At various times, the popular press raises the idea that group brainstorming isn’t effective at generating creative solutions. That assertion is erroneous, for a variety of reasons. Groups can — and do — successfully brainstorm creative and useful solutions.
But research does show that effective brainstorming requires adherence to some specific guidelines. If it’s done casually, without guidelines, and the sessions are run by people with no knowledge of how to do it well, it will be significantly less effective than it could be.
It will either result in unrestrained chaos with no momentum to move the project forward, or it will just be plain boring (which also results in no momentum).
(Readers may know that brainstorming is only one technique in a creative thinking toolbox, but I am using the term here as it is more commonly understood as any idea generation.)
So, how would leaders set up their brainstorming sessions for success? By following the rules. They will enable the exercise to navigate safely through the necessary level of chaos to the strategic momentum hoped for.
- Free participants from fear. It’s very difficult for people to share ideas if they’re concerned about possible negative consequences. A process and a setting that help people get past the fear are critical for brainstorming to be effective. One key principle in creating this setting is to prohibit any evaluation (even positive evaluation) during the idea generation.
- Use the power of the group. It’s important to build, combine and create new ideas in the moment — and not just collect ideas that people have already had. The building and combining is where the magic happens. Occasionally, break up into pairs or small groups. This will encourage even more sharing and combining of ideas.
- Get some outside stimulus. Duh. Asking the same group of people to sit in the same room and review the same information they’ve seen before is unlikely to result in exciting, new ideas. Leaders need to talk to their customers, talk to other experts, explore how other industries are doing it. Have the meeting in the park or in a museum. Bring some toys into the room. There are countless ways to shake things up; try something new every time.
- Encourage the crazy. Everyone has heard someone say at the beginning of a brainstorming, “Every idea is a good idea.” And then there’s a collective eye roll because no one believes it. While it’s not true that every idea is a practical idea, it is true that every idea can offer useful stimulus for additional ideas. Sometimes, those ideas that are tossed out as jokes can be the spark that leads to a new direction and a winning idea. So, it’s important to allow, encourage and use every idea, even if only for creative fodder.
- It’s a numbers game. The more “at bats” a person has, the more likely it is to hit a home run. So, drive for quantity of ideas. Ensure the session is long enough to generate a lot of ideas. Spending only 10 minutes on brainstorming is not going to generate great results.
- Laugh a lot. Humor stimulates creativity, so let it happen. One easy way to start off a session: Have everyone introduce themselves by answering a fun or silly question. For instance, in the fall: “What’s something you DON’T need more of for the holidays?” Some of the answers could even start sparking real ideas for the session!
- Homework is required. Both individual and group efforts are critical for success. So, leaders need to make it clear they expect and insist on individual preparation in advance and follow-up afterward. Leaders should ensure all participants know the goal in advance of the session and ask them to do some homework before they arrive. When the session is over, it’s important leaders create an action plan that allows ideas to continue to be shaped and added to as the project moves forward.
- It’s not for amateurs. Effective brainstorming requires knowledge and skill, both to participate and especially to facilitate. It’s a completely different set of techniques and expertise from running other meetings; leaders should not assume they can do it well just because they can run a great meeting. If there is no facilitator in the team who has the skill to train the group and run the session, leaders should hire an external one or get some training to develop the skills internally.
- If it looks like a duck but doesn’t act like a duck, it’s not a duck. Leaders who can’t, or don’t intend to, follow the guidelines for successful brainstorming should not call it brainstorming. For example, a meeting that just becomes a stage for one person to spout his or her ideas isn’t useful or engaging. And, if a brainstorming session is not organized and structured appropriately, everyone in the room will feel how ineffective it is and they’ll be sure to skip the next one. It’s important, therefore, to either set up for success or not bother.
- The session’s not done until there’s a decision. We’ve all been in this situation: It’s the end of a brainstorming session, the group has created a long list of ideas, and someone volunteers to type up and distribute the list. And … that’s the end. There’s no action, or at least not that anyone is aware of. It’s fairly demotivating to spend time and energy generating ideas and then feel they went nowhere. So, a critical step is to plan time for, and require the group to do, some prioritizing of ideas during the session. The group should spend at least an equal amount of time on converging as they did on diverging. I will say that again: If the group generates ideas for an hour, it should also spend an hour on selecting, clarifying and refining ideas at the back end. If people leave the meeting with a huge list of potential ideas, that’s not success. The goal is to end the meeting with a short list of clear ideas, and a plan for action on each of them.
Susan Robertson empowers individuals, teams and organizations to more nimbly adapt to change by transforming thinking from “why we can’t” to “how might we?” She is a creative thinking expert with more than 20 years of experience speaking and coaching in Fortune 500 companies. As an instructor on applied creativity at Harvard, Robertson brings a scientific foundation to enhancing human creativity.
