“Regular brainstorming is as critical to an organization as regular exercise is to your health. It creates a responsive, innovative culture”. Tom Kelley
When was the last time you utilized brainstorming to find a solution? Even though you didn’t realize it, you’ve probably used it at least once. People used brainstorming for decades to generate ideas and think outside the box. However, in order for brainstorming to be fully effective, it must be used correctly.
Techniques for Brainstorming:
Having the right tools and techniques at your disposal is essential for an effective brainstorming session. So, are you ready for brainstorming new ideas?
Here are the best brainstorming techniques collated by Coffeemug team to help you get your creative juices flowing:
- Mind Mapping
Trying to catch every idea that floats through the air is part of the process of brainstorming. Mind map is a creative, non-linear diagram that is used to capture that upsurge of concepts so that nothing is missed. The group begins with one idea and then draws lines connecting sub-ideas to the first one. Mind mapping is a visual approach to brainstorming that can be beneficial for those who think visually.
2. Reverse Brainstorming
When you are exploring techniques on how to brainstorm new ideas? Do consider Reverse brainstorming. While the majority of brainstorming techniques encourage members to solve a problem. Participants in reverse brainstorming create a problem. In reverse brainstorming, rather than trying to form solutions to issues, a facilitator asks a question such as “How can we induce this problem?” The answers are then captured and used as a springboard to brainstorm a feasible alternative by working backward through the responses.
3. S.W.O.T. Analysis
SWOT analysis is a brainstorming technique that can be conducted solo or in a group setting to assess a product, person, or business. SWOT is an acronym for:
Strengths: Enables to identify how a product or a business continues to lead and differentiate itself from the competition?
Weaknesses: Helps identify the inadequacies that can harm or adversely affect your product or business?
Opportunities: What opportunities can the company take advantage of?
Threats: illustrates potential drawbacks for both the product and business.
Dedicate sufficient time in each category, and then compile your responses on a SWOT matrix.
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Brainstorming Tools:
You’ll have a lot of ideas after your solo or group brainstorming session. Although it may appear difficult to arrange through these ideas to find the best ones, evaluating them is an integral step, and you can do so using a variety of tools.
Modern brainstorming tools facilitate real-time collaboration. By using templates, you can revise the ideas, rebuild them and can even upload them to OneDrive and use the sharing tools you have there to collaborate with people on any project that requires brainstorming.
1. Excel Templates:
For brainstorming new ideas with tables spreadsheet templates are available online. You can create a new worksheet, jot down your ideas, note the pros and cons, and decide which one is best.
For example, Asana.com has a template called Team brainstorm. This template helps you to annotate and transcribe notes, organize ideas into themes, add context to every idea, etc.
2. Affinity Diagrams
The affinity diagram classifies a large number of ideas based on their natural relationships. It is the structured result of a brainstorming session. It can be used to create, arrange, and consolidate information about a product, method, complex issue, or problem. After you’ve generated some ideas, arrange them into groups based on their affinity or similarity. This strategy of idea generation taps into a team’s creativity and intuition.
3. Six Thinking Hats
Six Thinking Hats is a powerful decision-making tool that can be used to investigate problems from various angles in order to uncover options that might otherwise be neglected. The tool framework is as follows:
White Hat: Introduce the problem’s facts.
Green Hat: Come up with solutions to the problem.
Yellow Hat: Assess the suggestions by listing their advantages.
Black Hat: Assess the suggestions by listing their flaws.
Red Hat: Find out what everyone thinks about the alternatives.
Blue Hat: Summarize the discussion and reach a consensus on the conclusions.
Its basic premise is that so many folks think and reason in different ways depending on their type of personality. This means that an emotionally charged individual may think differently than an analytically charged person, and vice versa.
Coffeemug’s platform is centered on technology and networking and serves as a hub for creative individuals to connect, exchange ideas, and advance their careers and professional development. To know more about how can ‘brainstorming’ be used to generate new ideas visit our website today.
FAQs
Q. How do you make a brainstorm sheet?
A. Brainstorming is an essential process to organize thoughts together into one place. The things you should include in your sheet are:
- Title: Subject of the brainstorm
- Date: Existing date
- Facilitator: Name of the host handling the brainstorming session.
- Participants: The brainstorming guest
- Goals / Issues: List out top goals you are trying to address or the problems you are trying to solve within the session.
- Research: Include the latest web links, research stats, competitor info, etc.
- Suggestions / Ideas: Make a list of all the solutions and feedback you received during the sessions.
Q. Which tools are used to organize brainstorming ideas?
A. Utilizing a good set of tools helps you implement and generate great ideas. The following are a great list of tools to make your brainstorming successful:
- IdeaBoardz
- Google Document
- WiseMappig
- Coggle
- Freeplane
- Mindup
Q. What are the five things to do before brainstorming?
A. Effective brainstorming requires:
- Planning
- Overview of the topic
- A detailed blueprint study
- Knowledgeable problem solver
- A good host.
Q. Do and don’t of brainstorming?
A. Every session comes with rules that need to follow:
The Do’s:
- Appoint a facilitator
- Build on each others idea
- Write and draw
The Don’t:
- Force participation
- Criticize other people’s ideas
- Hold the session in the evening
