BI2012: How to Develop Ideas at Banks and Startups

SAN FRANCISCO — We all have issues, but financial services players have a lot — including coming up with ways to remedy their problems.

With this in mind, we asked Bank Innovation 2012 attendees what their pain points were in culturing innovation at their companies during an interactive brainstorming session held at our March event. Regulations, executive buy-in and even brainstorming new ideas were three of the primary issues curbing banking creativity, according to the group. To battle the hurdles, the answers were varied. Here are some of the highlights:

• Drink. A number of participants suggested throwing back a few beers at the end of the day to loosen up, and let the ideas free fall.
• Get out of the office. Sometimes the best ideas will emerge outside of cubicle farms, which is why some participates mentioned their employers encouraged field trips to parks, for example, to let the good ideas roll.
• Innovation Labs. Larger companies farm ideas from their staffs by hosting innovation contests that ask employees to suggest new product possibilities. Winners receive prizes, but more importantly, recognition from management.
• Innovation training. Some businesses rely on outside companies to school them in innovation lessons.