Have you ever set up a brainstorming session for your office and felt like you were at a dead end at the very beginning? This happens to many people but there are effective ways to get you and your colleagues brainstorming like there’s no tomorrow!
It’s best to schedule brainstorming in the morning when everyone is more alert. After lunch is when people begin to get tired and think more about how much longer they have until they can leave. It’s not exactly the best time to focus.
Come to the brainstorming session prepared! Make sure you have all the information at hand in case anyone has any questions or needs more information to come up with ideas.
Get everyone to contribute. Some people have great ideas but are too shy to say anything and need to be provoked. You also may have a talker in the group that doesn’t let anyone else get a word in edgewise, so it is important to make sure everyone gets the chance to put their two cents in. This is where a leader of the session should mediate the table, but the leader should follow, not lead. You want your colleagues to develop their own ideas, not ideas that the leader has guided them to develop.
Be sure to tally your ideas. It is important to write everything down so you don’t forget it. You may need that idea later on and need to refer to notes to remember the conversation.
When you feel like the group is starting to hit a dead end and the flow of ideas is starting slow down, take some of the ideas that you have already come up with and develop them. There is always something that can be added to an idea and sometimes that can get the flow of new ideas going again.
Finally it is important to make sure that everyone respects other ideas. This is what brainstorming is all about and if someone if constantly shutting down ideas then no one in the group is going to want to contribute. Everyone needs to be open-minded. Visit here for more information.
By: Lindsay Dunmyer
