Every one of us has experienced a period in their lives or work where the solution to a problem just wasn’t there. Luckily, brainstorming comes to save the day. This method encourages people to come up with thoughts and ideas that can, at first, seem radical, but help people unstuck by making them think out of the box.
1. Brain Writing
This technique separates idea generation from the discussion. The team leader shares the topic with the team, and then the team members individually write down their ideas. This makes sure that everyone contributes to brainstorming. It also gives everyone more time to think over their ideas, which can be helpful for introverted participants.
2. Role-Playing
Think about how someone like you admire might handle the situation. Putting yourself in the shoes of someone else can give the team a different perspective, helping them see the possibilities from fresh ideas.
3. Online Brainstorming
In these times, virtual teams are very important for work. The same goes for brainstorming, as virtual teams are becoming more and more common. With email and collaboration tools, teams can work remotely. However, it can become difficult to archive ideas for future reference. For this reason, creating a central location online where team members can collaborate is crucial.
4. Rapid Ideation
Using this technique, the team leader provides the context, while team members have a time limit to write down as many thoughts or ideas around the topic as possible. Time limitations can help generate ideas quickly, as people do not have the time to filter their response.
5. Round Robin Brainstorming
In this technique, teams form a circle. When the topic is shared, it goes around the circle one-by-one and each person offers an idea until everyone has had a turn.
6. Stepladder Technique
The session starts with the facilitator sharing the topic. After that, everyone leaves the room except from two members of the team. These two members have a meeting discussing the topic. Then, one additional member is added to the group. This new member will contribute theirs before the other two discuss theirs. Repeat this process until everyone from the original group is in the room.
7. Mind Mapping
This method starts by writing down the team’s goal, and participants are asked to think of related issues. Layer by layer, more content is being added to the map so that the team visually see how a specific problem is contributing to other issues within work. In essence, teams are drawing a picture of the relationships among and between ideas.
8. “What If” Brainstorming
What if this problem took place 100 years ago? Could it be solved, and how? What if a superhero was facing this problem? If the problem was 50 times worse or easier, how the team would solve it These “what if” scenarios can greatly promote creative thinking.
