“BRING OUT YOUR CREATIVE POWER THROUGH BRAIN STORMING”.  – By MaddaliSwetha

Brainstorming is a group technique to create new ideas. The group takes a specific problem and creates as many ideas as possible in a limited time. 

In a Brainstorming session, we want every group member to speak out all ideas that come to his/her mind, no criticism is allowed, and the wilder an idea the better.

The main purpose of a brainstorming session is to work as a group to define a problem and find a plan of action to solve it.

HOW TO CONDUCT BRAINSTORMING SESSION

Gathering a group of people in a room for an effective brainstorming session is a wonderful way of generating new ideas.  Some people might throw various ideas out. In my opinion, leading a brainstorming session takes some practice, but if you follow some certain rules that make easy and very effective.

FOUR BASIC RULES

1. No criticism is allowed during brainstorming. (Evaluation of ideas after the brainstorming)

2. Quantity is important. The more ideas the better. (Don’t worry about speaking out only “good” ideas.)

3. Wildness is good. Crazy ideas are welcome. (Many times the craziest ideas turn out to be the best ones)

4. Combining other ideas and taking another person’s ideas a step further or using them for yet another idea is good.

Hence,

Brainstorming session lasts between 30 minutes and 1 hour. At last few minutes groups members are given feedback form or oral feedback is also encouraged to get finish the given topic.

WHY IS BRAINSTORMING EFFECTIVE?

1. It is fun.

2. It encourages creativity and discourages criticism during the idea finding phase. The evaluation of ideas is separated from the creation.

3. Ideas by one group member are used by other group members to come up with more ideas (associations).

FOLLOWING ARE THE STEPS OF BRAIN STORMING:

1. Clearly define the topic for your brainstorming session.

2. Ensure people come with a creative mindset.

3. Limit the brainstorming session.

4. Introduce the brainstorming session and lay out the ground rules.

5. Take visual notes.

6. Encourage participation by positive feedback and speed.

7. Have fun.

8. Final feedback.

In Brief,

1. CLEARLY DEFINE THE TOPIC FOR YOUR BRAINSTORMING SESSION:

 The topic should be clearly defined so that everyone is on the same page. If you want, you can send out a meeting request with the topic ahead of time and ask people to prepare some ideas in advance.

2. ENSURE PEOPLE COME WITH A CREATIVE MINDSET:

Brainstorming sessions are usually a time-out from our normal day to day problem solving and solution seeking. In order to get the most out of the session you want to make sure that the participants brains are in the right “mode”.

3. LIMIT THE BRAINSTORMING SESSION:

The ideal size for a brainstorming group is 5-7 people. It is a small enough group for you as a facilitator to write down all the ideas that are being generated, but it is still large enough for there to be plenty of energy in the room. Limit the brainstorming session to 15 minutes.

4. INTRODUCE THE BRAINSTORMING SESSION AND LAY OUT THE GROUND RULES:

 When you start the session you should announce to the group that it is a brainstorming session and you should lay out the ground rules.

5. TAKE VISUAL NOTES:

You can also invite the group to add ideas on black board or notes and stick on the board, or clips from magazines.

6. ENCOURAGE PARTICIPATION BY POSITIVE FEEDBACK AND SPEED:

Engage with the group, have eye-contact and use your entire body to provide positive feedback and a high level of energy in the room. Also make sure to keep up the pace of the brainstorming session. Speed is good for brainstorming, it lowers people’s barriers to share their ideas and it keeps the energy high.

7. HAVE FUN:

 Remember that brainstorming should be fun! There shouldn't be any criticism or rolling of eyes. If someone says something, just repeat the ground rule again and keep going.

8. FINAL FEEDBACK:

Make sure to thank everyone for their input and share the longer term results of the brainstorming session so that everyone feels that their participation was valuable. If you follow these steps you will be sure to get more value out of your brainstorming sessions.

Hence, In a Brainstorming session, we want every group member to speak out all ideas that come to his/her mind, no criticism is allowed, and the wilder an idea the better.

In short,

A most popular and effective technique developing creative solutions to problem. Brain storming is often used in business setting to encourage team to come up with original ideas and it is a free-whelming in meeting formalities which the leader sets as a problem need to be solved. Participates themselves suggest ideas for solving a problem and build an ideas suggested by others. But it should be noted that no ideas is not to be discouraged and must tackle creatively. 

Where it can be used:

1. Generating Marketing Ideas.
2. Establishing new business.
3. Product innovation.
4. When Merge with other company.
5. Employees training.
6. Creative nature in new technology.
7. Performance of employees and so on...

sources:
Master of Business Adminstration(MBA) notes