The effectiveness of brainstorming
Brainstorming is useful for creating a cross – fertilisation of ideas when new ideas are required, and there is a need to generate a large list of possibilities.
It is a powerful team method for creating new ideas, solving problems, and motivating and developing teams.
It is also useful for teams working to solve particularly inflexible problems where answers cannot be logically deduced, and full assessment or lateral thinking is needed.
Brainstorming is not a random activity. It needs to be structured and follows key rules. In brainstorming, a problem or challenge is defined in neutral terms.
Participants then spontaneously share ideas for solving the problem, these ideas are offered under specific conditions. Osborn, father of the Brainstorming sessions, set forth these guidelines for a session:
Postpone criticism of ideas.
Criticism and harsh evaluation will interfere with flexible idea generation. Postponing criticism or judgment of the ideas generated in a brainstorming session encourages a creative atmosphere where new ideas are reinforced rather than punished.
Aim for large quantities of ideas.
The notion underlying brainstorming is that the more ideas that are generated, the higher the probability is that one of the ideas generated will be appropriate and creative. Typically ideas produced later in a brainstorming session are more imaginative.
Build on one another’s ideas.
To lengthen the list of ideas, brainstorming participants are encouraged to develop, embellish, and enrich the other ideas generated, spontaneously hitchhiking on the ideas of others.
Encourage wild and exaggerated ideas.
In a typical brainstorming session, all ideas are accepted; and the wilder the ideas are, the better it is.
However, most people are not used to pushing for wild ideas. The leader or facilitator of a brainstorming session can assist by modeling how to generate wild ideas or can provide some preliminary practice or warm – up activities to loosen the team up first.
Once participants understand the ground rules, a brainstorming session can begin. It typically has the following steps:
* Form a brainstorming group with between four and fifteen participants.
* Select an individual to coordinate and facilitate the brainstorming session.
* Select a method to record the ideas generated. For electronic brainstorming, the computer may function as the memory bank for the ideas generated.
* Select participants who have a vested interest in solving the problem and specialised knowledge necessary to address it.
* Select an appropriate location for the session.
* The facilitator reviews the ground rules and the purpose and topic.
* During the course of the brainstorming session, facilitators typically take participants through four distinct stages:
Stating the problem: The facilitator states the problem in neutral terms so that the members begin the brainstorming session with as few preconceived biases as possible about the problem.
Restating the problem: The facilitator encourages members to restate the question in different words.
Brainstorming: The facilitator calls for a free flow of ideas around the problem. There may be periods of rapid idea generation and then slow, awkward times when no ideas are being created.
Evaluating generated ideas: The final list of ideas is subjected to critical judgment and evaluation. A process of elimination is used to weed out the least promising ideas progressively until the team selects the ideas most likely to solve the problem. Ideas are then developed into specific action plans for implementation.
Courtesy: www.humanresourcesblog.in
