A Simple, but Unusual, Tip to Improve Brainstorming

We all have times in our business where we need to come-up with a creative solution to a challenge. Sometimes the challenge is about solving a problem like a specific customer's request. Other times it is a big strategic problem about changing the direction of the entire company.

When we face these challenges it can often be helpful to get new ideas from several different people. This process is usually referred to as brainstorming. There are a number of ways to brainstorm effectively that you may have already seen. Many of these techniques are listed at the bottom of this blog post.

There is a method of soliciting input that I have found to be very helpful that is not in the typical brainstorm articles. That method is to ask people not to just state an idea, but to ask "what-if we considered such-and-such an idea?".

By stating the idea as a what-if question, no one has to take ownership of the idea. The reason this approach is important is that the idea is no longer Bob or Sue's idea, even subconsciously. Owning the idea creates more risk of looking silly, or worse, to co-workers or the boss.

By not taking ownership at this stage people are more likely to share ideas that may traditionally sound silly or weird. Of course, silly sounding ideas are exactly what we are looking for during the early phases of a brainstorming session. The what-if tool is particularly effective for informal brainstorming sessions like the ones I typically see in smaller companies.

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For your reference, here is a list of common brainstorming techniques:

• Set a time to meet and have a time limit

• Start with an objective like a problem statement or a goal

• Defer judgement or criticism, including non-verbal

• Use stickies / Post-It notes to collect ideas

• Encourage weird, wacky, and wild ideas

• Aim for quantity over quality

• Encourage participation

• Recognize that wide ranges of levels like the boss's boss - or even the boss - can reduce input

• Be aware of dominant personalities limiting participation - either intentionally or not

• Ask lots of questions before asking for ideas

• Ask for written solo idea creation from everyone before meeting

• After the initial idea creation stage, move to a criticism and debate format

• Have a good facilitator guide the process and participate