How to Brainstorm
Create a flood of ideas with the dos and don’ts of effective brainstorming.
Do your brainstorming sessions create a drizzle or a flood of ideas? In today’s episode I’ll cover quick and dirty tips to effectively brainstorm solutions.
How to Effectively Brainstorm Solutions
Hi Lisa, This is Anand Lakshmanan from Dallas, Texas, I was wondering if you would make an episode on the dos and don’ts for effectively brainstorming solutions?
Anand, thanks for your question. Turns out there’s a significant amount of research on brainstorming, but most of it relies on “virgin” brainstormers–usually college students who are asked to solve simple problems, like come up with creative uses for a red brick. I’ve found the dynamics of brainstorming in a professional environment can be quite different; mostly because the problems (and solutions) are often complex and critical to the success of the participants. So instead, I am going draw from my hands-on experience to answer your question.
In a way, I was spoiled because my first exposure to intensive team problem solving was at General Electric. I was part of the very first team that participated in GE’s now famous (and some even say legendary) “Work-Out” program. “Work-Out” is GE’s highly successful technique for solving organizational problems very quickly. The first part of the GE process includes brainstorming techniques. But the overall process also includes solution presentations, decisions, and rapid implementation. Over the years, I’ve been a participant, a leader, and an observer of many so called “brainstorming sessions” that were –let’s just say–not as effective.
So here are some quick and dirty tips that are important for effectively brainstorming.
Homework Is Important
Before the session you’ll need to think carefully about the problem. Be sure what you are tackling is really the problem and not just a symptom. Also think about the word choice. You might consider adjusting the scope or choosing different verbs. For example, “How can we involve customers in our upcoming conference,” might become, “How can we actively engage customers in our programs?”
Perhaps the most important part of homework is to ask participants to prepare. They need to understand the problem and brainstorming process ahead of time. Before the meeting, send out homework that describes the process and encourages participants to start researching the problem, and also to come to the meeting with a list of ideas. I’ve noticed that some people are great at coming up with ideas on the fly whereas others (like myself) need more time to marinate.
Similarly, after the brainstorming session there should also be homework. Some of the best ideas come to people after they have had time to digest the ideas that come up during a session. In my experience, individual and group work together leads to the best results.
Use A Creativity Facilitator (Get Rid Of The Boss!)
Another important factor that heavily influences the outcome is the exact mix of participants. What’s my advice? Choose wisely!
First, get rid of the boss (or any authority figure)! Every person needs to feel comfortable and encouraged to present ideas. You don’t want participants to be concerned about saying or doing something wrong in front of the boss. The boss can introduce the session but should only return at the end of the process–when he or she is asked to make implementation decisions.
Next, you need someone who is a creative thinking facilitator. Not just any facilitator, but a brainstorming facilitator. Most general facilitators know how to cut off criticism, ensure full participation, and keep the team on track.
However, creative thinking facilitation is a skill that takes months or years to master. Good facilitators can nurture creativity by using thinking tools. For example, creativity can be inspired by guiding the team to think about individual characteristics of the problem one at a time or by using tools such as reversed assumptions, random words, or a morphological matrix.
Postpone Judgment
In my experience, this is the area where many organizations go wrong. Often I see a line manager as the facilitator. First, no one wants to be wrong in front of the boss, second this line manager isn’t usually trained in creative thinking, and third–which is perhaps the most common issue–bosses tend to habitually evaluate ideas, which is counterproductive during idea generation.
As you probably know, a central principle of brainstorming is postponing judgment. I think judgment frequently happens when the boss acts as the facilitator. So many times, I’ve heard a boss facilitator immediately say, “Oh, we don’t have budget for that”, or “There’s no way a resource would be approved for that,” or “We’ve tried that before and it didn’t work,” etc. A popular metaphor used to describe that type of team problem solving is “driving with the brakes on.” Allowing judgment during brainstorming isn’t effective for idea generation –it just should be happen.
Sometimes, I even suggest that participants throw crunched up paper balls at anybody who makes judgments during this part of process. That acts as a reminder and also keeps the mood light and creative.
Choose A Small Diverse Group Of Participants
Next, it’s important to keep the size of the group workable, about 4-7 people. If the team is dysfunctional, smaller groups may work better. However, if the team is highly functional, you could possibly go up to 12 people. But I wouldn’t go higher because that just encourages social loafing (that’s the social psychology terms for team slackers).
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, be sure participants have diverse backgrounds and experiences. In the book, How Breakthroughs Happen, Hargadon argues that innovation occurs when isolated groups integrate previously unrelated viewpoints and technologies to resolve new problems. I think that is true. If you want successful sessions, consider inviting people from other departments– perhaps even customers, vendors, or advisors. You might be surprised by their contribution.
So there you have it, the dos and don’ts for effective brainstorming. However, I think it’s very important to remember that brainstorming is not a panacea. It’s only the first step in a longer process. After the ideas are generated, other tools and techniques are necessary to evaluate and implement ideas. And very importantly, the culture of the organization needs to be conducive and supportive of the entire creative process. After ideas are generated, teams still need rapid decision making and support in order to create truly innovative solutions.
This is Lisa B. Marshall. Passionate about communication; your success is my business.
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If you have a question, send email to publicspeaker@quickanddirtytips.comcreate new email. For information about keynote speeches or workshops, visit lisabmarshall.com.
Resources
How To Think Like Leonardo da Vinci, by Michael J. Gelb.
99% Inspiration: Tips, Tales & Techniques for Liberating your Business Creativity, by Bryan W. Mattimore
The 5-Day Course In Thinking, by Edward de Bono
Guidelines for Effective Brainstorming (Free PDF) Listing of Mind Mapping Software (free and fee)
GE Work-Out Kit
Image courtesy of Shutterstock
About the Author
Lisa B. Marshall Lisa holds masters with duel degrees in interpersonal/intercultural communication and organizational communication. She’s the author of Smart Talk: The Public Speaker’s Guide to Success in Every Situation, as well as Ace Your Interview, Powerful Presenter, and Expert Presenter. Her work has been featured in CBS Money Watch, Ragan.com, Woman’s Day, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, and many others. Her institutional clients include Johns Hopkins Medicine, Harvard University, NY Academy of Science, University of Pennsylvania, Genentech, and Roche.
