When it comes to idea generation, we’re big fans of encouraging “bad ideas.” That’s because this reflects a willingness to push into unfamiliar territory, to challenge convention, and dare to be different. We often saw clients self-editing in idea generation sessions because they didn’t want others to think they were crazy for coming up with a so-called wacky idea. But it is precisely in those wacky ideas that the germ of a great idea may be found, or that wacky idea may springboard a fellow participant to a powerful new idea. Bottomline, if you aren’t coming up with bad ideas, you aren’t pushing out far enough.

However, recognizing that human nature is what it is, at SpencerHall, we use Transforum, our cloud-based idea collaboration platform to enable participants to freely create and build ideas, without fear of any judgment. That’s because participants create secret identity screen names and avatars so that they can work anonymously. Ideas are judged based on their merits, not by who comes up with them. And participants are free to be as wacky as they want to be, in Transforum’s no judgment zone.

Even if you don’t have a virtual idea generation forum, there are ways to encourage people to contribute bad ideas. This can be as simple as a mindset shift: declaring there are no bad ideas—there just may be some ideas the world isn’t ready for yet. Or having an idea generation round focused on creating bad ideas, and then working as a team to invert them—finding ways to turn them into great ideas.

Helping your team see the potential in every idea, and how even a bad idea can springboard into breakthrough thinking will go a long way to establishing an open, collaborative and innovative culture.