Five don’ts of a brainstorming session
Today we will be talking about hosting a brainstorming session effectively. We all host or participate in brainstorming sessions in order to explore and exploit ideas to solve problems.
Today I would like to cover five attributes of what not to do during brainstorming sessions.
These five attributes will help you what not to do, thereby you will host or participate in an effective brainstorming session.
ONE – Do not enter without an objective
Make sure you always have an objective conveyed to the participants. You and the participants are aware of the problem that you tackling today. It would be disturbing, if not, catastrophic if you get into a room without the problem statement and objective.
TWO – Do not mix brainstorming and feasibility
Brainstorming is exploiting your brain to generate new ideas. Feasibility is about analysing the rightness of ideas to your needs. Time, cost, and resources are the three characteristics of the feasibility study. Let’s not mix the feasibility study with your brainstorming.
THREE – Do not negate any idea
Yes, whether the idea that has come out as silly, wild, crazy or stupid, welcome it. Welcome the idea into the session. You don’t know which ideas would be a gold mine tomorrow. You should not be labeling an idea as good or bad. Devising a pen with the metal platinum – sounds weird. Yet, do not negate, listen, or make a note. Does your fast-thinking brain immediately say who would devise a pen with platinum which is going to be super costly who would buy it? Welcome silly, wild, crazy or stupid ideas into the session.
FOUR – Do not fall in love with any one particular idea
Especially when you have your boss or a subject matter expert in the room, or a celebrity in the room, you tend to be biased towards the special person’s idea. Let’s not do that. Remember, your objective is to treat each and every idea unbiased.
FIVE- Do not rush to conclusions
Sometimes it so happens that as soon as you start your brainstorming session, in 15 minutes of time, you think you have collected enough ideas and it is time to wind up. But do not do that. Wait until the timeout happens or wait until everybody’s brain is drained out and there are no new ideas coming out. People generate as many ideas as they can when you are open-minded.
I hope you have learnt something new about brainstorming today.
Thanks for reading.