A couple of weeks ago I was facilitating a creative workshop with a tech company. It was one you know well. I guarantee you have their apps on your phone. There came a moment - on day 3, after 2 days of immersion where the teams had to come up with some new ideas.

Normally, I’d be working very closely with them in defining the various steps they’d need to go through. Offering them suggestions. Acting as a thoughtful, engaged facilitator.

Instead, I just left them to it and just observed how they worked. I did nothing. A few hours later they all came back with a series of brilliant ideas that were beautifully articulated.

What did I learn from this? Particularly about the creative process?

1 Creativity is iterative, not linear

When creativity is taught, it is often described as a linear process. You generate lots of ideas, you pick the best ones, and you work them up into something more polished. With a bit of incubation in between. People get it. It makes sense. This approach works well in a workshop context where you’re trying to keep people in sync and on time.

The reality of the creative process is completely different. You generate, edit, shape, reject, and start again in a continuous cycle. You continually switch from one mode to another, until you end up with something worthy. You write. You edit. You draw, you re-draw. You work on something. You leave it. You work on something else, then go back to it. It’s messy, not linear.

Whilst watching the teams work, I saw them stop, start, and go back and forth. At times they stopped to critique ideas in a more studied fashion. But it certainly wasn’t linear. There was a flow, but it wasn’t uni-directional.

2 Sometimes its best to create alone

Creativity is not always collaborative. Sometimes it’s great to bounce ideas off people. But working alone is often the best way forward. At times, I saw that only one person was working on an idea. This is because that person had the skill required or wanted to hone it. Having other people around can be a distraction. Creativity can be a lonely, focused exercise.

3 Everyone goes at their own pace

During my visits to the various groups, I could see each found its rhythm. Some spent ages discussing ideas, some moved on to executions quite quickly. There was no prescribed time required for each part. Ultimately, they all got there in the end, but each group worked differently with a different timeframe. It felt like there were bursts of energy followed by periods of reflection.

4 Pens, whiteboards and flipcharts still rule

Although this was a tech company, with all the online tools at their disposal, all teams preferred the old-school ways of working. Whiteboards, big pens, masking tape, post-its. There’s something about rapid, messy, idea generation that works best when with traditional tools. Maybe it’s the hand-eye coordination required. The physicality of the experience. The smell of the pens or the feel of the paper.

They only switched to online tools - in this case, figma - once the ideas were pretty much formed. So they could present them on screen and use some of their pre-existing templates.

Reports of the death of the Post-it have been greatly exaggerated. 3M will remain in the business for the foreseeable future.

5 Facilitators still have an important role

Thank goodness, I say. Despite the messiness of the creative process, someone still needs to be in control. To set the creative brief, offer guidance, and provide encouragement. Most importantly, to set deadlines.

Every group asked for more time. People have perfectionist tendencies. Ideas can always be improved. People don’t want to come up with something boring. They will always work until the last minute, no matter how much time you give them.

Summary

People who enjoy developing ideas just need a clear brief and a deadline. Be precise on what they have to deliver and by when. Then just leave them to it. They’ll find a way. Don’t over-engineer the various stages.

As a facilitator, resist the temptation to jump in and offer your ideas - unless the teams ask you to. Check they’re happy, encourage them, but don’t intervene too much. You’ll disrupt their flow.

Often when you’re facilitating, less is more.

Most of the time, all I had to do was admire the London skyline from the meeting room and avoid eating all the fancy snacks. And offer them my applause and thanks when they presented their top-notch ideas.