Think Tank or Time Sink? How to Avoid Turning Your Workshops into a Colossal Waste of Sticky Notes and Snacks

Prologue: We’ve all been there. You’re invited to an ideation or problem-solving workshop, a magical place where anything is possible… except clear action, meaningful outcomes, or, let’s face it, your sanity. Halfway through, you're doodling in your notebook, wondering if “synergy” is just code for “everyone’s confused.” As a participant, these workshops can feel like a time sink. But when it’s your turn to be the organizer, you realize it doesn’t have to be this way. Let me share a few tricks to help you run a workshop that works.

Beyond the Basics

When you're in charge, you have the chance to break the cycle of unproductive workshops. The key to running a successful session isn't just gathering people in a room; it’s about guiding them through a process that leads to tangible, actionable outcomes.

I assume you’ve already mastered the basics of setting clear goals, creating an agenda, gathering data, keeping the energy high, and ensuring everyone knows what’s expected. In this post, we’ll skip those fundamentals and focus on the next level: frameworks that ensure your ideation or problem-solving sessions don’t just fill time but deliver tangible results. Plus, we’ll dive into how to follow up and turn ideas into action, so your workshop isn’t just a sticky-note graveyard but a result-driven think tank.

Frameworks: Because Structure > Chaos

Let’s face it, left to our own devices, most of us will wander off-topic faster than you can say “brainstorm.” Frameworks are your best friends here. They keep things focused, flowing, and productive. Here are a few crowd-pleasers:

Problem-Specific Workshops: If you’re tackling a known issue, your goal is to dig deep and come up with solutions.

1. 5 Whys: A root-cause analysis method, the 5 Whys technique involves asking “Why?” five times (or more) until you’re basically down to childhood trauma (okay, maybe not that far!). This is especially useful when the surface-level issue isn’t immediately apparent. By understanding the deeper root cause, you can generate more targeted solutions.
2. TOWS: If you’ve ever heard of SWOT, this is like its cooler, more action-oriented cousin. Instead of identifying Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, you use TOWS to turn those into strategies. Think: “How can we use our strengths to grab that opportunity?” or “How do we minimize this threat based on our weaknesses?” It’s like turning your brainstorming into an action plan.
3. Fishbone Diagram (Ishikawa): No, this isn’t about sushi. This technique helps you identify the?root causes of a problem by organizing contributing factors into categories. It’s a visual way to map out the causes of a problem before ideating solutions. This method works well in conjunction with the 5 Whys approach for getting to the core of an issue.
4. TRIZ: A tool primarily used in manufacturing, it?can also be used in financial services. It is a problem-solving method that helps you think creatively by focusing on contradictions. Instead of starting from scratch, TRIZ looks at how other industries or inventors solved similar problems. It helps you break down the problem into parts and then figure out how to solve the tricky bits, especially when two things seem to be at odds (like "We want a product with richer guarantees but also cheaper”). TRIZ allows you to resolve these contradictions so you can come up with innovative solutions faster.

Open Ideation Workshops: If you’re looking to get the creative juices flowing and come up with entirely new ideas, the goal is to create an environment where people can brainstorm without feeling like they’re about to fall into a rabbit hole of random tangents.

1. SCAMPER: SCAMPER stands for Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate, and Reverse. It’s a checklist that can help tweak existing ideas into something more innovative. It’s like asking, “What if we flipped this whole idea upside down and inside out?”
2. Mind Mapping: This free-form technique is ideal for generating new ideas by visually organizing thoughts around a central theme. Participants start with one key concept in the middle of a whiteboard and expand outward, building connections between ideas as they go. Before you know it, you’ve got a whole ecosystem of new ideas branching out.
3. Crazy Eights: Give everyone eight minutes to come up with eight different ideas. No, I’m not joking. It’s a bit chaotic, but it forces people to throw caution (and overthinking) to the wind and just get creative. You’ll be surprised by what comes out of this exercise.
4. Impact-Effort Matrix: This is particularly useful after generating ideas to prioritize them based on how much impact they’ll have vs. the effort required to implement them. The matrix helps ensure that resources are allocated to high-impact, low-effort ideas before moving on to more resource-intensive options.
5. Dot Voting – At the end of your ideation phase, it can feel like you’re drowning in a sea of Post-its. Dot voting gives everyone a few stickers (aka "votes") to place on their favorite ideas. It’s simple, democratic, and helps narrow down the noise.

There’s a whole buffet of frameworks out there, so how do you choose the right one? It all comes down to understanding your objective, the context of what you are trying to solve (new ideas or existing problems), and who’s in the room with you. Feel free to experiment with mixing frameworks up or whip up something new, but keep an eye on the conversation. If it starts veering off course, don’t be afraid to adjust and steer it back on track!

The Aftermath: Avoiding the Black Hole of Post-Workshop Silence

So, you’ve got a bunch of great ideas. Now what? Here’s where most workshops fall flat. People leave, and nothing happens. Poof! All those great ideas disappear into the corporate ether.

• Immediate Action Items: If you’re solving a problem, leave with 3-5 action items. Assign them to real people (not some vague “team”) with deadlines. Like, “Jessica, can you test out those onboarding changes with the beta group by next Friday?” That’s how you make progress.
• Inflection Points for Monitoring: Not every idea will require immediate action. In some cases, the best outcome is identifying inflection points?and?triggering events or trends that will indicate when it’s time to revisit a particular idea. For example, an idea to pivot your product strategy might not be actionable now, but you can agree to monitor key market conditions that would make it relevant. Set a schedule for periodic check-ins or use tools like shared dashboards to track progress on these inflection points.
• Tie It to Organizational Strategy: If you want your idea to take off, it needs to align with the company’s overall strategy. Think of it like hoisting a sail; without the wind of strategic direction, it’s just going to flap around. If the idea is something new or uncharted, make sure to discuss it with senior stakeholders first to ensure it fits within the broader vision. Otherwise, you could be setting off on a journey without a map, which rarely ends well.
• Recap and Follow-Up: Send a post-workshop summary with key ideas, assigned tasks, and next steps. For longer-term projects or ideas tied to inflection points, ensure a mechanism is in place to track progress and follow up regularly.

Conclusion: Don’t Let Your Workshop Be a Time Sink

Workshops should leave people inspired, not drained. With the right preparation, frameworks that keep things focused, and follow-ups that drive action, you can turn your sessions into productive, results-driven experiences. So, the next time you step in to lead a think tank, you’ll walk out with more than just a whiteboard full of scribbles and some leftover snacks; you’ll have actionable outcomes that move the needle.