"Open Minds After Closing Time" by Cathy Olofson Fast Company, June 1999 By Mary Krentz

Where can you do your best work? Are you more creative at the office or perhaps at home? Have you ever spent hours at the office trying to create a marketing plan? Yet, on the commute home or later that night when you were having dinner with a friend, a great idea came to you.

Jeff Charney, Kaufman and Broad's senior vice president of marketing and communication explains why he thinks the "After 5" meeting is the solution for coming up with original marketing ideas. He contends that the daily grind of work-phone calls, emails, faxes, and routine meetings, makes that difficult challenge literally impossible "Without all the day-to-day pressures," says Charney, "it's much easier to engage our imaginations and let them run wild." He believes people are in a taking care of business mode during the hours of nine to five. Charney explains, "By holding the meeting at day's end, we can switch gears and leave behind phones and pagers. Those things just kill creativity."

Recently, I was the chair of a marketing committee for the local Economic Development Commission. The task we had before us was to develop a marketing plan for a billboard project. The committee was responsible for developing a plan for promoting the economic vitality of the county to prospective businesses. The four-member committee met on several occasions during typical work hours. Unfortunately, these brainstorming sessions proved useless. Because of scheduling conflicts, I proposed to the group that we meet in the evening at a local restaurant. The group dynamics were entirely different. People appeared to be relaxed and at ease. The pleasant surrounding provided an ideal arena for getting to know one another better. It was truly amazing! Once people felt a common bond to one another, the brainstorming process came naturally. It was not until we took a risk and explored a new, fun territory that we were able to accomplish the task at hand. Furthermore, this experience provided the backdrop for positive experiences for working together in the future.

The "After 5" approach has proven to be useful, however, it's not appropriate in all situations. Everyone's time is extremely limited. Meeting after hours on a frequent basis is not feasible for most people. The demands of children and family make it difficult to spend even more time away from home. If it is not feasible to meet after hours, choosing a more people friendly meeting location may be a good alternative!

I shared this article with marketing manager at a large company. She enjoyed the ideas and felt they could be of value to her company. "Getting beyond all the stress in life is difficult. Finding a more relaxed setting for creative thinking would be a logical first step," she explained.

-- Anonymous, January 31, 2000