effective brainstorming session

EFFECTIVE BRAINSTORMING

SESSIONS

Abstract

     Brainstorming is a popular tool that helps you generate creative solutions to a problem. It is particularly useful when you want to break out of stale, established patterns of thinking, so that you can develop new ways of looking at things. It also helps you overcome many of the issues that can make group problem-solving a sterile and unsatisfactory process.

     Used with your team, it helps you bring the diverse experience of all team members into play during problem solving. This increases the richness of ideas explored, meaning that you can find better solutions to the problems you face. It can also help you get buy in from team members for the solution chosen – after all, they were involved in developing it. What’s more, because brainstorming is fun, it helps team members bond with one-another as they solve problems in a positive, rewarding environment.

     Brainstorming is an idea-generating process aimed to think up out-of-box ideas while working on a problem. Many brainstorming sessions deal with a particular problem where fresh ideas are needed. Successful brainstorming encourages a group of people, led by a facilitator, to voice all of their ideas on a specific topic in an atmosphere of constructive suggestion. The group then explores and prioritizes the ideas that have been put forward, and usually creates new solutions using elements from several suggestions

 

 

Brainstorming

 

     Brainstorming combines a relaxed, informal approach to problem-solving with lateral thinking. It asks that people come up with ideas and thoughts that can at first seem to be a bit crazy. The idea here is that some of these ideas can be crafted into original, creative solutions to the problem you're trying to solve, while others can spark still more ideas. This approach aims to get people unstuck, by "jolting" them out of their normal ways of thinking.

     During brainstorming sessions there should therefore be no criticism of ideas: You are trying to open up possibilities and break down wrong assumptions about the limits of the problem. Judgments and analysis at this stage stunt idea generation.

Ideas should only be evaluated at the end of the brainstorming session – this is the time to explore solutions further using conventional approaches.

Individual Brainstorming

 

     While group brainstorming is often more effective at generating ideas than normal group problem-solving, study after study has shown that when individuals brainstorm on their own, they come up with more ideas (and often better quality ideas) than groups of people who brainstorm together.

     Partly this occurs because, in groups, people aren’t always strict in following the rules of brainstorming, and bad group behaviors creep in. Mostly, though, this occurs because people are paying so much attention to other people’s ideas that they're not generating ideas of their own – or they're forgetting these ideas while they wait for their turn to speak. This is called "blocking".

     When you brainstorm on your own, you'll tend to produce a wider range of ideas than with group brainstorming - you do not have to worry about other people's egos or opinions, and can therefore be more freely creative. For example, you might find that an idea you’d be hesitant to bring up in a group session develops into something quite special when you explore it with individual brainstorming. Nor do you have to wait for others to stop speaking before you contribute your own ideas.

Group Brainstorming

 

     When it works, group brainstorming can be very effective for bringing the full experience and creativity of all members of the group to bear on an issue. When individual group members get stuck with an idea, another member's creativity and experience can take the idea to the next stage. Group brainstorming can therefore develop ideas in more depth than individual brainstorming.

  

     Another advantage of group brainstorming is that it helps everyone involved to feel that they’ve contributed to the end solution, and it reminds people that other people have creative ideas to offer. What’s more, brainstorming is fun, and it can be great for team-building!

     Brainstorming in a group can be risky for individuals. Valuable but strange suggestions may appear stupid at first sight. Because of this, you need to chair sessions tightly so that ideas are not crushed, and so that the usual issues with group problem-solving don’t stifle creativity.

E-brainstorming

     E-brainstorming is one way of getting around some of these problems. A facilitator is also key to this process, which gives individuals sitting at their computers the chance to contribute their ideas independently. The facilitator then compiles the suggestions and sends them out for appraisal and follow-up at different intervals.

     Although this method can be less spontaneous than face-to-face brainstorming, it has several advantages. For example, production blocking ceases to be a problem if individuals have some degree of control as to when they create their own ideas or review the ideas of others. Anchoring is less likely to occur when most of the creative work is done independently. And, in cases in which only the facilitator knows the identities of all contributors, anonymity goes a long way toward lessening the fear of loss of face. Though not a "silver bullet," e-brainstorming can overcome some of the problems seen in the face-to-face method.

The Essence of Brainstorming

     Brainstorming is a particular way of using the ideas of many individuals to solve a problem creatively. Its supporters claim that individuals can arrive at a better solution by acting collectively.Advocates of brainstorming also claim that one of its merits is that it distinguishes between the two cognitive activities that are central to all problem-solving:

·         Free conjecture

·         Rigorous critism

     By separating these activities and focusing on the conjectural aspect of problem-solving — uninhibited by the threat of criticism — brainstorming is meant to release the embedded creativity of the group.

 

 

 

 

How to Use the Tool

 

     You can often get the best results by combining individual and group brainstorming, and by managing the process carefully and according to the "rules" below. That way, you get people to focus on the issue without interruption (this comes from having everyone in a dedicated group meeting), you maximize the number of ideas you can generate, and you get that great feeling of team bonding that comes with a well-run brainstorming session!

To run a group brainstorming session effectively, do the following:

·         Find a comfortable meeting environment, and set it up ready for the session.

·         Appoint one person to record the ideas that come from the session. These should be noted in a format than everyone can see and refer to. Depending on the approach you want to use, you may want to record ideas on flip charts, whiteboards, or computers with data projectors.

·         If people aren’t already used to working together, consider using an appropriate warm-up exercise or ice-breaker.

·         Define the problem you want solved clearly, and lay out any criteria to be met. Make it clear that that the objective of the meeting is to generate as many ideas as possible.

·         Give people plenty of time on their own at the start of the session to generate as many ideas as possible.

·         Ask people to give their ideas, making sure that you give everyone a fair opportunity to contribute.

·         Encourage people to develop other people's ideas, or to use other ideas to create new ones.

·         Encourage an enthusiastic, uncritical attitude among members of the group. Try to get everyone to contribute and develop ideas, including the quietest members of the group.

·         Ensure that no one criticizes or evaluates ideas during the session. Criticism introduces an element of risk for group members when putting forward an idea. This stifles creativity and cripples the free running nature of a good brainstorming session.

·         Let people have fun brainstorming. Encourage them to come up with as many ideas as possible, from solidly practical ones to wildly impractical ones. Welcome creativity!

·         Ensure that no train of thought is followed for too long. Make sure that you generate a sufficient number of different ideas, as well as exploring individual ideas in detail.

·         In a long session, take plenty of breaks so that people can continue to concentrate.

 

conclusion

     The Step by Step Report that how to manage effective brainstorming sessions is a guide that explains in detail how to set up and manage traditional brainstorming sessions that bring results. Traditional brainstorming is not just about generating ideas; it is also about quickly and accurately evaluating ideas to determine which will work best.

• Learn how to phrase your issue or problem in order to get the best, most creative ideas.
• Learn how to set up quick criteria based evaluations that help you determine which ideas will work
• Choose the best possible brainstorming team.

Reference:  

o    Osborn, A.F. (1963) Applied imagination: Principles and procedures of creative problem solving (Third Revised Edition). New York, NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

o     "Productivity Loss in Idea-Generating Groups: Tracking Down the Blocking Effect". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 61 (3): 392–403. 1991.

o     "Productivity Loss in Brainstorming Groups: Toward the Solution of a Riddle". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 53: 497–509. 1987.

o     Brown, V; Paulus, P. B (1996). "A simple dynamic model of social factors in group brainstorming". Small Group Research 27: 91–114.

o     Stroebe, W.; Diehl, M. & Abakoumkin, G. (1992). "The illusion of group effectivity". Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 18 (5): 643–650.

o    Paulus, P. B.; Dzindolet, M. T., Poletes, G.,Camacho, L. M. (1993). "Perception of performance in group brainstorming: The illusion of group productivity". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 64 (4): 575–586.

o      Gallupe, R. B., Dennis, A. R., Cooper, W. H., Valacich, J. S., Bastianutti, L. M. and Nunamaker, J. F. (1992), "Electronic Brainstorming and Group Size," Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 35, No. 2, pp. 350-369.