Yet my research and that of others suggest breakthrough ideas rarely emerge from these sessions. With brainstorming we have managed to once again corral creativity within a certain task, involving a select few who can only express their imagination and passion every so often. Surely a business needs new ideas and insights every day, on every activity - not just once in a while. Leaders are faced with a dilemma. Their business needs new ideas to survive, adapt and flourish, yet their attempts to formally structure the creative process do not seem to work.
Employees also become discouraged in the process.
The answer is to pay greater attention to the informal creative system. In most businesses, new ideas are being continuously developed and debated in a complex web of spontaneous, unplanned interactions. One of my case studies involved a current affairs program at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. When I visited its headquarters in Gore Hill, Sydney, I was constantly amazed at the creativity I could see, hear and feel at the staff canteen. A physical place for eating had become a creative space for discussing new story ideas, programs and people, as well as building on the ideas of others.