This week I had a conversation with a professional about brainstorming. The conversation reminded me of one of my favorite team brainstorming stories. Also, it reinforced one of the lessons I learned early in my career.

Lesson #8: Brainstorming and collaboration go hand in hand.

My former team members and I shared articles with each other, everything from recruitment news to stories that simply peaked a general interest. One day, one of my colleagues shared a story about Portland being home to the largest number of breweries in the world. See how the conversation flowed. A mere joke spurred a great idea.

“Do you think we can get a trip to Portland for happy hour approved? We can say it is for a strategic brainstorming session on how to attract talent to the city with the largest number of breweries. We can position it as, how do we know how to attract them without experiencing it ourselves?”

“Um, I don’t think so. Love the creativity though. Seriously, this could be a great idea. Not the brewery part, but the come to the place to experience why people work here part. How about you all work on this together?”

My team built upon the idea. We partnered with employees across the country to create key selling points about each office location. The selling points enabled the recruiting team to help both local and remote candidates visualize where they could be working.

I love this story for several reasons. The number one reason why I love it is because it shows the value of a culture of collaboration.

Did you learn this lesson yet? Share your story in the comments section.