How to Create a Brainstorming Session?

As an entrepreneur or business manager, time and again, you have to come up with innovative and creative ideas to survive and flourish in such a fierce market. Ideas are like vogue; if not updated, then you aren’t far enough to get outdated and kicked out from the market. If you believe your organization is hindered from creative ideas, then brainstorming will be the easiest trick to develop the ultimate solution in the most effective and friendly way.

What is Brainstorming?

In simpler words brainstorming is the simplest, easiest, and most friendly way of deriving a conclusion for a complex query. Brainstorming is the method used by the team to generate ideas to resolve queries in a controlled and free-thinking environment. The discussion gets started by “How Might We,” where more emphasis is given to a group or team rather than an individual.

If you are working in the corporate sector, then you might have used brainstorming to resolve queries and find ultimate solutions at least once in a lifetime. From ages, management has been conducting brainstorming sessions to generate ideas and come up with winning solutions.

How to Use Brainstorming for Its Best Outcome?

The aim of the brainstorming session is to generate as many ideas as possible and to find the best solution available for a given query or challenge. The core of this technique is to get as many solutions as possible, which aids in finding the best solution. It doesn’t just abet the business in finding the best solution but also boosts up employee’s morale and gets motivates, which enhances their engagement.

Have you felt like brainstorming is a total waste of time? It can be because only a few people start bickering, whereas others are silent. Remember! Brainstorming is a tried and tested approach for generating new ideas most of the time. But several factors hinder the way of a brainstorming session. Following Do’s and Don’t need to be followed for accomplishing a brainstorming session.

• Quality over Quantity: Just remember everyone has a different perception. Brainstorming is the initial step in any product or project development. So thinking from every sphere could bring the best solution. Even one’s idea is criticized, which assists in pinpointing the fit falls and how it can be enhanced.
• Encourage Everyone to speak: Often, its seen in a brainstorming session that only a few people speak up. It prevents other fresh ideas to come in light. 
• Don’t Over-Criticize: If not a place to showcase your superiority over others. Instead, it’s a discussion room where all ideas are welcomed and discussed with others.
• Build on Others Idea: Often, an idea triggers another person who aids in coming with bigger and better ideas than others. It’s a group discussion which leads to out of box thinking and fantastic ideas.
• Getting of Topic: Its several times seen in a brainstorming session discussion soon turns into a debate and goes off the track. As a facilitator, it’s his/her duty to ensure the discussion is on the subject.
• Participants Feel Disempowered: When a discussion turns into a criticism often, participants feel disempowered. They feel discouraged and feel demotivated to speak up next time.
• Allow One Conversation at a Time: Its always seen in an organization to prove his/her supremacy individuals speak up to bring others down. Therefore to show respect to everyone’s ideas, let one person speak at a time. Later discuss, make adjustments, and come up with better ideas.

Scheduling Successful Brainstorming Session

For many individuals brainstorming is unrealistic and has gained a bad reputation as often times it generates humdrum ideas and gets higher officials to dominate discussions. But here are some ways for scheduling a successful brainstorming session.

• Do You Really Need a Brainstorming Session: Ask yourself, are you ready for new ideas? Brainstorming is the best way to make your team feel engaged in the process.
• Write Down Topics and Goals: For better results and ideas beforehand, discuss the topic and goal with your team and note everything you do before, during, and after the session should refer back to your goals.
• Have a Clarity: Be clear about what you want to achieve and what you are aiming for. If your ideas or goals aren’t concrete, then your brainstorming will be an utter waste.
• Define the Problem: The initial step of a brainstorming session is to define the problem precisely and concisely to your audience. Questions should be prompt and clear. Next is to set boundaries. If you need a broad set of ideas, then you need limited boundaries.
• Pick Up Right Facilitator: The facilitator is solely responsible for the success of the session. He should be dominant and must be capable of keeping the discussion on track. Even they should ensure everyone is participating, and no one dominates discussions.
• Location Matters: Don’t use a busy space because your participants can be disturbed by distractions. Instead, use a silent space and make sure you have writing boards, a system for a presentation, presentation templates, enough chunk of time, or any sort of things to make the place more comfortable.
• PostPone Criticism: Criticism kills new ideas. Healthy criticism can help in sharping or coming with better ideas, but evaluating too much hinders the peers from speaking up. So it’s up to the facilitator to hold it and to make the meeting run smoothly.

Now you know how to schedule a brainstorming session. Brainstorming is an easy task but requires some solid skills. Flexibility and openness are the keys to its success. For a productive result, you need to have a clear goal, skilled participants, concise communication, troubleshooting; if needed, its some of the key to success in your brainstorming session. As a business professional, I never understood how a brainstorming session feels like unless I was in one, Welcoming facilitator, Free speaking environment, encouraging audience, guiding managers. It really helped in polishing my skills. The world after COVID-19 would be different. The brainstorming session could be a tool for businesses to serve every sector of society by analyzing their needs and requirements. So, get ready to achieve higher possibilities by binding your team together and always be open for suggestions, ideas, etc. Learn more about the brainstorming process here at How to Run an Effective Brainstorming Session.