Four Tips to Help You Do Effective Brainstorming

Osborne's four principles are: non-judgment, focus on quantity, say whatever comes to mind, and build on ideas offered by others.

Osborne's principles have now morphed into many forms, such as brainstorming by writing (expressing what you think in writing rather than speaking), brain teasers, and mind mapping (creating a diagram that includes the problem at the center and suggests solutions around it).

After the technological development that we have witnessed, it has become possible to conduct brainstorming sessions in new ways, such as with hackathon technology that organizations with their social networks can conduct in separate places and at one time.

IBM conducts online brainstorming sessions, and the company says that its 2006 online brainstorming session involved more than 150,000 people from 104 different countries and generated 10 creative ideas.

However, many specialists question the effectiveness of brainstorming sessions, as they are based on presenting ideas in an automatic manner without the element of criticism. They say that brainstorming does not carry the same meaning as applying what is understood in its meaning, as it does not produce a stream of consistent ideas but rather scattered ideas in batches.

But on the other hand, brainstorming has its supporters, including, for example, Paul Paulus, a professor of research psychology at the University of Texas in Arlington, who has participated in more than 100 experiments and studies in the field of assessing creativity and decision-making collectively.

Paulus says, “There are principles that must be taken into account when conducting brainstorming; otherwise, it will not be useful.” Paulos believes that the effectiveness of brainstorming in solving problems lies in the fact that the problem needs several points of view for a solution.

Expert notes

• Paulus suggests informing the group about the topic of the brainstorming session before the meeting. The reason is that people tend to think about problems and possible solutions in their spare time, and he suggests that they have notebooks to write down any sudden ideas that may come to their minds. By following this procedure, each one of them becomes willing to share his ideas with the rest of the group and benefit from each other's ideas.
• It is very important to analyze the problem, especially if the topic is very complex and vague, as the results will be the same as well. Paulos also suggests dividing the problem into parts that the team members can consider each part of separately, and in this way the team gets a greater number of ideas; they discuss the topic in depth, not superficially.
• Defining the exact problem is crucial to determining the path the brainstorming group will take to find a solution, adds Leon Segal, a psychologist and founder of Innovationship, a Silicon Valley company.

• Some people come up with the best ideas late at night, others early in the morning. Therefore, Segal suggests creating a system that meets the different needs of the brainstorming participants, something like an electronic library in which all participants can put ideas in and see others' ideas at any time.
• Some experts believe that the manager's face-to-face presence with team members hinders the flow of ideas. Participants may refrain from asking strange questions, for example, for fear of appearing foolish in front of the director, and otherwise some of them may suggest ideas that they are not convinced of, but they put them forward to gain the manager's admiration and satisfaction. Therefore, Segal warns against the manager's physical presence with the team members because it may eliminate the spirit of initiative.
• Experts also say that groups should be kept small, and the reason, according to them, is that the number of ideas is inversely proportional to the size of the group. This is while maintaining the size required to provide diversity in viewpoints and experiences, and the solution to reconcile the two matters is to divide the large group into smaller groups according to the topic, and Segal gives an example, saying, “Four groups of five people each are better than one group of twenty people.”
• The time that the brainstorming sessions take should be determined, and it is preferable that their duration be between an hour and an hour and fifteen minutes, as this is often the period after which the members become exhausted, as Segal suggests taking short breaks.
• Even a carefully planned brainstorming session will fail at first. Therefore, Segal advises perseverance in training because brainstorming is like any other skill that is honed by practice.
• Edward Rocky, who before his death was Professor Emeritus of Applied Behavioral Sciences at Pepperdine University, says, “It is useful to have an outside moderator in the session or someone working in human resources, provided that he is objective.” These people must also be supportive and open to the opinions of others. Its primary mission is to promote a spirit of trust, security, and mutual support.
• Paulos stresses the need to encourage the participants in the brainstorming session to think about solutions even after the session ends, and the reason, according to Paulos, is that ideas continue to flow, and he suggests conducting a follow-up session or more if necessary to benefit as much as possible from the phenomenon of ideas continuing to flow.
• No matter how effective the ideas that result from brainstorming are, they will not be useful if they are not intelligently evaluated. So Segal suggests that the team meet again to identify commonalities and decide what ideas to adopt.
• It can be said that one of the characteristics of this type of group thinking is that it favors applicable ideas at the expense of creative ideas, but Paulus asserts that creative ideas can be modified and made more applicable through deliberation, but at this stage of brainstorming there is still no reliable and available data to pick the best ideas.
• Some ideas must be put into practice; otherwise, team members will feel their efforts have been wasted, and this is detrimental to the company's culture, says Segal.
• Team members should be encouraged not to adopt preconceived views. “Creativity goes beyond the arts and entertainment,” says Rocky. Even inventions require scientific and engineering creativity, and this reminds us of what the late physicist Albert Einstein said, “Great scientists are artists too.”

Four tips for effective brainstorming

1. Relate the different topics

Roque says the rental washer was invented by connecting customers who go to the gym with customers who go to the laundry and how long they wait for their laundry to be completely dry.

A clothing manufacturer has added a square microfiber patch to the tail of their shirts, which they use to clean eyeglasses and smartphones.

The employees of Onboardly, a Canadian startup PR and marketing firm, are trying to do the same. The whole team gets together for an hour-long brainstorming session in which they try to connect things that don't seem to have anything to do with it, like a diaper and toothbrush, a car parts ad with a shaving cream ad, or a new book and carpet cleaning powder.

“Every time we do this, we come up with at least a dozen new ideas, approaches, or perspectives,” says CEO Renee Warren.

2. Look at axioms with curiosity

Rocky gives the example of a loaf of bread. He says that it was not familiar to the first Native Americans, and if someone saw it, they would treat it as something wondrous, although it is something very ordinary for us, and we should deal with familiar things in the same way as if we were seeing them for the first time.

Jody Shaw, Head of Global Marketing at Kadence International, started some brainstorming sessions by dividing the participants into groups, handing out random objects such as pool cues, building blocks, etc., and giving each group five minutes to come out. By inventing a unique object, giving it a unique name, and presenting a product presentation of this object to members of other groups, Xu says that this training is comfortable for employees and makes them think creatively.

3. Have a passion like children

In brainstorming, it's helpful to see things from the children's perspective. Mike May, President of Spear One, says, “Our people bring chocolate, coffee, play dough, crayons, and toys, and these things really help them think in a different way. Creative during brainstorming sessions to come up with innovative ideas for customer service projects.”

We find employees of some other companies start brainstorming sessions by drawing with crayons and other things, and this helps them come up with innovative solutions to problems.

4. Get your employees inspired by celebrities

At Kessel Communication, the moderator of the brainstorming session puts the names of the celebrities in an envelope, gives each participant a different envelope, and asks each team member to write down what they think the celebrity would do if they were in their place. Then the team members share their ideas with each other, which helps them benefit from the ideas of their colleagues.

"This method gets creative ideas flowing in an easy and fun way, and it's usually more effective than asking employees what they think of a problem," says Joel Kessel, the company's president.

In conclusion

Whether you are an ordinary employee, a board member, or the president of a company, you can also benefit from the expert notes we mentioned and apply the above tips to do brainstorming in a professional way and make the most of the creative spirit of the team.