Perhaps you were there. (A lot of you were.) It was one of the most popular (and loudest) sessions at Casual Connect Seattle in July. Well, in case you missed it, we thought we would share some notes from that session—both to enlighten you and to let you know about the kind of fun and learning you miss out on when you blow off a Casual Connect conference. We won’t, however, attempt to explain that shirt David was wearing. For that you had to be there. . . .
Purposes of the Session
- To come up with LOTS of great ideas and feedback about how to effectively inspire group creative thinking.
- To generate new ideas through collaboration.
Cleverly Hidden Brainstorming Lesson #1 – Set your goals and rules clearly at the start, and re-enforce them throughout the discussion to make sure you get what you want out of the session.
For this session, I wore a remarkable shirt—a baggy black affair, with gold brocade and tassels, handmade by a wonderful woman in Rivne in the Ukraine. We discussed it briefly. I invited the group to tell me what they liked about it. I invited them to tell me what they didn’t like about it. (As you might have guessed, they became more animated during the second part of the discussion.) The details of what they said are entirely beside the point:
Cleverly Hidden Brainstorming Lesson #2 – For best results, always warm up your group before attempting an intense brainstorm to get people in the mood. Pick something easy, subjective, with good possibility for non-threatening difference of opinion. Kind of like stretching before you work out, this will help your more serious or difficult topics go more smoothly.
Topic #1 – Creating Consistent Creativity
Within the Office
- Allow expression through personalization/decoration of the office space. (Nerf rocket launchers, especially those of the USB variety, are particularly useful.)
- Have a space customized for brainstorming.
- Provide lots of colored markers and white boards—and use them.
- Sponsor an Employee Show & Tell to encourage people to share and become comfortable with each other.
- Play games to develop deep knowledge of your topic and to stimulate broad-range creativity.
- Play games as icebreakers and as creative thinking exercises. For example, you can use regular board-gaming sessions as opportunities for creative conversation
Within a Brainstorming Session
- Leave the office. Go somewhere else (outdoors maybe?).
- Encourage a supportive, positive tone to people’s interactions.
- Let people be goofy/random.
- Sit at a round table—both as a symbol of equality and to ensure there are no power seats.
- Alcohol always helps.
- Trust comes before creativity. Your people must trust each other or be severely punished (kidding about that last part).
- Use a mind-mapping board or software—with lots of sticky notes—to encourage non-linear thinking.
- Fill the place with props, toys, music, books—a variety of fun and interesting stuff to encourage creativity all the time.
- Involve the whole company. That may be kind of hard at Microsoft, but the point is that people from different walks of life bring diverse perspectives to a problem.
- Invite random participants. Mixing up the pool creates dramatically different results.
- Encourage physical movement (to shake up thinking and look at the problem from different perspectives).
Cleverly Hidden Brainstorming Lesson #3 – Start with easier topics and move to harder ones. It’s natural to be sort of sluggish and self-conscious at the start of these sessions. Non-personal, more general topics are easier to start with than more personal, contentious, or specific problems.
Topic #2 – Mistakes and Horrors – Things That Suck
- Individuals who dominate the conversation
- Shooting down ideas mid-brainstorming
- Rooms that are too hot or too cold
- Sidetracking, going off on a tangent, or rat-holing
- Taking things too personally
- Not involving key decision makers
- Not taking notes
- The phrase “Yeah, but”
- Over-refining during idea generation
- Trying to brainstorm a topic that is too narrow (“the color of this button”) or overly broad (“new game ideas”)
- Ignoring the quiet people
- High-level intimidation
- Low blood sugar
- Sessions that are too long
- Too many yes-men
- Early morning and late-day meetings
- Being afraid of your boss
- Deadline distractions
Cleverly Hidden Brainstorming Lesson #4 – Most people are more comfortable saying what something is not than what something is. Sometimes it is useful to brainstorm a “negative” topic, talking about the opposite of what you’re actually trying to achieve in order to put your audience more at ease. (Think about it this way: There is little personal risk involved when the assignment is to contribute ideas that suck. What’s the worst that can happen? you come up with an idea along the way that everybody loves?) People rarely look down on you for coming up with ideas that don’t suck enough. What’s more, it seems that most of the good ideas are inspired by bad ones.
Topic #3 – Brainstorming Formats, Platforms, and Structures
Guidelines for maximizing session effectiveness:
- Have a moderator.
- Have a dedicated note-taker.
- Prepare ahead of time (moderator and participants).
- Impose the “No Shouting” rule.
- Enforce the idea of “equality” among participants.
- Keep groups small—maybe 10 people or fewer?
- Brainstorm often to keep people “in the mode.”
- Go “shields down”—no laptops, no cell phones, no Gameboys, etc.
Techniques and Tools to improve and capture output:
- Provide plenty of materials for prolific note-taking (whiteboard, paper, flipcharts, digital camera, etc.).
- Use mind-mapping software. (BrainMine, FreeMind, and HeadCase all have received high marks on Download.com.)
- Divide into smaller “micro groups” for certain topics.
- Have several different locations to mix up the “feel.”
- Play games to help broaden thinking and encourage participation (”Word Association,” “Spitballing,” “Ideaball,” “Pass the Mike,” etc.)
- Fill the room with props!
Cleverly Hidden Brainstorming Lesson #5 – Since this is a creative process, it thrives on new perspectives. Think as much about how, when, and where you do your brainstorming as you do about what you brainstorm about. Habitual behavior is an enemy of creativity.
Topic #4 – Preparing Participants
- Hire good creative people to begin with.
- Provide initial ideas, goals, and rules ahead of time.
- Assign preparatory homework.
- Send reminders.
- Pre-populate the white board (with agenda, rules, topics) to make the session more efficient.
- Take time to clear your mind before starting. Step away from your desk, leave your cell phone behind, take 15 minutes before the meeting to relax, write some notes, and get ready to address the topics.
- Always summarize and follow up with results and action items.
Cleverly Hidden Brainstorming Lesson #6 – It is the moderator’s responsibility to prepare for brainstorming—including preparing the participants—but it takes time and effort to do so! At the same time, managers should make sure support the moderator’s efforts by giving involved staff the time and mandate to prepare and participate. Unless managers consistently signal that brainstorming is a priority, the quality of your sessions will suffer.
Topic #5 – Effective, Inspiring Moderation
- Wear a controversial shirt (it always works for me!).
- Be high energy and enthusiastic.
- Be positive.
- Stay neutral (meaning focus on encouraging participation, not participating).
- Keep the discussion on topic.
- Enforce the rules.
- Have a sense of humor.
- Quell personal attacks quickly.
- Make sure everyone is heard.
- Improvise questions to answer.
- Stay aware of group dynamics.
- Keep the discussion moving.
- Give credit.
- Be respectful.
- Be adept at subtly manipulating the participants (as a guide, rather than a policeman).
- Help make the abstract more concrete, providing inspiring, specific examples of an abstract concept when necessary.
- Break up fights.
- Be knowledgeable about the topic and goals.
- Translate and paraphrase to keep participants in sync.
- Know when to stop.
Cleverly Hidden Brainstorming Lesson #7 – A really good moderator dramatically improves the effectiveness of these kinds of conversations. Having an expert in your organization who cares about the process of creativity can work wonders, even if that person has a different “day job.” That person should be a naturally good moderator who can train and be an example to others of how to fill this important role.
Topic #6 – Keeping It Interesting
- Warm up.
- Make a game of it.
- Keep it moving by using time limits throughout.
- Randomize topics.
- Change physical dynamics.
- Take breaks if the meeting is long.
- Don’t sit.
- Vary participants.
- Employ a good moderator.
- Build on ideas.
- Ask for bad ideas.
- Keep answers brief.
- Alcohol helps (did I mention that already?).
Cleverly Hidden Brainstorming Lesson #8 – Brainstorming can be effective and fun. It works best when you do it a lot, but even a too large, unprepped group of relative strangers can have a great time being creative together!
