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I don’t know about you, but most of the companies that I’ve worked for think of brain storming as some sort of structured exercise. They think it’s some sort of activity that you can force. In the minds of these people coming up with these programs, it really all boils down to coming up with the right resources and putting it all together in the right circumstances to produce the right outcomes.

Well, believe me. There are a lot of things that look good on paper, but when they are carried out, they amount to a whole lot of nothing. Unfortunately, structured brain storming is one of these activities. You have to remember that real brain storming involves serendipity. You can’t force serendipity. It’s like being at the right place at the right time with the right ideas to produce the right outcomes with the right people.

A lot of moving pieces have to be aligned the right way at the right time and to think that if you throw enough money at this challenge that somehow, someway, things will fall into place. This is typical big corporate thinking and most of the time, it’s a waste of time. Not only do the coordinators realize it’s a waste of time and money, the participants look at their watches and can’t wait until the brain storming session is over.

If you really want to facilitate natural, organic and highly effective brain storming, the first step is to not force it. It can’t be put into some sort of process or structured program. Instead, create a workplace or an academic platform where people are encouraged to connect the dots. They’re encouraged to do this on their own. They’re encouraged to do this to such a degree that they remember it.

Believe it or not, people are constantly brain storming. In fact, when I was working in corporate America, people would always say, “I don’t know, but this sounds like a crazy idea. What do you think about this?” And believe me, that happens thousands of times in every single month because as you work through any kind of project, there will always be a faster, smoother and cheaper way to get from point A to point B.

The sad reality of modern corporate America is that a lot of these brain storm flashes and light bulb moments simply evaporate. Either the person they’re trying to share the idea with doesn’t care or the person cares, they try it out, but there’s really no way to record the outcome.

Another reason why brain storming tends to die down or tends to fade into the background is that when people do brain storm on their own and achieve some sort of result, they keep it to themselves. It’s not like they’re being greedy with the information, it’s just that there is no formal mechanism in which they can impart this brain storm to the greater problem solving mechanism of the company they work for.

The key to doing all of this is to simply create the right environment. If you are in a part of the country where it’s okay to vape legally, you might want to have vape lounges in your company to facilitate brain storming.  You could even stock it with loaner vape devices and eliquid depot’s best vape juice.

You’re not going to post a sign that says, “This is a brain storming area. Vape away.” That’s not going to work. Instead, when you project a corporate attitude where people can just basically let their hair down and hang out over different sets of vape juice blends, don’t be surprised when a lot of the brain storm sessions are not only recorded, but tested to actually positively effect your bottom line.