Phrasing can effect creative ideas

Corporations often employ teams of creatives to manage projects that business-oriented professionals are unable to wrap their brains around. In most cases, business owners hire people to fill project management jobs to reign in the wandering minds of many creative individuals. While it is common for project managers to encourage their workforce to think outside of the box, perhaps keeping them more restrained could produce better results.

The key to success for any organization that needs to incorporate a creative aspect into their marketing campaigns are the initial innovative ideas. However, it can be hard to generate those ideas without some structure. Of course, project managers need to create a safe work environment in which employees feel comfortable enough to throw out any ideas that occur them, whether completely out of left-field or more task-oriented. The solution to this challenge lies in how the box (whether one thinks inside or out of it) is constructed. In many ways, framing a business' idea-generating questions could help guide creatives to better concepts.

It is important, in any brainstorming session, to make sure the presented challenges do not imply a specific solution. For example, when car companies set out to make their vehicles more gas efficient, they are, to some extent, limiting their ideas. Gas efficient implies that creatives need to find a new way to use petroleum, rather than focusing on other fuel options. The way a question is framed often alters how creative employees set out to tackle an issue.

Another common mistake is implying a specific solution when framing a question. In the same example, if the project managers were to frame the initial idea as requiring that something must be changed in the engine, creatives will focus too heavily on that part of the vehicle, rather than investigating other aspects of the automobile - perhaps reducing the weight of the car would be more effective.

Project managers need to be more involved in how their creatives develop ideas and conceptualize their results. Professionals may be unaware of just how powerful phrasing and words can be when presenting a task to creatives. The wrong question certainly can limit the possible results, as notions to a certain solution often resonate in the minds of creatives. Instead, objective framed ideas that guide but not bind can help creative departments work in a comfortable environment and develop truly inspirational ideas.

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