A recent article in the Wall Street Journal observed that a recent trend in offices seems to an increasing use of whiteboard space, as well as visual props like sticky notes and construction paper during team meetings. Companies are pushing their employees to put down their smartphones and tablets, and instead draw out their thoughts the old-fashioned way.
With newly-popular products like IdeaPaint, which can be painted on most surfaces to create custom whiteboard space, practically every part of an office floor could be written on. And, if our always scribbled-on (often indecipherably so) whiteboards at the Corporate Executive Board are any indication, your colleagues will love the freedom to sketch out ideas wherever they please.
The theory is that allowing people to doodle freely has many beneficial effects. It not only fosters creativity by helping people get their ideas down right when they spark, but also eases communication between colleagues and conveys emotions to make ideas stick. As a universal language to fall back on during a meeting, doodling can help surpass barriers such as differences in language and technical familiarity.
Looking for other creative ways to achieve these same results? Take a look at some of the best practices we’ve uncovered:
- P&G and Amway’s Gust-Busting Experiences: P&G and Amway each developed multi-sensory, realistic, and interactive sessions with business partners to create powerful learning moments that allow them to internalize new ideas.
- H.J. Heinz Co.’s Interest-Provoking Tactics: Heinz pulled together a series of engaging interview and pop culture videos in their presentations to easily communicate their insights and ensure that they will stick in executives’ minds.
- Corning’s Hypothesis-Based Research Process: Corning fostered idea generation by creating a team of market researchers and R&D scientists, and encouraging them hypothesize novel ideas and insights as early and often as possible without waiting for data to come in.
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