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Five tips for effective brainstorming meetings

22nd May 2018
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Five tips for effective brainstorming meetings

When your business or team is looking for ways to solve problems or generate new ideas, do you use the brainstorming technique? Chances are you do, even if you don't realise it. Following the brainstorming technique is the most effective way of coming up with new ideas and solving problems. 

What is brainstorming?

Brainstorming involves encouraging a group of people to suggest spontaneous thoughts, ideas and solutions in an open, informal environment.

Participants are encouraged to come up with as many suggestions as they like. None of these ideas can be criticized, to allow the group to think more freely and creatively. After this initial round, the ideas are explored further.

Here are some tips to help you and your team get the most out of your brainstorming:

1. Remove all limits

This is an essential step to make brainstorming as effective as possible. Encouraging outside-the-box thinking helps members show their creative sides. 

It's important that during the creative part of the session all ideas are welcome and that no one is judged, as criticism restrains creativity.

2. Throw our your preconceptions

Try not to get caught up with the way you think things should be done while you're taking part in a brainstorming sessions.

One way to spark ideas is to forget about coming up with good ideas and encourage bad ones. 

You can start off the session by asking for the worst idea or solution anyone can think of, which can help put the members of the group at ease. You may be surprised at how this reverse brainstorming technique can help trigger ideas that go on to become successful.

3. Aim for group diversity

Very different people will come up with very different ideas. For a successful brainstorming meeting, try to include participants from different disciplines and different personalities.

You may want to include at least one person in the group who wouldn't normally be there – someone from a different department, for instance, as an outsider may well think differently to everyone else in the room.

Encourage everyone in the group to contribute, including those who tend not to speak up very often. 

4. Avoid micromanaging

If you're leading the meeting, try not to control it. Everyone in the meeting should be encouraged to speak and to try new things without being overshadowed or limited by anyone, so try to support your team instead of trying to manage it.

5. Learn from failure

Brainstorming is very effective, but there is no guarantee you'll find the perfect solution or creative idea during the meeting. If this happens, it is a great opportunity to learn. 

Try to work out what happened and why, and ask yourself if anything could have been done to change the outcome of the session. This can help you decide if you need to do anything differently in the future.

Most importantly, do not blame anyone as the cause of a session's failure, as it could discourage the team from making a positive contribution in the future.

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If you're an ICAEW member, ACA student or are a member of their families and require career development support, our extensive range of free career development services can help. Call us on +44 (0) 1788 556 366, email [email protected] or chat to us online.
 

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