Do You Brainstorm?

Posted by Felicia Hudson, CUES Marketing Specialist

We in the marketing department at CUES are always looking for fresh and creative ways to promote our offerings. We recently started brainstorming on a regular basis to fuel our creativity. What we enjoy about brainstorming is that it's a great way to generate a lot of ideas in a short amount of time--and it provides a way for us to collaborate nonjudgementally (at least that's our goal!).

We often include staff from other departments in brainstorming sessions so, at a recent all-staff meeting, I shared some information about brainstorming (courtesy of Lyndsay Swinton, Management for the Rest of Us, and Basic Tools for  Brainstorming) and how to make the process as productive as possible. I've included that below.

Do any of you brainstorm? If so, do you use a similar process? How does it work for you? Please share your thoughts!

• What is brainstorming?
  • Brainstorming is a tool used by teams for creative exploration of options in an environment free of criticism. This is crucial because many good ideas may be lost if participants think their ideas will be labeled “stupid” or if they think they will be ridiculed. 
  • It is useful when you want to generate a large number of ideas about issues to tackle, possible causes of problems, approaches to use or actions to take. It can also be performed individually.
  • There are many different methods of brainstorming—not just one way for a session to be conducted. It can be particularly effective when both sides of the brain are used. Since most work activity uses the left brain, exercise the right side by using props, such as colored pens that say “creative and fun” and not “stuffy and staid.”

• Why use brainstorming?
  • Brainstorming can be an effective way to break free of old ideas and create new ones in a free-wheeling, organic process. It also brings out the ideas of each individual and presents them in an orderly fashion to the rest of the team.
• Benefits of brainstorming
  • Creativity
  • Large number of ideas
  • All team members involved
  • Sense of ownership in decision
• What are the ground rules for brainstorming?
  For all participants to enjoy a creative and productive session, the following guidelines must be observed by all:
  • Active participation by everyone
  • A facilitator must be appointed
  • No criticism or other comments during the brainstorm
  • Build on ideas generated by other team members
  • Write all ideas exactly as presented and display where everyone can see them
  • Set a time limit
  • Have fun!
• After the brainstorming session
  
  • Clarify ideas. Go over the list to make sure that all team members understand the ideas. Remember you are only clarifying the ideas, not making judgments about them.
  • Eliminate or combine duplicate ideas
  • Select ideas to be presented to decision-makers
• Brainstorming Sequence
  • Review the rules
  • Set a time limit
  • State the question/purpose
  • Collect ideas    
    • Structured (i.e. go around the room and have each person contribute in a rotation)
      or
    • Unstructured (members just call out ideas as they come to mind)
  • Record and display ideas
  • Clarify the meaning
  • Eliminate duplications
  • Select ideas to be presented to decision-makers

Comments

[PatricH]

Felicia, I believe that brainstorming is crucial to generating new ideas and I go through the process quite regularly. In a group setting as you have described here, you might consider using graphic organizers as an effective way to analyze the ideas that have been generated during these sessions. You could allow one person to record the ideas on a cloud chart as they are being said, or alternatively, give a cloud chart to each individual so that they can record thoughts throughout the process. Either way your team will be able to reflect on each thought equally upon completion. You may be surprised at which ideas jump out at you when you look at the them in a different layout than say a typical list.

[Felicia]

Patric,

Thanks for your comment. That sounds like an interesting method. We've also used a technique where we gave everyone the topic we wanted to brainstorm, along with slips of 3x5 paper (or Post It's). Set a time limit of five minutes and have everyone write as many words as they can on each slip of paper.

At the end of the five minutes you collect all the slips and post them on a big board and see what type of themes, concepts come together. Have you ever used that technique?