Archimedes may have had his eureka moment in the bathtub, but creative new ideas don’t often come out of nowhere. Instead of waiting for the perfect idea, you can work with a group and use creative brainstorming techniques to come up with new ideas and innovative solutions to problems. Here’s how to cultivate a brainstorming practice to generate ideas for your business.
What is brainstorming?
Brainstorming is a form of collaborative creative thinking that involves generating different ideas through group discussions. You can use brainstorming to solve problems or come up with new concepts. Brainstorming techniques encourage spontaneity in an environment where inhibitions are minimized, allowing team members to propose as many ideas as possible, saving criticism for later. At the end of a brainstorming session, uk email list you or your group of fellow brainstormers can narrow down the ideas to the best ones. The hope is that one idea will spark another, and then another, eventually leading to ideas worth implementing.
Successful entrepreneurs don’t take advantage of other people’s ideas. They innovate, they don’t copy. Use these creativity exercises and brainstorming techniques to get you going and stay going.
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6 popular creative brainstorming techniques
Brainstorming methods are strategies you can use to generate creative ideas. Here are some of the most popular techniques for group brainstorming:
1. Mind mapping
Mind mapping is a form of visual thinking that lets you organize ideas by breaking a central topic into subtopics and then breaking those subtopics down further. This lets you group new ideas by category and refine general ideas into more specific ideas. Start by writing the main idea or question in the center of a blank sheet of paper or board, careers of the future: get ahead in time and invest in one of these 15 great opportunities now then write related ideas in the immediate area, drawing lines connecting the outer words to the central word. Continue the brainstorming process by moving outward and breaking each idea down into smaller related ideas.
For example, you can use this technique to brainstorm ideas for expanding a company’s skin care product offerings. Then surround each of those categories with specific product types (“zinc oxide sunscreen,” “non-greasy sunscreen,” china phone numbers “sunscreen for different skin tones”). Once you’ve completed your mind map, you’ll have a diagram of potential opportunities to expand your product offerings.
2. Reverse Brainstorming
Reverse brainstorming is a problem-solving approach that involves listing all the ways a problem can be made worse rather than solving it. While it may feel strange at first, this method forces participants to imagine all the ways a situation could go wrong, opening up the possibility of developing safeguards against those potential problems. This creative exercise can bring overlooked problems or obstacles to light and help develop precise strategies to overcome them.
3. SWOT analysis
SWOT analysis is a brainstorming method that aims to identify the “strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats” associated with an idea or challenge. When conducting a SWOT analysis, ask your brainstorming team to list all the possible strengths associated with an idea – perhaps it’s an idea for a new product or an overhaul of your company’s organizational structure. Write down all the ideas and do the same with the weaknesses (then the opportunities, then the threats), without analyzing the answers. Once you’ve collected all the answers, you can go through them and see what insights emerged.
4. Brainwriting
This brainstorming technique is exactly what it sounds like: You identify a topic or problem, and each member of the brainstorming session writes down their three best ideas on that topic or problem. Once they’re done, they pass their ideas on to the next person in any direction, and that person develops the three ideas further. Repeat the process as many times as necessary to allow all participants to refine each idea.
The main purpose of this brainstorming method is to remove any inhibitions that might come with saying ideas out loud. It can also be suitable for more introverted people. Brainwriting allows you to think together and see how different minds benefit from each other without requiring participants to discuss their ideas out loud. Limit each round to less than 10 minutes to keep the process moving and minimize overthinking.
5. Rapid Ideation
Rapid Ideation is an anonymous brainstorming method where each person writes down as many of their own ideas as possible on sticky notes. Limit the time for the ideation process and ask everyone to write down the first ideas that come to mind without judging them. Once the timer beeps, collect the notes and organize them on a whiteboard, grouping the ideas by similar themes. This will help you identify trends and outliers. Once all the ideas are categorized, you can discuss them with the group.
6. Starbursting
Write the idea in the middle of a whiteboard, draw a six-sided star around it, and write one of these questions at each point: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? Use the “starbursting” brainstorming method to explore a new idea and identify potential weaknesses and opportunities.
Best Practices for Productive Brainstorming
All effective brainstorming techniques work in a similar way: group members gather in one place and speak up to contribute ideas. Here are some best practices that promote creativity and well-being in a brainstorming session:
- Create a level playing field. When brainstorming, everyone, from interns to management, should be treated equally, regardless of title or rank. Creative ideas can come from anyone, and creating a safe space for free expression will make everyone feel comfortable contributing ideas.
- Encourage the introverts. Make sure everyone, even those who don’t naturally like speaking in a group setting, have the opportunity to share their thoughts in a way that they’re comfortable with. For example, to make the brainstorming session more accessible to introverts, you can have participants write new ideas on sticky notes and then choose a volunteer to read them to.
- Don’t be afraid to suggest crazy ideas too. The brainstorming session is not the time to judge ideas; any idea is acceptable and deserves to be considered. This is the most likely way to develop an ultimately great idea. One fresh idea will spark another, and so on, until finally the last ideas remain that are worth implementing.