How often have you used brainstorming to solve a problem? Chances are, you’ve used it at least once, even if you didn’t realize it.

For decades, people have used brainstorming to generate ideas and to come up with creative solutions to problems. However, you need to use brainstorming correctly to be fully effective.

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In this article, we’ll look at what brainstorming is, why it’s useful, and how to get the best from it.

What Is Brainstorming?

Brainstorming combines a relaxed, informal approach to problem-solving with lateral thinking. It encourages people to come up with thoughts and ideas that can, at first, seem a bit crazy. Some of these ideas can be crafted into original, creative solutions to a problem, while others can spark even more ideas. This helps to get people unstuck by getting out of their normal ways of thinking.

Why Use Brainstorming?

Conventional group problem solving can often be undermined by unhelpful group behavior. And while it’s important to start with a structured, analytical process when solving problems, this can lead a group to develop limited and unimaginative ideas.

By contrast, brainstorming provides a free and open environment that encourages everyone to participate. Quirky ideas are welcomed and built upon, and all participants are encouraged to contribute fully, helping them develop a rich array of creative solutions.

How to Use the Tool

You often get the best results by combining individual and group brainstorming, which we explain below, and by managing the process according to the “rules” below. By doing this, you can get people to focus on the issue without interruption, you maximize the number of ideas that you can generate, and you get that great feeling of team bonding that comes with a well-run brainstorming session!

Step 1: Prepare the Group

How much information or preparation does your team need in order to brainstorm solutions to your problem? Remember that prep is important, but too much can limit – or even destroy – the freewheeling nature of a brainstorming session.

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First, choose an appropriate and comfortable meeting space. Consider what would work best for your team. Make sure you have the right resources beforehand; you can use virtual brainstorming tools like Miro or LucidSpark, and you’ll need pens and Post-Its for an in-person session.

Now consider who will attend the meeting. A brainstorming session full of like-minded people won’t generate as many creative ideas as a diverse group, so try to include people from a wide range of disciplines, and include people who have a variety of different thinking styles.

When everyone is gathered, appoint one person to record the ideas that come from the session.

Step 2: Present the Problem

Clearly define the problem that you want to solve, and lay out any criteria that you must meet. Make it clear that the meeting’s objective is to generate as many ideas as possible.

Give people plenty of quiet time at the start of the session to generate as many of their own ideas as they can. Then, ask them to share or present their ideas, while giving everyone a fair opportunity to contribute.

Step 3: Guide the Discussion

Once everyone has shared their ideas, start a group discussion to develop other people’s ideas, and use them to create new ideas. Building on others’ ideas is one of the most valuable aspects of group brainstorming.

Encourage everyone to contribute and develop ideas, including the quietest people, and discourage anyone from criticizing ideas.

Don’t follow one train of thought for too long. Make sure that you generate a good number of different ideas, and explore individual ideas in detail. If a team member needs to “tune out” to explore an idea alone, allow them the freedom to do this.

Individual Brainstorming

While group brainstorming is often more effective at generating ideas than normal group problem solving, several studies have shown that individual brainstorming produces more – and often better – ideas than group brainstorming.

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This can occur because groups aren’t always strict in following the rules of brainstorming, and bad behaviors creep in. Mostly, though, this happens because people pay so much attention to other people that they don’t generate ideas of their own – or they forget these ideas while they wait for their turn to speak. This is called “blocking.”

When you brainstorm on your own, you don’t have to worry about other people’s egos or opinions, and you can be freer and more creative. For example, you might find that an idea you’d hesitate to bring up in a group develops into something special when you explore it on your own.

However, you may not develop ideas as fully when you’re on your own, because you don’t have the wider experience of other group members to draw on.

To get the most out of your individual brainstorming session, choose a comfortable place to sit and think. Minimize distractions so that you can focus on the problem at hand, and consider using Mind Maps to arrange and develop ideas.

Group Brainstorming

Here, you can take advantage of the full experience and creativity of all team members. When one member gets stuck with an idea, another member’s creativity and experience can take the idea to the next stage. You can develop ideas in greater depth with group brainstorming than you can with individual brainstorming.

Another advantage of group brainstorming is that it helps everyone feel that they’ve contributed to the solution, and it reminds people that others have creative ideas to offer. It’s also fun, so it can be great for team building!

The Next Step – Taking Action

After your individual or group brainstorming session, you’ll have a lot of ideas. Although it might seem hard to sort through these ideas to find the best ones, analyzing these ideas is an important next step, and you can use several tools to do this.

Key Point When managed well, brainstorming can help you generate radical solutions to problems. It can also encourage people to commit to solutions, because they have provided input and played a role in developing them. The best approach combines individual and group brainstorming. During the process, there should be no criticism of ideas, and creativity should be encouraged.

Article Source: MINDTOOLS.com

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