What are the benefits of brainstorming? How would one run an effective brainstorming session?
Answer: If done correctly, group brainstorming sessions can create insights, ideas, and solutions that would have been impossible without everyone's participation. If done incorrectly, they are a painful waste of time that can frustrate and antagonize participants. To ensure success, experts recommend the following:
• A trained facilitator should guide the session, and the right physical environment must be used.
• The right participants must be chosen. Sometimes it is useful to have a real mixture with many different points of view.
• Participants must see themselves as collaborators working toward a common goal.
• Rules need to be set up and followed so conversations don't get off track. Some structure is needed, though flexibility is desired too.
• Participants must be given proper background preparation and materials so they can get into the task quickly.
• Individual sessions before and after the brainstorming can be useful for thinking and learning about the topic ahead of time and for reflecting afterward on what happened.
• During the session, each participant must be encouraged to participate and think freely and constructively. It may be useful to give participants time to think and gather their thoughts based on what they have heard.
• To help stimulate thinking, participants may be told to identify and challenge existing assumptions, role-play some aspect of the situation they are analyzing, or consider borrowing ideas from other firms, even outside the industry.
• Brainstorming sessions must lead to a clear plan of action and implementation so the ideas that materialize can provide tangible value.
• Brainstorming can do more than just generate ideas — it should help build teams and leave participants better informed and energized.