Brainstorming Secrets
Have you been in a "brainstorming" session where each person
just defended their own ideas? Worse is when people don't
suggest ideas at all, for fear they'll be attacked. That's no
way to brainstorm. Brainstorming is using the power of many
minds, and ideas should flow freely and trigger other ideas. How
do you make that happen?
The Key To Good Brainstorming
You have to have a good leader to have good brainstorming. The
leader isn't there to impose his will, though, but to stop the
imposition of anyones will. His role is to stop criticisms,
arguments, and even strong opinions, at least in the first part
of the session.
A brainstorming session needs to be spontaneous, open and
uncritical. "Bad" or "silly" ideas can lead to helpful ones, so
suggestions have to be left un-judged at first. To brainstorm
effectively, you can't stifle the creative process. The leaders
job, then, is to make everyone feel free to suggest any ideas.
An Example Of Good Brainstorming
The scenario: your business needs to cut delivery costs. The
group throws out ideas and thoughts. "Let's not deliver,"
someone suggests, and when another starts to criticize, you
remind him of the rules. "Negotiate lower rates," somebody says,
"Or just find a company with lower rates," another adds. Ideas
like reducing package weight and charging customers more are
suggested, and lead to other ideas.
You keep it civil, take notes, and eventually call a halt to
this free-for-all part of the session. Now it's time to evaluate
and develop the ideas for whatever usefulness they may have.
To keep the creativity flowing in this stage, have participants
defend or develop ideas that are not their own. This brings new
insight to the idea, and prevents the problem of
ego-identification that causes people to get "stuck in a rut"
with their own ideas.
For example, ask the man who was critical of the idea of not
delivering to work with that idea. "We have to deliver," he
might start with. Then he thinks for a second and says, "I
suppose we could deliver to central distribution points instead
of to the individual customer. The customer could drive a short
distance to pick up their order. That might save us on shipping."
Someone else suggests that the customers may like the
arrangement. They would be able to return the product
immediately if they were dissatisfied, with no need to pack and
ship it. You assign a couple people to look into it, and move on
to the other ideas.
Good leadership keeps the whole process working. In the last
example, you've even used a "bad" idea to come to a possible
solution. That's good brainstorming.