Back in the days before email chains, when clever quips were Xeroxed  and faxed between offices so many times, they often became illegible, many people displayed an 8-1/2 x 11 page on their wall that advised visiting colleagues…

Fast, Good, Cheap. Pick 2.

The idea was simply that it is impossible to deliver anything of high quality if you don’t have the time or budget to do the job properly. You may be able to skimp on one or the other, but you always have to compromise something – fast, good or cheap.

Who knew at the time that “Fast, Good, Cheap” is actually a classic example of an engineering concept known as The Project Triangle, designed to show three “corners” of a project to demonstrate opposition.

If only this relatively manageable condition still existed, business success would be far less challenging. Unfortunately today, in the vast majority of businesses, there is a fourth corner that outranks the other three – the consumer.

In this era of instant access to information, the ability to comparison “shop” for virtually anything offered in commerce, and the rather sudden and rapid expansion of the competitive marketplace (you no longer only compete with the guy across the street – you compete with the woman across the globe), consumers call all the shots. And if you don’t say, “How high?” when they say, “Jump!” they will most certainly find someone else who will.

They want it fast.
Apple iPhone users begin clamoring for the next release of hardware of firmware before the most recent version has had a chance to cool off from coming out of the oven. Zappos.com customers expect to receive their shoes overnight. And that new, state-of-the-art laptop I bought last month? It’s too damn slow!

They want it good.
If the plight of the American auto industry tells us nothing else, it tells us that. An entire industry that once dominated the industrialized world was on the verge of extinction – and would’ve ended up there, too, if not for charitable government intervention. There is simply no more room in the marketplace for shoddy anything – because someone else will always provide better, if you can’t. And the consumer will have no qualms about kicking you while you’re down.

They want it cheap.
Well, let’s at least say “good value.” A friend of mine who has owned a design firm in New York for over twenty-five years (no small feat) recently told me that he was getting the same fees for services in the 80s that he is today. TWENTY YEARS AGO! Plus today clients expect the work faster and there is significantly less loyalty. Let them down, they’re gone. This is not unique to his business. It’s every business.

The cause of all this, of course – and the solution – is the rampant pace at which business innovation takes place today. Smart organizations (again, think Apple, Google, Zappos, Amazon, and all the others consistently ranked as “most innovative”) are able to rethink, reinvent, retool, restructure and reposition faster than you can say “cloud computing.” The new “business as usual” is that there is no more business as usual.

So what’s a poor company to do? Simple – follow the example of the big boys. Innovate…constantly. Not whenever a problem comes up. Whenever the sun comes up. Today you need a great idea every year, every quarter, every month, even every day.

Innovative thinking fuels innovation. So start thinking! Ideas are the key, then acting on those ideas and seeing them through to completion.

The days of “pick two” are gone forever. It’s time to understand that you work for your customer. Period. Don’t meet their expectations, anticipate and exceed them. Don’t wait for ideas to come to you, go after them every day. Don’t expect customer loyalty, demonstrate loyalty to your customer.

So what are you going to work on first? Fast, good or cheap?

Pick three.

Virtually every business depends on the ability to generate ideas—ideas for new products, ideas about how to communicate more effectively with customers, ideas about how to operate more efficiently, ideas about how to engage employees and strengthen internal communications. Without ideas organizations stagnate, and eventually, wither and die.

The most widely used tool for generating and developing new ideas in organizations is group brainstorming. Literally hundreds of thousands of brainstorm sessions take place in offices and conference rooms across the globe, every single day.

The problem is, most people need help in how to brainstorm better.

In our work, we have the opportunity to question business people about the effectiveness of their brainstorming efforts. And it is rare that we don’t hear a negative response. “Boring.” “Intimidating.” “A big waste of time.” “The same old ideas over and over again.” “Nothing ever happens with the concepts we do come up with.” These are all comments we hear repeatedly, from individuals at every level of an organization, and from every business category.

In fact, brainstorming as traditionally practiced is a sloppy, haphazard process. Remarkably, this single activity, which is so vitally important to business success, is allowed to take place in a manner that is completely lacking in structure, facilitated by individuals with little or no training and who have no idea what tools or techniques might make their efforts more productive. One can only imagine the cost of ineffective brainstorming to business, in wasted manpower, lost opportunity and damaged employee morale.

The topic of how to brainstorm better is a big and important one. But here are seven things you can start doing today to make your sessions dramatically more effective.

1. Make a Plan, Stan

It is sometimes said that professionals plan, amateurs wing it. Before your brainstorm ever begins, take the time to plan your session. What is the challenge you will present to the group? What is your objective for the session? Ten new ideas? One hundred? What idea generation techniques will you use to inspire your group’s imagination and make new connections? When you create a vision and a plan for the session, you increase the odds you will actually realize it.

2. Invite Diversity

Tired of getting the same old ideas in every brainstorm session? Maybe you should consider not inviting the same usual suspects. By including individuals with refreshingly different backgrounds, perspectives, ages, genders, ethnicities, etc., you will be creating a group mind with a wealth of divers experience to draw on. Consider who in your organization might make an unexpected contribution to your idea pool, and make sure they’re there.

3. Kick Out The Boss

I once knew the president of a company who would insist on attending every brainstorm session, and then start it off by saying, “You know how they say there are no bad ideas? That’s wrong. There are very bad ideas that should never be expressed. So, anybody got anything?” Nothing will more effectively shut down a brainstorm session than the fear of saying something stupid in front of the boss. It’s sometimes easier said than done, but unless your company leadership is extremely supportive and accepting, they shouldn’t be in a brainstorming session. Idea generation requires a safe environment, where people aren’t afraid to share their thoughts. Ensure the boss you’ll review everything with her after the session is over.

4. Play By The Rules

Of course it’s not just the boss who can derail and brainstorm. Anyone with a big ego, loud voice or attention-seeking personality can do the same. Negativity and judgment bring instant death to spontaneous idea sharing faster than negativity and judgment. Establish a list of “rules” for your session right at the start. Ask for everyone’s agreement. No negative comments. One person talks at a time. Crazy, even audacious ideas are encouraged. If anyone breaks the rules, ask others in the group to good-naturedly remind him—perhaps by pelting him with crumpled paper balls!

5. Hold The Phone

“Phone” here, of course, means any device that will distract one’s attention from the task at hand. The remarkable convenience and productivity provided by PDAs is nothing short of miraculous. They also suck the life out of a brainstorming session. One of your most important rules is, “All phones, smartphones, iPhones, Blackberries, Blueberries, Raspberries, whatever OFF during the session—and put out of sight, out of temptation’s reach!” Reassure attendees that you will provide breaks during which they can check messages or email.

6. Ask Lots of Questions

Not getting what you want from your brainstorming group? Maybe you’re not asking the right questions. You can immediately change the consciousness and output of any group by simply posing a provocative question? “What if we combined the last two ideas?” “That was a wild idea. How can we rein it in to make it more on strategy?” “What are three more ideas like that one?” Learn and apply the art of powerful questioning and you will get an exponentially greater return on your ideation investment.

7. Maintain Momentum

Most brainstorming sessions tend to start out slow and low energy. People are feeling their way into the process. After awhile, the energy sometimes picks up for a few minutes. Ideas come from everywhere. Then it stops. They’ve run out of steam. They start talking about last night’s episode of Mad Men. You’re lost. A great facilitator is like an accomplished surfer—they can “sense” the crest of the wave, where it is now and where it’s going, and ride it all the way to the end. Be tuned into the energy of the room, when it’s high, let it rip. As soon as you feel it start to wane, ask a powerful question to make the leap to a new direction and get it going again. Brainstorming facilitation is work—fun work, but work nonetheless. Stay focused, ride the wave and you’ll walk out with a stack full of great ideas.

Great brainstorming and creative idea-generation is multi-faceted process that requires structure, trained facilitation and a full toolkit of proven techniques. There’s a lot to learn. But you can start your ongoing education with these seven key improvements, and start seeing better results right away.

How’s that for a great idea?