In marketing and other high-level business decisions, it’s important to be able to generate creative new ideas. Group brainstorming sessions can bring everyone together for a collaborative opportunity that can yield impressive conceptual results.
But some brainstorming sessions are better than others. How do you make yours better?
What Makes a Brainstorming Session “Good?”
First, how can we say that our brainstorming session is a good one? Most of us have a solid intuition on whether or not a brainstorming session is good, but you’ll be more effective if you have concrete, objective goals to work toward.
Participation
A good brainstorming session is one in which everyone participates. There might be periods of silence, dry spells, and certain people who are quieter than others. However, you’ll be much more effective in generating creative, valuable ideas if everyone is doing their best. As we’ll see, there are several strategies that can help you accomplish this.
Creativity
Good brainstorming sessions don’t just cover the same old familiar ground. They push the boundaries, introduce innovative new ideas, and present novel insights. If you want to be effective, you need to find a way to stimulate this creativity.
Productivity
Good brainstorming sessions are also productive, and in two main respects. First, they make effective use of time, avoiding time waste and keeping everyone attentive and participatory. Second, they result in the delivery of some meaningful idea or action item, such that the meeting can be said to be valuable.
Strategies for Better Brainstorming Sessions
These are some of the best strategies for better brainstorming sessions:
Bring in the right people.
One of the most important factors for your success in brainstorming effectively is bringing in the right people. You need to bring in people who are relevant to the topic, capable of creative thinking, and preferably, valuable in terms of expertise. Many organizations supplement their existing team members by bringing in outside authorities. For example, you may want to find a fractional CMO. A fractional CMO has the experience and qualifications of a traditional CMO, but they can also help identify blind spots within your organization.
Set a strict timeline.
Longer brainstorming sessions aren’t necessarily more valuable. In fact, you might be able to get more done in less time if you set strict time limits for yourself. Stricter meeting parameters lead to more focused, more productive output, and if you aren’t able to come up with valuable new ideas in your initial meetings, you can always have more meetings later.
Properly identify goals.
If you want people to participate actively and effectively, you need to make sure they understand the goals you’re trying to accomplish. Are you trying to solve a specific problem? What would you need to accomplish to call this brainstorming session a success? How do you know when you’re done?
Maintain an open environment (with no bad ideas).
There are no bad ideas in a brainstorming session. You need to embrace and showcase this philosophy if you want active, creative participation. Even “bad” or unusable ideas often have a nugget of value within them, which another brainstorming participant can expand upon or transform into something genuinely impactful. Always maintain a judgment-free atmosphere, support other people when they present ideas, and discourage any negative or dismissive commentary. Criticism is fine, so long as it doesn’t prevent people from speaking up.
Reward participation.
Make sure all your brainstorming participants are rewarded for their participation. This can be something as simple as thanking individual members for their ideas and contributions, or something more involved, like issuing cash bonuses for employees who come up with genuinely transformative ideas.
Appoint a leader to keep things on track.
Your brainstorming sessions will be more focused and organized if you have a leader to keep things on track. This person will be responsible for organizing communications, remaining productive, and staying focused on the bottom-line goal.
Get feedback.
Strong employee feedback can help you shift your brainstorming sessions in the right direction. Do your employees feel like these sessions are valuable and productive? If not, how could they be improved? Anonymous surveys are typically best for collecting this feedback, as they allow people to express their true opinions without fear of retaliation or judgment.
Keep improving.
And, of course, you should always strive to keep improving. There’s no such thing as a perfect brainstorming session, nor is there even a perfect approach to brainstorming. Continue evolving as you learn more and increase the creative output of your team.
With better brainstorming sessions in your business, you’ll be able to generate much better ideas and solve some of the biggest problems holding your organization back. Not every session is going to be perfect, but any meaningful improvement can make a difference.
Share
