A few guidelines on a brainstorming session include:
- Make it clear that you are mining for ideas that can improve the area of operation or project that will emerge from the session. It is not to judge their validity or applicability during the meeting.
- Have a facilitator who will not intimidate participants. Staff and team members are less likely to come up with ideas if they know that the President is running the meeting and going to have his/her bias for each area. Careers can be made or lost in such circumstances.
- Creation of a politically neutral environment is important to success. Even having a “mulligan” for the really bad ideas can make people feel at ease and open up.
- Use paper or other neutral means to capture ideas, useful if some participants are unwilling to provide verbal contributions. The “quiet ones” often have great ideas.
- Although overused, the concept of “out of the box” thinking is very important, and even delivering a couple of examples can be a super ice-breaker at the outset.
- As always, set timeframes, goals and a clear agenda for the meeting.
A casual business setting can be the best way to lead others into contributing ideas of great value to an organization. Informal lunches, sporting events, charity and fund raising programs can help cross organizational development; all offer ways for team members from diverse groups to participate. Once you have the forum for your brainstorming session set, set up the meeting. The following agenda provides some guidance. Each of these sessions has to reflect the culture of the organization and ensure the buy-in of attendees.
Derived from Finish What You Start by Michael Cunningham
