How Does Your Team Brainstorm?
Traditionally, brainstorming involves gathering everybody up together to throw out ideas without any editing or criticizing. However, there are some reasons this may not be the most effective way for your team to brainstorm and come up with creative solutions to your problems. First, initial ideas cause multiple people to go down that path and stop coming up with original ideas. Another reason is that everyone processes ideas in their own way. You may be missing out on great ideas from someone who is uncomfortable with sharing unformed ideas without a chance to think about them first.
Why not start out letting individuals think about solutions on their own first before they brainstorm with everyone else. This prevents anyone being overly influenced by someone else’s direction. Confirm the problem and solution you are seeking is clearly defined and understood.
Again, everyone processes ideas differently
Some team members immediately see the negative view of the ideas – don’t be annoyed with them. I’m not talking about the naysayers that don’t embrace any ideas that require them to change. I’m talking about people who have the ability to brainstorm by visualizing the process and the end game. As a result, their thought process helps identify what needs to be tweaked to avoid problems. You will have others that are so positive about everything and just want to get finished.They miss something that will cost time and money if it is not resolved or rejected.
With so many different viewpoints and different ways of processing ideas, how can you brainstorm productively?
Here’s a few tips to try at your next brainstorming session:
- Provide information ahead of the meeting so that your thoughtful, methodical people have time to think it through
- Make the discussion safe for people to take risks without derision
- Encourage drawing, verbal, and written ideas to engage different parts of the brain and make ideas more clearly understood
- Consider ideas before discarding
- Discuss a variety of ideas before they start to converge and concentrate on specific solutions.
Always hire the best!
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Genesis Background Screening is not a law firm and provides our blogs for informational purposes only. Therefore, the blog is not a substitute for experienced legal advice. Research any laws or regulations mentioned here, check with your legal counsel if you have questions and to confirm your organization is within the law regarding compliance.
Jacqueline McClure, Genesis Background Screening Services
