is up, you'll see a list of your ideas that you can copy and paste into a document to explore further. I recommend that you aim for 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗮 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 15 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗱𝘀. You probably won't hit it, but that's the kind of speed we're looking at here. Don't focus on detail; focus on coming up with more ideas. I built this tool the night before the workshop. We used it during the session and I can tell you that it works. It works really well! Maybe bookmark it for the next time you need to generate a bunch of ideas. Again, this was built with Cursor and includes features that I would struggle to code myself. Do you think this tool might be useful to you? What other tools would you like me to build?

Navigating power imbalances and fostering psychological safety in brainstorming sessions can be a challenge for facilitators. I recall a CEO of a law firm who was hesitant to run strategy workshops due to past experiences where the Chairman's voice dominated the room, making it difficult for other partners to share their perspectives freely. I assured them that as a facilitator, my role was to ensure that everyone's voice was respected, heard, and valued. I'm happy to say it worked well. 😊 Creating a psychologically safe space is crucial. This can be achieved by setting clear expectations at the start of the session, encouraging respectful dialogue, and managing the room to bring in all voices in a way that works. Here are some ways I run an idea generation or brainstorming session. ⭐ Start by clarifying what challenge or problem we’re here to address. Do this by reframing it as a 'How Might We…’ statement - a common method used in design thinking. This approach encourages collaborative thinking and ensures everyone in the room can contribute their perspectives. ⭐ Another design thinking tool I use is Crazy 8s, a great way to generate ideas quickly (handy when workshop time is tight). It involves generating eight ideas in eight minutes, which pushes participants to think beyond their initial ideas and stretch their creative boundaries. - Give each person a blank A4 sheet. Fold it in half 3 times so you have 8 equally spaced squares. - Each person silently writes or draws one idea per square per minute. - Go around the room so each person shares their ideas. Each idea has its moment. No judgement. Most senior persons share last. - Pop them up on a wall. - Each person then selects their top 2 to 3 ideas. - Discuss the ideas and collectively build on them (encourage the use of ‘and’ and ban ‘but’). - Collectively select the ideas you want to action. ⭐ But what about those quieter voices in the room? Silent Brainstorming is a way to encourage those who prefer to work independently to have their ideas heard. - It starts with individual ideation, where everyone writes their ideas independently before the session. - These ideas are then shared in an in person or virtual session and built upon collectively in a non-judgmental environment. These are just a few methods to address power imbalances and foster psychological safety in idea generation sessions. I'm curious, what other methods do you use to ensure that all voices, not just the loudest, are heard and valued in your brainstorming sessions? Thanks to Adam Grant for sharing the Work Chronicles cartoon below. ——————————————————————————- 👉 If you're looking for an experienced facilitator for your upcoming sessions or workshops, whether defining a strategy, mapping a plan, or crafting your purpose and values, I can help. #facilitation #psychologicalsafety #creativity #inclusion

Everyone says great ideas are rare—but here’s what actually works. Last week my Vistage CEO Group invited Simmy Kustanowitz, former TV producer & director, to run a workshop called “Rethink the Way You Think.” His show-biz stories were entertaining—but the real value was a repeatable model leaders can plug straight into their next team meeting. 3 take-aways I’m already using Creative deadlines → creative breakthroughs A tight, visible clock sparks bold thinking and kills perfection paralysis. Quantity beats quality (at first) Aim for 10 ideas in 10 minutes—then curate. It’s the writers’ room formula for business problem-solving. Fun fuels candor Playful prompts drop defenses and draw out the quiet voices that often hold the best insights. Want to try this with your team next week? Quick tactic Why it works Time needed Run a “10×10” brainstorm (10 ideas / 10 min) Maximizes breadth before depth -- Time needed - 15 min Invite a “guest provocateur” (someone outside the project) Surface blind spots instantly -- Time needed - 5 min prep Add a mini-deadline to any planning session (“3 options by 3 p.m.”) Forces momentum -- Time needed -- Zero extra time If you’d like to learn more about Vistage and have a chance to expand your thinking—reach out. DM me for the 10×10 Brainstorm Cheat Sheet and let’s see how peer advisory can unlock your next breakthrough.