Bring your brollies! – Brainstorms are now a part of your fortnightly schedule and here is why

As a content creator, a good brainstorm will never fail to excite me. After all, many challenges experienced in this role stem from coming up with fresh content on the regular. A lack of ideas is never a good thing. It’s like writer’s block for your whole brain – it’s painful.

I leap at any opportunity to get involved in a good old-fashioned brainstorm. When done properly, they’ll feel like you’ve just opened up the doors to your nana’s pantry (if your nana was a genius and stocked her pantry with fantastic content ideas). And when done poorly, you’ll at least be able to bestow the pain you’re feeling onto the rest of the team.

Good brainstorms are, by definition, better than bad brainstorms, so aim for the good sort.

The value of a cracking-good brainstorm

I hope you’re acquainted with the feeling of a well-flowing brainstorm. There’s a synergy amongst the group that just isn’t otherwise achieved. Ideas come so quickly and easily, they seem to just fall from the sky…

But, of course, the real value comes afterwards. The most you’ll enjoy a good brainstorm will be the next day when you’re finishing up a killer piece of content guaranteed to deliver results for your client that simply would not exist if it weren’t for the brainstorm. By allocating a set portion of time to come up with valuable ideas means that you no longer have to come up with them on the fly as you’re trying to complete the work. Not only will it improve the quality of your work, but it will also end up saving you time.

Winning the war before the battle begins

Create the right environment – grease the gears, oil the chains. There’s nothing more grinding than trying to get ideas flowing when people haven’t been properly prepped. Your first point of action has to be to take the time to get everyone in the right headspace for what’s to come. Mad Men watchers are forgiven for mistaking ‘grease the gears’ as meaning ‘crack open the whisky’. Not only would that be extremely inappropriate in 2019, but, it’s also just plain unnecessary.

You’ll be pleased to hear that in the 21^st century.

There’s a reason dental chairs are so plush

It’s obviously to try to make you feel comfortable. Although, you may have been too focused on your extraction to notice. Thankfully, you’re pulling ideas, not teeth, from your teammates, and so, you can at least expect there to be less blood.

Your very first goal as chief brainstorm facilitator is to be that dental chair. Be as damn comfortable as you can – make your team feel at home. Turn on the charm with a funny story or discuss as a group why pizza beats out burgers as the ultimate fast food.

This is where you really need the team to buy-in. If there’s doubt in their minds, or a lack of motivation or involvement, then the quality of your discussions will severely suffer. Quash scepticism with silliness, and you’ll find yourself in a far better frame of mind to produce a series of winning ideas.

So next time you’re struggling to come up with content ideas, why not try a good old-fashioned brainstorm with your colleagues. You’d be amazed at the amount of ideas you can come up with!