Brainstorming is a great way to come up with new ideas and work collaboratively to improve the business. Working together and getting different ideas can be difficult if you have a room full of people who want their opinions heard. We’ve collated these tips to help you brainstorm effectively and productively.
- Defer Judgement
Make sure you are providing people with a safe and supportive space to say their ideas. Telling people your new ideas can be intimidating and scary so providing a safe space will help encourage people to speak up and share their ideas.
- Encourage Wild Ideas
Encourage people to share their wacky and unique ideas. Nothing should be too silly or too extreme, this is a brainstorming space, not the final ideas. These wacky ideas can often lead to the best results or spark other people’s ideas and thoughts. Thinking out of the box can also help you get ahead of competitors.
- Build on ideas of others
It’s important to listen to others people’s ideas and how these can be expanded on, improved or streamlined. Building on other people’s ideas can also help keep positivity in the brainstorming session and will encourage a collaborative work approach. You will be building ideas together instead of just throwing loads of different opinions out there with no substance.
- Stay focused
Stay focused on the overall goal of the meeting. What do you want to get out of it? Try to avoid going off on a tangent as much as possible, this will minimise the risk of the session running on and going away from the purpose of the meeting. You don’t want people to think it’s a waste of time and irrelevant.
- One person talking at a time
Make sure you’re in control of the meeting and allow one person to talk at a time. It can be overwhelming and unproductive if loads of people are talking at once. It’s also important to make sure that everyone’s voice is being heard, you don’t want to miss out on good ideas because someone can’t get their opinion in.
- Visual brainstorming
Using visuals can be a great way to envision ideas and concepts. This is especially beneficial in a creative brainstorming session. It can sometimes be hard to explain your ideas and get people to imagine what you’re thinking, so being visual can help communicate and show your ideas.
These tips can be great to pass on to your colleagues or employees to show how you can maximise brainstorming sessions. Get hired now and take these tips to your next role! Browse and apply for jobs at s1jobs.