Brainstorming is one of those tools that many people use, but few use well. Join the Wily Manager guys this week, and they talk about how to structure your brainstorm to ensure it will lead somewhere.
Monday’s Tip: Be very clear on the question or problem statement. Confirm that everyone involved in your brainstorm has a shared understanding of the question or problem.
Tuesday’s Tip: Don’t use a brainstorm to solicit ideas, when you have no interest in considering them. The best way to upset people is to ask for their input, and then ignore it.
Wednesday’s Tip: Encourage more introverted team members. Just because your extroverts talk more, doesn’t mean they have better ideas. Draw ideas out of your introverted team members.
Thursday’s Tip: Figure out what type of brainstorm will work best for your group and situation. Sometimes you can gather around a flipchart. Other times, you may want to try a different variation of brainstorming.
Friday’s Tip: Remember to move to action. All the work you do on brainstorming is wasted unless you do something about the ideas generated. After brainstorming, ideas need to be evaluated and some should be acted upon.