Brainstorming

Overview

What to do

Undertake Brainstorming in the following 10 steps:

1. First of all the facilitator reminds the group the Ground rules – e.g. point to them on the wall: Defer judgement, Freewheel, Seek combinations and Strive for quantity.
2. The facilitator ensures the task (challenge for which they are brainstorming) is clearly displayed somewhere as a reminder and gets everyone to focus on this task.
3. The facilitator gives a target – for how many ideas to come up with – aim for at least 10 ideas. No problem if they can't, but it's good to have an aim.
4. The facilitator gives everyone some quiet time to write ideas down. Length of time will depend on how long people keep writing ideas. Be patient and watch for when people seem to run out of steam. Wait until the last person runs out of steam as the extra quiet time might make others in the group think of ideas.
5. Everyone shares their ideas with the group one at a time.
6. The facilitator makes sure that when one person is presenting an idea, the others are listening and trying to combine ideas or think of new ones.
7. The facilitator asks people to headline their idea first. This has to do with people's attention span. Headlines are great at capturing people's attention. Then ask the person presenting the idea to say some more about the thinking behind the idea.
8. Write down all ideas in post its and put it up on your designated idea space.
9. Repeat steps 5–8 until all the ideas are up on the wall.
10. Final tip – if the flow of ideas has stopped and you still need more ideas, try one of the excursions available at
11. http://www.innovationmanagement.se/imtool-articles/how-to-take-a-creative-excursion/
12. or use the SCAMPER questions to stimulate new thinking. These questions are available at:
13. http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newCT_02.htm

People

Problem solving characteristics

Creative phases

Location

Equipment

Videos