Brainstorming
In the old days when I first started in the business world, new ideas were usually the province of some product development group or even the boss. In the last decade or so businesses have recognized that good ideas can come from a wide variety of sources, if you let them.
This requires creating an open atmosphere at your business where anyone can make these inputs. You never know where that next great idea is going to come from.
One technique used by progressive businesses is called brainstorming.
Here the basic principle is to obtain lots of ideas from lots of people in a group. It is best to have a facilitator who records the ideas for all to see. It is important to have an open, free-flowing environment where the emphasis is on the quantity ideas and not worry too much about the quality. The more off-the-wall ideas, the better.
The facilitator records the ideas on a large sheet of butcher paper or a flip chart. It is important to record these ideas exactly as the person suggests them. Don’t reword for improvements in grammar or add the facilitator’s spin on the idea. This sets the tone of the brainstorming session that all ideas are treated equal and are worthy. Clarity is important and the person is given ample opportunity to describe his idea.
With this free flowing atmosphere, many ideas are created. There are no dumb suggestions.
Before brainstorming, whenever someone would make a suggestion, it was par for the course to counter with why the idea wouldn’t work. It was the half-empty glass syndrome and negative discussions ensued. Not only does this squelch developing the idea that was suggested, but it prevented people from presenting further ideas. If somebody is going to criticize your idea, why bother. We’ll just keep doing it the same old way. Improvement-forget it.
You should try to develop 15 to 20 ideas on any topic. Then you vote on them.
A proven way to vote is to give everyone say, five votes. They can vote one vote for five topics, or five votes for one topic, or any other combination. Obviously, you then tally the votes. The brilliance of this system is in its simplicity. Several topics will receive the most votes but the real advantage is that the truly dumb ideas are not shot down. They just don’t get any votes. It’s not personal, and in fact, most of the time, you don’t even remember who suggested the “dumb” idea.
The atmosphere is supportive and creative. People recognize this and they participate.
One of the first questions I like to deal with when ever I do a brainstorming session is to determine what the real problem is. I don’t much like developing a great solution to the wrong problem. If you’re a business owner or the boss, one question you might ask is “What’s the major problem around here?” or “What most needs improvement?” You might be surprised at the answers. Once you have worked on the problem, you can brainstorm some solutions. Usually determining solutions is easier that determining problems.
Who can participate in a brainstorming session? It’s important to get a wide range of people for your brainstorming session. Certainly your employees are needed but also customers, venders, advisors, lenders and even someone who knows nothing about your business will be useful.
So, add brainstorming to your business toolkit. I have used it and I know it works.
This article was written by Seattle SCORE Chapter member Fred Parkinson for the Kitsap Sun in Bremerton.