There are plenty of ways to make a company more profitable, but when it comes to producing innovative ideas, conducting a brainstorming session is still the best way to go.
Coined by advertising executive Alex Osborn in the early 1950s, brainstorming is a creative technique that’s being used by thousands of companies all over the world. It helps improve sales, inspires teamwork and creativity, and drives innovation.
So, if your organization is looking for that next big eureka moment, or if your team is struggling to come up with new concepts, here are 10 effective brainstorming techniques to make your next ideas session a certified success. We’ll also explore tips to conduct a brainstorming session, and why you should.
What is brainstorming?
Brainstorming, in its simplest definition, is the process of generating ideas and coming up with solutions either as part of a group or on an individual basis. These brainstorming sessions can occur for both simple and more complex projects, like choosing a new software that best meets the team’s needs or identifying ways to increase revenue.
The benefits of team brainstorming
Brainstorming as a team has many merits, including:
- You access multiple and often diverse perspectives
- You avoid any biases to a particular viewpoint
- Your team generates more ideas in a shorter amount of time
- You foster an environment where teams can explore each other’s ideas
- You help create a sense of belonging and camaraderie
- You encourage team members’ creativity and innovation
The most effective brainstorming techniques
Not sure how to go about brainstorming with your team? Consider these 10 effective brainstorming techniques and methods.
1. Brainwriting
Also known as the 6-3-5 method, brainwriting traditionally involves six participants who each write down three ideas within five minutes. After those five minutes are up, the participants swap their worksheets with each other and repeat the process until 108 ideas are generated in 30 minutes.
At the end of the exercise, participants discuss the ideas and choose the ones they like best.
The brainwriting technique can also be carried out in teams of four, five or seven, but anything more than that may make the entire process unmanageable.
2. Rapid ideation
In this brainstorming technique, participants write down as many ideas as they can come up with in a strictly set amount of time, be it 5 or 10 minutes. Once the time is up, everyone discusses, critiques and fleshes out their own and their coworkers’ ideas — ultimately, they will narrow down their options.
The rapid ideation method is great because its sense of urgency means that participants don’t prematurely shoot down their own ideas before they’re even heard by the rest of the group.
3. Mind mapping
The mind mapping technique is a visual way to approach brainstorming, and it can be particularly useful for the members on your team who think visually.
Essentially, mind mapping involves using a flowchart or diagram to create a visual representation of the ideas shared. It begins with a central thought or idea, and team members can draw branches and sub-branches, expanding and building on the original idea, which provide the foundation for further discussions and actionable items.
4. Reverse brainstorming
Reverse brainstorming is particularly useful for teams who are finding difficulty coming up with ideas and solutions, and is instead focused on how to make a problem worse so the team can come up with ideas on how to reverse or avoid the problem altogether in the future.
For example, let’s say your goal is to increase productivity. Instead of looking for ways to achieve this, ask your team for ideas on how to intentionally reduce productivity. Once you have a list of “ideas”, you can then analyze them together to identify the root causes and flip the negative ideas into solutions.
5. Starbursting
Starbursting is useful when you already have an idea in place, and it involves examining the idea from every possible angle.
Essentially, team members will write down the main idea in the middle of a page, and then create a six-point star around it, with each point representing the following: who, what, why, how, where and when.
6. SCAMPER
The SCAMPER method involves analyzing an existing product or service, rather than developing a new one.
It typically involves creating seven sections in the room, each section housing an easel notepad, focusing on one of the following areas:
- Substitute: What can be replaced?
- Combine: What can be combined?
- Adapt: What can be added?
- Modify: What can be altered?
- Put to another use: What alternative applications or purposes does the product have?
- Eliminate: What can be removed?
- Reverse: Can something different be created?
7. Figure storming
“What would Oprah Winfrey do?” “How would Albert Einstein approach this problem?”
It may feel a little silly asking these types of questions, but they can be immensely helpful in helping you generate ideas or solve problems by putting yourself into someone else’s shoes.
For this method, you’ll need to choose a well-known figure, like a celebrity, fictional character or even the company’s CEO (as long as they’re not also in the room).
8. Stepladder
The stepladder technique can be a complex and time-consuming one, and so it’s best avoided if your brainstorming sessions involve large groups.
This method entails starting the brainstorming session with two people, who discuss their ideas for a few minutes. Then, a third participant joins the session, offering their own ideas and discussing the other participants’ ideas. This repeats until everyone has had a say.
It’s important to note that there shouldn’t be more than three people in the room at a time (except for the moderator), and you should encourage team members to only discuss their ideas when inside the room.
9. Round robin
The round robin brainstorming technique entails getting everyone to sit in a circle. One by one, they all start sharing one thought on a central topic, building off on each other’s thoughts. This ensures that everyone gets a say, including those who would otherwise be too shy to speak up.
It can be carried out either verbally or in writing, but the verbal iteration of the method is generally the best option.
10. Charette
The Charette procedure is an effective brainstorming technique to use when you have a large group of participants or several topics to discuss — or both.
It starts with dividing your team into groups and assigning them a topic to discuss. After a set time, the groups will switch between topics and build on existing ideas. At the end of the exercise, encourage participants to critique each other’s ideas and suggest improvements.
Tips to facilitate brainstorming
Now that you’ve chosen one or two brainstorming techniques, it’s time to put it into action. That said, it’s a good idea to keep these practical tips and key considerations in mind to facilitate an effective brainstorming session.
1. Pencil it in the calendar
At its simplest definition, a brainstorming session commonly refers to a small group of people who come together and exchange suggestions to find solutions or generate fresh ideas for the company. Brainstorming is used across all industries and departments — from marketing to sales, and advertising to human resources.
There are two common mistakes most companies and people make when facilitating a brainstorming session. The first is not announcing it ahead of time and the second (which is most often a result of the former) is not coming to the meeting prepared.
When this happens, a lot of valuable time is wasted; managers are confused on what to do first, while colleagues fumble with their phones as they scramble to search for ideas. Without any real structure, the whole activity turns into chaos.
To avoid wasting precious resources, make sure to set your session ahead of time so that everyone can participate and come to the meeting well-prepared.
2. Be clear with your mission
For employees, nothing is more infuriating than receiving an invite to a brainstorming session that doesn’t have a clear agenda. Most companies face a multitude of problems every day, and not all of them can be solved in a single session.
So, for employees to collaborate on an effective solution, an employer should be able to clearly state which challenge they’re facing and trying to fix.
It is, therefore, important to set what you want to achieve in the session very early on. Is it to rebrand the website? Create better content? Improve social media management? Whatever the goal is, you have to identify what you want to accomplish after every meeting by assigning specific tasks to the people involved.
For example, if your goal is to rebrand a website, then ask your creative team to bring at least three new looks for a design they want to create. If, on the other hand, it’s for content, assign the writers to come up with five topics. Setting an agenda helps to keep the discussion and activities focused and effective; that way, no one’s time or effort is wasted.
3. Set the tone
Even when you have strict goals, it’s important to keep the tone of your meeting playful and non-judgmental. A structured session doesn’t always have to be stiff and serious, more so if the objective is to generate ideas.
A team is always composed of different personalities — some are loud and confident, while others are shy and timid. Hence, a facilitator should make sure that they create a safe but fun environment where everyone will feel encouraged to contribute.
For example, there are some words which, although well-meaning, can discourage others from participating. And you wouldn’t want to discourage your coworkers to get involved and be enthusiastic.
Apart from coming up with more innovative ideas, brainstorming sessions are meant to strengthen ties and encourage better communication among team members. To do that, it’s important to set every meeting with the right tone; one that will allow for both mistakes and light-bulb moments to happen.
After all, great concepts weren’t always born out of perfect scenarios. If anything, most of them began as one big mess.
4. Use the white board
While more and more people use gadgets in today’s meetings when it comes to brainstorming and thinking as a team, the white board still does a better job than most iPads and surface laptops combined.
There’s something about the visceral act of writing that makes ideas feel more real and memorable. And that’s not just sentiment talking. Studies show that writing by hand enhances memory retention, which leads to better understanding of thoughts.
Noting your ideas is also a great way of visualizing what you’ve created. It’s a more efficient way of staying on track with everyone’s contributions and how each idea integrates into the overall goal. It’s also non-intimidating and something that everyone can use if they want to participate more actively in the session.
The white board is literally a blank slate that every team member can use as a springboard for ideas. Its efficiency lies in its simple and non-intimidating design, which makes it an effective tool for the workplace.
5. Know that there are no wrong ideas
If you follow steps one through to four, then it’s very likely that you’ll get tons of ideas during your brainstorming session. However, not all of them will be great, but that’s a good thing.
At the beginning of every brainstorming, you should always strive for quantity instead of quality. Dismissing judgment and analysis will allow for more unconventional and radical ideas to come through.
Most ideas will range from the mundane to the outrageous, and only a chosen few will emerge to the top. It’s a matter of filtering through the muck of creative thoughts until you find the best one that fits. And when it comes to finding a solution, having more options to choose from is always better than none.
6. Always empower your team
Once you’re able to filter your ideas, you’ll probably be left with a handful of other options that are still very good. When this happens, let the team vote on which points they think are the most effective.
The best way to do this is by asking them to write or put a dot next to the concept they like the most. Of course, you can also do this with a show of hands, but it won’t be nearly as empowering for the employees.
If they’re really shy, it might also be the only other time they get to interact with the team or write on the board. It might seem small, but not only does dot-voting make them feel like they’re asserting their choice, it also makes them feel like they belong which will motivate them to do even better in your next session.
7. Keep some ideas for next time
After a successful brainstorming session, you’ll be left with a few very good ideas. Rather than putting them in the bin, note them in your minutes, and keep them for your next meeting. They might not be the best solutions for now, but there’s a good chance you’ll be able to use them next time.
And if, on the other hand, you find that your initial idea isn’t working, you don’t have to go back to the drawing board and call another brainstorming session — seen as you have them all stored already.
Final thoughts
By following these effective techniques, you can turn a brainstorming workshop into a real learning experience, bringing your team closer together and working more efficiently.
That said, it’s important to choose a technique — or combination of techniques — that is right for you in terms of topic, group size and company needs.
Do you have your own tried-and-tested techniques for brainstorming, or examples of brainstorms that you’d like to share with us? Let us know in the comments section below.
This article is a partial update of an earlier version originally published in 2018.