5 Tips for More Productive Brainstorming Sessions

It’s that time again. You need a name for your latest product or you’re trying to come up with an amazing slogan for your next marketing campaign. After doing a whole lot of nothing in front of your computer screen for the better part of the afternoon, you finally realize it’s time to bring in the rest of the team. 

With the whole team together, you can come up with a large set of ideas and pick the best ones from the list. However, brainstorming is a process that easily spirals out of control. For it to be effective, you’ll have to use the right tools, define your issue, and guide it adequately. Here are five tips for more productive brainstorming sessions.

Define your problem clearly and make it actionable

When it comes to brainstorming, just stating your problem clearly is only half the work. An engaging, productive brainstorming session can only be productive if it is directed towards solving the right issue. Yeah, it’s a chore. But take 15 minutes to properly articulate your problem – it will have a huge impact on the productivity of the session.

When discussing the problem your brainstorming meeting is trying to solve, it’s crucial to present it through How and What statements. Rather than asking “Why aren’t our website visitors engaged?”, write: “What can we do to engage them?” or “How can we increase engagement?”. Answering “What” and “How” questions is actionable – the first lets you understand the issue, while the latter determines solutions.

Numbers over value

Resist the urge to stop at the first good idea. While stopping at the first good idea is fine, collecting multiple ideas during the brainstorming session will allow you to look at the problem from different angles. Later, you may be able to expand some of those ideas that weren’t excellent at first, or they may inspire you to find new solutions. 

Hence, you should focus on quantity. Generate as many ideas as possible in a short period. Write down each one that pops up, regardless of how it looks at first. Then classify them, to make it easy to look back at ideas and merge them. 

Use adequate brainstorming tools

A productive brainstorming rests on the right tools. Most professionals use a whiteboard to collect ideas. Whiteboards enable you to quickly capture ideas as they flow from brainstorming attendees in a way that doesn’t exclude any particular structure, and which is clearly visible to everyone in the room.

Even with a basic whiteboard, you can emphasize things in real-time – you can make changes to whatever topic at hand as feedback is provided by your team members. Writing ideas immediately in a way that is visible to everyone lets current ideas become fuel for more ideas. Someone adds an idea, which triggers another idea in someone else, who combines it with another idea on the board, making the third one, and so on.

Limit the time

Most of us are more productive when we need to concentrate on a task for a limited amount of time. This is the key argument behind the Pomodoro Technique, which involves setting a time limit of about 25 minutes and pushing yourself to do only that until the timer buzzes. You can either download the Pomodoro Timer app or use your own phone. Just let the attendees understand that when the timer starts, they have to provide ideas for 25 minutes. When it's over, you can all review the ideas and look if there’s anything to expand upon. 

Make everyone equal

For a brainstorming session to produce results, the hierarchy that determines most organizations should be set aside for a while. All executives and subordinates are equal and every attendee should feel comfortable sharing ideas. If you think combining workers with their supervisors will obstruct the free flow of ideas, you may have to organize separate sessions for persons in different roles. 

However, most small enterprises have small staff levels, so it's likely that everyone within the organization will attend the session. It may be beneficial to invite a couple of colleagues to change the dynamic of the group and break the ice.

If you’re having a hard time coming up with an amazing idea, a brainstorming session can do wonders. When you mix the right crew and right tools with the perfect technique, you will have a great idea at the end of the meeting.