Come Together…..right now!:
The first step is that we’re going to get everyone who is interested in the idea in the same room. We go over the basic principles the group will be based on for the year.

Brainstorming…...The Idea Generation:
In this stage the entire group comes up with ideas on what the group can do over the year. The ideas themselves are not discussed, they are simply listed.

Idea Biology….. Dissecting the ideas:
In this step we’re going to talk openly in the group about the ideas we’ve come up with. We’ll talk about the good aspects of an idea and the bad. We’ll also look at each idea and compare it to our principles and goals for the year. Maybe we’ll take a part of an idea and merge it with another idea. Or maybe we’ll come up with a whole new idea during this stage. Basically we’re just trying to sort through all of our ideas and find the best one that the group can support and develop.

Meat on the Bones…..Building an Idea:
Once we have a general idea that the group supports we’ll start to talk about the idea more. We’ll figure out the details of how we could do it. We’ll try and identify some of the challenges we’ll face, etc..

Roles…....Fitting In:
Once we have figured out our idea and have talked about it in-depth we’ll start to talk about the roles that will need to be created to make this idea come to life. For Example: If the idea was “To create an art gallery for teens to show off their work” you’d probably need someone in charge of “operations”. Finding a space to use as a gallery, setting up times for public viewing, etc. You’d also need someone who finds and filters the artists. Maybe you’d call that a “talent scout”. For any idea we come up with each person in the group will have an essential role. All roles will be figured out and assigned by the group as a whole.

Name Game…..What are we called:
Now that we know what we’re doing and who is in charge of what we need to decide what to call ourselves!

Preparation…..kneading the dough:
Every idea, no matter how small or big, needs to be prepared. Plans need to be made. Things need to be done. At this stage we’ll be planning, assigning tasks, and completing those tasks that are necessary to launch our idea. This stage will include a lot of creative problem solving. You’ll have to look at problems in ways you’ve never looked at them before! I LOVE THIS PART!

Operating…...Pass the scalpel please:
Here is where the rubber meets the road. Our team will go from concept to operation. We’ll actually start DOING the idea we first came up with. If we had decided on an Art Gallery this stage would begin the moment we opened the doors. This is by far the longest running stage, it is also the most rewarding. You get to see the direct results of your idea and your work.

Hitting the Runway…....Reaching the end of the journey:
At this stage we’ll look at how we wrap up our project. Or…maybe if the desire is there, how you folks will keep it going.

Learning from success….....and failure:
At the end of the year we’re going to sit down as a team and look at how things went. Did we achieve what we had hoped for? What were the most important lessons we learned as a team? What did we learn most as individuals?

As you can see that this is going to be a blast! Sure, it will take time and effort…but all good things do!

If you’re interested in this please come to the Cafe from 5-7 THIS and every Wednesday.