5 Strategies for a Successful Brainstorm
Brainstorms are plentiful in the business sector. Done right, a brainstorm can deliver brilliant end results.
How many times, however, have you attended a brainstorm where all the participants stared at each other blankly in silence? On the other end of the scale are brainstorms during which too much is happening.
Either of these is counter-productive and won’t lead to good business results. Here are five strategies to consider for your next brainstorm to increase the chances of it being successful.
Keep the group small
In some companies, the trend is to include as many people as possible in brainstorms. This tends to hinder instead of help progress though. If there are too many attendees, you run the risk of the group splitting in two, and having two meetings in one. Everyone starts to talk over each other and cacophony ensues.
If you stick to three to five key players for your brainstorm, it will be much more productive. Don’t fixate on job titles when compiling the attendee list – rather look at who has the best knowledge and experience to help solve the problem at hand.
Ask all participants to brainstorm before the meeting
To kick off your brainstorm with a bang, as opposed to silence, ask your employees to mull over the challenge to be tackled before the meeting. That way everyone will come to the brainstorm in the right frame of mind and a few ideas in hand. You can list everyone’s thoughts at the start of the brainstorm, which will prevent attendees from becoming fixated on one concept. Instead of stalling, the brainstorm will keep on moving.
Meet in a different environment
A change of scenery can do wonders for a brainstorm – a fresh environment can get everyone thinking differently. Ideally you’d like to take your team to a venue outside of the office. If you don’t have a lot of time to organise logistics yourself, have a look at Cape Town conference venues that are available. This type of institution will do most of the work for you once you’ve given them basic details about what type of meeting you’d like to run. You could also look at wine farms or restaurants or art centres if you want a creative environment.
Be specific about the problem
While you don’t want to stifle a brainstorm by being too particular about the desired outcome, it is helpful to be clear about what is required. So instead of saying “we need new packaging”, pose the problem as “we need packaging that is light yet durable and easy to carry”. That gives attendees parameters to work within, which makes a successful brainstorm more likely.
Think like a customerYou have to supply what your customers are demanding in a way that will entice them and make sense for them in their world. Therefore you have to think like a customer. You can go beyond just putting your target market’s demographics to the brainstorming team – bring products to the brainstorm; let attendees use the product and experience it for themselves. If there is no product, take something similar or role-play situations.
If you find that your brainstorms are still getting stuck, despite all of these pointers, start your next one with creative exercises to get things going. This type of exercise not only breaks the ice, it also gets people thinking and talking in ways that are conducive to problem solving – exactly what you need in a brainstorm.
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