Which colleagues should we involve in developing business ideas?

A useful idea-development group brings together different ways of understanding the problem, not just people whose job titles suggest creativity. The Frameworks argues that colleagues with similar skills and backgrounds can share blind spots, while different perspectives help teams develop better-informed work.

In its own creative sessions, The Frameworks brings together strategists, account managers, writers and designers. Designers have contributed copy lines, and account managers have proposed campaign-driving ideas. The practice is to judge an idea on its merits rather than the role of its originator.

When choosing participants, consider who notices different things about the business: a marketing manager who spots patterns, an operations director who imagines alternative processes, or a newer colleague who questions established assumptions. The Frameworks also treats client feedback as part of creative development because clients bring knowledge of their own business.

Bring colleagues who can develop an idea into the discussion early, while possibilities and constraints can still shape the direction. The Frameworks describes collaboration as a way to refine ideas before presenting them to senior decision-makers, with contributions to an existing idea valued alongside originating one.

Its designers and developers work together from the start so technical requirements and roadblocks emerge before client sign-off. Developers also suggest possibilities that designers may not know are available. Constraints become problems to solve together rather than grounds for conflict later.

For intelligent automation provider Dematic, The Frameworks created a configurator landing page through collaboration between design and development. Strategic work had identified the need for an interactive tool or questionnaire; the team then worked out how to deliver it. The practical lesson is to involve people who can both challenge an idea's feasibility and reveal more ambitious ways to realise it.