Brainstorming is by no means a new concept. The idea was originally conceived by Alex Osborn in his amazing and revolutionary book, your creative power.
So what is brainstorming? And how do you brainstorm? Basically brainstorming is a method used to cook up creative solutions to any problem. It’s a more streamlined and really effective method for targeting a specific problem.
Thinking of starting a vlog or any other such creative projects, brainstorming can prove to be a priceless tool in this regard.
How To Brainstorm:
Due to the immense popularity of this concept, you’ve probably heard it before and maybe even tried it, however, to achieve the best results there are some steps that you need to follow.
Rules of brainstorming:
Before we discuss the different methods to enhance the effectiveness of your sessions, you need to understand that in brainstorming sessions, there are certain rules that you need to be obeyed:
Your focus should be quantity:
One of the biggest reasons that brainstorming is such a success is the fact that you focus on quantity, not quality.
Now you may be thinking that, shouldn’t it be the opposite way around. However that is not the case, the reason for it being the fact that if you get stuck on one idea then that isn’t going to get you anywhere, you are going to spend the majority of your time trying to transform that one idea into a great one.
Instead, you should try to develop as many ideas as you can, so the chance of getting that one golden idea increases. This is a great way of activating the creative centers of your brain.
No room for negativity:
The second rule “how to brainstorm” is that there shouldn’t be any negative thinking involved in the session. In other words, you should welcome all types of ideas no matter how far-fetched they may seem.
When you remove the unnecessary selection process from your session, not only will the people participating be more free and responsive, the overall quantity of the ideas will also increase resulting in better results.
Sometimes from these seemingly irrational thoughts, stem great ideas that can not only solve your problem but can actually enhance the overall process. You really need to create an atmosphere where everybody feels comfortable and knows that there are no bad ideas.
Use each other’s ideas:
The third rule of “how to brainstorm” really enhances your creativity and helps you produce some amazing results. According to the third rule, you should try to use the ideas floating in the room as a base for a completely new idea.
Interlink your ideas and develop something unique from them. That is the goal of the brainstorming session, to think of creative solutions to your problem.
Promote big thinking behavior:
The last of the 4 main rules is that you should always try to encourage the members of the session to cook up big and large scale ideas. These solutions can be invaluable at times and can greatly help you achieve your goal.
Lastly, you should try to get everyone involved in the session, this ensures maximum creativity, effectiveness, and productivity. Setting rules can also be a priceless resource, ao try to incorporate them into your session. This is one of the best ways to brainstorm.
Ways to Brainstorm effectively:
Now we’ll share some tips and tricks that you can incorporate into your brainstorming session to further increase the productivity and speed of it all:
Try to find word association:
Words association is a great tool to get you started, all you have to do is pick a word and using web-based programs or your thoughts, think of words related to the particular word.
This helps you expand your creative horizons and think of a more imaginative idea. Doing this you can stumble upon some amazing things and words that you can use in the development of your idea.
Method cards:
Method cards are packs of cards, which each one contains a specific method or technique that can be applied to different situations.
Using these different methods you can use them to figure out unique and creative answers to your problems. These types of products can be an amazing way to brainstorm.
You can even make them on your own, each card should be associated with a specific theme or idea, try to integrate that into your thinking process.
Five whys:
The five whys is a pretty basic concept, and a great way to brainstorm. In this technique, all you have to do is to repetitively ask the question “Why?”. This is a great method popularized by Toyota’s very own Taiichi Ohno as its go-to approach for problem-solving.
This technique is used to break down complex problems into smaller and simpler forms. Then targeting these smaller problems we can hopefully get to the root of the problem and find the solution.
Brainwriting:
Brainwriting is a phenomenal idea, albeit slightly slower than brainstorming but in many cases many folds more effective. In this technique, you don’t speak your ideas but instead, write them, the entire session is divided into rounds and the results of each round are announced at the end of each one.
Each idea is anonymous and not tied to any one person. This activity ensures all participants actively take part in the sessions and can be a great way to incorporate introverts into the session. This is one of the most effective ways of brainstorming
Conclusion:
Hope this short guide helps you formulate effective brainstorming ideas and now that you know “how to brainstorm”, you can get the solution for your problem.
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