How To Use Brainstorming To Solve Problems
Brainstorming is great for coming up with solutions and bringing new ideas; but they can quickly get out of hand if sessions are left unstructured. The following tips will help keep your problem-solving sessions on target.
- State the exact nature of the problem.
- Determine what needs to happen during the session for it to be successful.
- Set a time limit and allow 5 minutes for an introduction and 10 minutes for a summary.
- Ask each participant to present at least 2 ideas.
- Ban criticism of ideas.
- Encourage free-wheeling and combining or improving on ideas.
- Assign people to follow up on their ideas if necessary.
- Announce how the results of the brainstorming session will be used.
- Communicate the results of the session to others if appropriate.
It’s important to remember that the end results of a brainstorming session should be a large quantity of diverse ideas. No one person should be allowed to dominate the meeting. By encouraging everyone to participate, you will likely come up with new and better solutions to your companys’ challenges.
