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Brainstorming is like many tools that can be used to build great things or to do incredible amounts of damage. (Belt sanders also come to mind…) I’m sure we’ve all been to office brainstorming sessions that went on for an hour or more without generating any actually creative solutions to the situation at hand.

For some reason, people often think that brainstorming doesn’t require any preparation or knowledge to be effective. Change This recently released 10 Guidelines for Effective Brainstorming by Randah Taher, which explains some guidelines for making good use of brainstorming time.

Some of my favorite suggestions include:

• Think and Re-think the Real Issue. People often focus on the surface issue when trying to resolve a problem. Randah gives a great example of a group trying to deal with work that is not intellectually stimulating. They continue to re-phrase the question they are brainstorming around and go from, “In what ways can we occupy our minds while we do a dull task,” all the way to, “In what ways can we engage ourselves [in our work]?” This reframing changes the entire nature of the situation and encourages the group to brainstorm around an issue that generates positive energy.
• Come Prepared. Ask everyone coming to the meeting to have at least two ideas to get the conversation started. I love this idea because it will help you skip over the silence at the beginning of the session. It’s more productive and encourages people to come with the mindset of being a contributor.
• Threaten Yourself. This is the weirdest sounding suggestion, but a completely new one to me. Rendah suggests working on worst-case scenarios and catastrophes (ie, What if we lost our biggest client and had to replace 50% of our revenue overnight?). By generating solutions to this problem, a group can identify useful ways to improve operations in the present.

One of my personal favorite brainstorming tools is called the 5 Whys. It is a great exercise used in the Toyota Production System and Six Sigma. Essentially, the exercise starts with stating the problem as you understand it, then asking Why? until you reach a workable solution. Often this takes up to 5 Whys. I’ll detail this tool more in future post. In the meantime, please leave comments about tools and exercises you have used in brainstorming.