What are the best ways to facilitate innovation debates?

Innovation debates are a powerful way to generate and refine new ideas, challenge assumptions, and foster a culture of creativity and collaboration. However, facilitating them effectively requires careful planning, clear communication, and a set of ground rules. In this article, you will learn some of the best ways to prepare, conduct, and follow up on innovation debates in your team or organization.

1 Define the purpose

Before you start an innovation debate, you need to have a clear and specific goal in mind. What problem are you trying to solve? What criteria will you use to evaluate the solutions? Who are the stakeholders and decision-makers involved? How will you measure the impact of the debate? Having a well-defined purpose will help you narrow down the scope, select the participants, and design the format of the debate.

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Yannick-Tjard Schuetz

Innovation Leader @ Saint-Gobain | Driving Innovation in Automotive and Construction
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In my experience, many of such innovation debates eventually fail because people ignore the crucial aspect of "evidence" and instead engage in discussions based on assumptions. They think they "know the problem" because they are experts or someone perceived as expert has told them. Consequently, there is a tendency to create innovations without ensuring that their users or customers actually face a genuine problem. It's important to clarify that initiating a project without a validated problem or solely relying on an innovation thesis is acceptable, as long as there is an honest acknowledgment of the available evidence and a well-defined plan to achieve a balanced evidence-to-risk ratio before diving into the solution space.

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2 Choose the format

Innovation debates come in a variety of formats, depending on the complexity of the topic, the size and diversity of the group, and the time and resources available. For example, a pro-con debate involves two teams presenting opposing arguments on a given proposition, with rebuttals and questions from the audience or moderator. Alternatively, a fishbowl debate allows for a small group of participants to discuss a topic while the rest of the audience observes. Additionally, world café debates involve moving between different tables with different questions or themes related to the topic. Finally, design thinking debates employ a structured process of empathizing, defining, ideating, prototyping, and testing solutions to a human-centered problem.

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Dr. Prasanth Nair

Ph.D. in Management ♦ Agile & Strategic HR Leader ♦ Global Talent Acquisition ♦ Performance & Retention Management ♦ HR Transformation ♦ Training & Development
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An experienced professional must carefully examine the format to promote lively and effective innovation debates. Choose an active-participation model like roundtable talks, brainstorming or structured workshops. Set an agenda with defined subjects or questions to drive the debate and ensure relevance to the organization's innovative goals. Include employees from different departments, positions and levels to promote diversity. Mix individual and group activities to boost creativity and collaboration. Allow remote team members to contribute in real time via virtual collaboration tools. Professionals may conduct innovation debates that stimulate creativity and organisational growth by establishing an engaging framework.

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3 Set the ground rules

To ensure that the innovation debate is productive, respectful, and engaging, you need to establish some ground rules for the participants and the facilitator. For instance, participants should be curious and open-minded, listening actively to understand different points of view without dismissing or judging them. Additionally, it is important to be constructive and respectful when providing feedback and critique; it should be relevant, specific, and helpful without attacking or insulting anyone. Furthermore, participants should strive to be concise and clear when expressing their ideas and arguments without repeating or rambling. Lastly, they should be creative and collaborative by using their imagination and creativity to generate and build on ideas without limiting or blocking them.

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4 Facilitate the debate

As a facilitator, your role is to guide the debate and ensure that it meets its purpose and follows the ground rules. At the beginning of the debate, you should introduce the topic, format, and ground rules. You should also monitor the time, flow, and tone of the debate, intervening when necessary to keep it on track and civil. Additionally, you should encourage participation, interaction, and diversity of opinions from both participants and audience members. Finally, at the end of the debate, you should summarize the main points, insights, and outcomes.

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5 Follow up on the debate

The innovation debate does not end when the session is over. To ensure that the ideas and learnings are captured, communicated, and acted upon, you need to collect and analyze the feedback and data from the debate. This could include surveys, polls, notes, recordings, etc. Then you must identify and prioritize the best ideas, solutions, or recommendations that emerged from the debate, evaluating their feasibility, desirability, and viability. Afterward, you should communicate and report the results and next steps of the debate to the participants, stakeholders, and decision-makers. Finally, implement and test the selected ideas, solutions, or recommendations while monitoring their impact and performance.

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6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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What are the best ways to facilitate innovation debates?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Define the purpose

2 Choose the format

3 Set the ground rules

4 Facilitate the debate

5 Follow up on the debate

6 Here’s what else to consider

Business Communications

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What are the best ways to facilitate innovation debates?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 Define the purpose

2 Choose the format

3 Set the ground rules

4 Facilitate the debate

5 Follow up on the debate

6 Here’s what else to consider

Business Communications

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