How do you go about starting something new? How do you shift from old to new?
Brainstorming is universally recognised as one of the best ways to generate creative ideas. Brainstorming has proven to be a great tool for generating a large number of ideas relatively quickly. The process encourages divergent thinking among group members as they collectively address an issue at hand.
Before detailing how you can use this technique, allow me to share some of the “rules of engagement”:
Here are some guidelines for conducting a successful brainstorming session for the generation of new business ideas:
Although brainstorming is an old concept, it may be new to some of the members of your team. Therefore, provide a practical example of what needs to be addressed, such as: what other uses might our products have? Encourage the group’s creative input and record all the suggestions offered. Allow the team unlimited freedom to use their imagination.
Make sure that the team is fully aware of the objectives you have for the session. In other words, there must be abundant clarity on the problem statement or the issue to solve for. If necessary, after spending time talking about the issue at hand encourage others to state their understanding as to why the session is being held.
Emphasise the importance of this understanding and do not start the brainstorm until you are satisfied that all of you share a common understanding. Remember that people can see the same problem from various perspectives, so it is important to state the focus issue to ensure clarity and unity of purpose.
It is important that all suggestions voiced out are recorded and visible to all. The person appointed to record the suggestions must do so on either a flipchart or whiteboard and never in their own notebook that no one else can see.
Only when you are satisfied that the creativity of the group has been exhausted, which takes anything between 15 and 45 minutes depending on the group, then you can move to the next step. The next step is having the participants identify statements or suggestions that are alike. Compile and record new statements which incorporate these statements and remove the superseded ideas from the list.
When you group your ideas, you will most probably find that they form into three categories:
When you have identified the possible ideas and eliminated the unlikely ones, place the ideas in priority order. The priority order is to be followed by a clearly defined action plan with clearly defined timelines.
Remember, ideas, whether for exploring new markets or any other objective, must be evaluated from the point of view of value and practicality.