Why Brainstorming?

The best-known and widely used → team  -based creative problem solving and creative thinking technique is brainstorming. One major reason why brainstorming is useful is that it helps to free us from 'fixed ideas'.

→ Creative Problem Solving 

→ Turn Problems to Opportunities: 6 Tips

Three Parts of the Brainstorming Session

1. Problem identification  → 4 Types of Problems

2. Idea generation  >>>

3. Idea selection and evaluation  >>>

Understanding Right / Left Brain Functions

• The right side of the brain controls your creative, visual, spatial concepts.

• The left side of the brain controls your logical, mathematical judgmental, analytical activities... More

→ Loose-Tight Leadership

Managing the Flow of Ideas

The ideas you want to develop during brainstorming session should flow from the strategies you identify to achieve the objectives.³ The clearer your objective is, the better you will be able to devise strategies to achieve it.

→ Problem Solving Strategies: 4 Levels 

The objective is what you want to achieve. Start all objective statements in the infinitive, and make them measurable, e.g. "to generate at least 20 ideas that could help us to solve the problem" (not "to solve the problem").

The strategy is how you propose to achieve the objective. Start all strategy statements with an active verb, e.g. "invite proposals" or "hold a brainstorming session"... More

Idea Selection and Evaluation

At the end of the idea generation phase of the brainstorming session or ideas campaign, you should choose the ideas you wish to take further. A good brainstorming session can generate a lot of ideas. If you have no means of determining which ideas will best meet your needs, it is all too easy to become overwhelmed by ideas and select none of them, or to choose to implement one of the most obvious but least effective ideas... More

Brainstorming Rules