Library of facilitation techniques

Idea Generation and Innovation Activities

Idea generation techniques to get your group into creative thinking mode and boost innovation. Help people to find new perspectives and build on the collective inspiration of your group.

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Gamestorming methods

Draw toast

You can use the Draw Toast exercise to introduce people to the concepts of visual thinking, working memory, mental models and/or systems thinking.

This also works as a nice warm-up exercise to get people engaged with each other and thinking visually. Plus, it’s fun!

Jake Knapp

Four-Step Sketch

The four-step sketch is an exercise that helps people to create well-formed concepts through a structured process that includes:
  1. Review key information
  2. Start design work on paper, 
  3. Consider multiple variations,
  4. Create a detailed solution.

This exercise is preceded by a set of other activities allowing the group to clarify the challenge they want to solve. See how the Four Step Sketch exercise fits into a Design Sprint

Gamestorming methods

3-12-3 Brainstorm

This format for brainstorming compresses the essentials of an ideation session into one short format. The numbers 3-12-3 refer to the amount of time in minutes given to each of three activities: 3 minutes for generating a pool of observations, 12 for combining those observations into rough concepts, and 3 again for presenting the concepts back to a group.

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Andrea Beliczki

Making Lemonade

Try on a relentlessly positive, can-do attitude before tackling the big stuff. The proverb goes "If life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Practice the art of positive thinking to unlock creative ideas. Use this as a warm-up before brainstorming or to energize your team meetings.