CGM blog: The power of ideas

22 Oct CGM blog: The power of ideas

“Ideas are the source of all things” Plato

Creative thinking ought to be at the heart of every organisation.

Sadly too many business leaders profess to being too busy to generate fresh ideas to pep up the organisations they manage.

It can seem a cliché to say that people should spend more time working on their business rather than in it but it is true. Time spent planning a route forward and how to innovate can add immense value.

For years the words ‘Knutsford Services’ had specific meaning among a small team of producers of a BBC programme I worked on.

It referred to a meeting  we convened at the M6 services in Cheshire to generate loads of programme strands and ideas.

For the first two hours very little seemed to happen. In fact, things were fractious. There had been tension and some home truths had been told. Then positive thoughts began to crystalise. There was fierce debate and contention but by the third round of cofffees (the downside of all this was that none of our caffeine fuelled bodies slept well for a couple of nights) ideas formed into structured thoughts and practicalities of how we could do things. By 4pm we all left – tasks allocated and a clear way forward.

If we’d tried to do this by phone or email and fragmented conversations with all the usual office distraction none of this would have been possible. A day away from the studios and the day to day pressures paid dividends. The result down the line was several entertaining and enthralling radio programmes.

Idea generation doesn’t need to be a team affair. Sometimes a solitary walk or somewhere to vitalise the senses can help.

But working at developing ideas for new products, services and ways of working – let alone fresh ideas for marketing and communicating your message can only be good. You need structure of course – and to ask searching questions.  But ideas challenge the status quo – and rightly so.

One of our clients – Pauline Newcombe, a wonderful lady who runs fuel card company 3CF – describes the time she spends attending our coaching sessions as her ‘treat’.

That’s nice – but it is more than a treat. Same old, same old doesn’t work. Those who devise fresh ideas have a future. Those who slug away doing the same old, don’t.

Chris Green is CGM’s managing director and an award-winning author and journalist. CGM is an all round communications business proving media relations, media training, consultancy and coaching;  creative and publishing services to companies, business leaders and organisations.