Want to know how to run the perfect brainstorming session? This guide gives 25 steps to success, from choosing a relevant subject, to finding the right facilitator, to setting a concrete output.
There are many reasons why a brainstorming session can produce only a few great ideas—or none at all—and the fuzzy front end of innovation confronts you with a lot of questions.
Every one of us has experienced failed brainstorms. Maybe you hung 300 ideas on a wall, and nobody knew where to go from there. Or one of your VPs disapproved of every idea, and no one championed an idea anyway. Or maybe your brainstorming session was done at the end of a long day, you could only recycle old ideas, and you felt that there was nothing new under the sun.
But don’t get discouraged! The perfect brainstorm exists. I have experienced several in practice, and was in the position of facilitating some of them.
What finally gives that WOW feeling? I’ve discovered that this simple question cannot be easily answered. I don’t think there is one dominant success factor—it is much more the right interplay of many small factors. Perhaps the metaphor of a puzzle is most striking: there are many small pieces needed, and if you lose one, the puzzle is never completed.
In my practice as facilitator, I have found 25 puzzle pieces contributing to the perfect brainstorm.
Choose a Highly Relevant Subject
1: Define a relevant subject, which is the challenge for the organization and the people you invite to the brainstorming session.
2: Create with the sponsor a concrete and SMART (Specific, Measurable, Accepted, Realistic, and Time-Sensitive) brainstorm or innovation assignment.
3: Create momentum for the brainstorm. Something important must happen now!
Engage a Diverse Group of Participants
4: Invite people for whom the assignment is personally relevant.
5: Invite people both for content as well as for decision-making reasons.
6: Invite a couple of outsiders as outside-the-box thinkers.
7: Ensure that you have a good mix of male and female, younger and older participants, etc.
8: Let the internal top problem-owner (e.g., a department head or VP) participate.
Create a Special Setting for the Brainstorming Session
9: Look for a peaceful and special environment for the brainstorming session—this can include food, music, a different view, and more.
10: Create an emotionally-safe environment where each person on the team can be themselves.
11: Mitigate distractions—put phones on silent.
12: Never—I really mean never—brainstorm at the office.
Plan an Effectively Structured Process
13: Take at least two days for an effective brainstorm for concrete new concepts.
14: Spend twice as much time on the convergence process as on the divergence process.
15: Plan and prepare an effective combination of idea generation techniques.
16: Be open to suggestions from the group to adapt the process—don’t try to stick to the program you’ve set if it’s not working.
17: Make sure the brainstorming session is enjoyable. If you’re having fun, you will promote good results!
18: Employ timeboxing by making sure everybody knows what the time limits are for the different assignments.
19: Assign someone to illustrate the results to help the team to visualize them better.
20: Keep the pace going—otherwise it becomes long-winded and boring.
Have a Professional Facilitate the Brainstorming Session
21: Designate an internal expert facilitator who’s hardly noticeable, and who has light control over the session.
22: Give the opposite energy to the group. If the group is too active, then as a facilitator you should be calm. If the group is too calm, be more energetic with them.
23: Don’t lose sight of subgroups; constantly check how they progress.
Set a Concrete Output
24: Make the output very concrete and clear to everybody on the team—and to those who didn’t participate.
25: Creating the new concepts with your own colleagues generates maximum internal support.
Try to deploy these 25 rules, and you’ll notice that the participants of your next brainstorming session will share that WOW feeling and support the outcome. As you’re organizing, keep the puzzle analogy in mind: don’t let a piece go missing.
I wish you lots of success organising your own perfect brainstorm!
A version of this article was published in 2011 on InnovationManagement—this updated and expanded version is available only to InnovationManagement members.
About the Author
Gijs van Wulfen is the founder of the FORTH innovation method, an effective and structured way of ideating innovative products and services. The method is published in his book Creating Innovative Products and Services.
He helps organisations to kickstart innovation by facilitating the FORTH innovation method and advising companies on their innovation strategy, process, and organisation. His clients are international companies in industry and services, as well as nonprofit organisations in government and health. Gijs also trains facilitators in his method.
Featured image via Pixabay.