Brainstorming your way to Success

Adam Brown 9 years ago

Yesterday afternoon in a sun-lit, graffiti adorned meeting room known as Tracey Island (yes, we know, we spelled it wrong) a disparate band of Zazzlers gathered around a pile of brightly coloured Post-It Notes, magazines, laptops and a whiteboard…just thinking. Some lounged on beanbags, some bounced on gym balls, all of us had a look of deep concentration. We were having the first of three brainstorm meetings scheduled for the day, and the air was thick with creativity.

Brainstorm. Thought shower. Groupthink. Meeting of minds…

Whatever your organisation calls these gatherings; you’ll undoubtedly have been involved in one or two at some point during your professional career.

Brainstorming is defined as: A group problem-solving technique that involves the spontaneous contribution of ideas from an individual or all members of the group. It helps you develop creative solutions to a problem and is particularly useful when you need divergent thinking to break out of stale thinking patterns.

When done well, the collective power of the group’s creativity could be the conduit to something wonderful. Done badly, the brainstorm meeting will quickly descend into chaos, with attendees feeling under pressure to conform and original ideas being crushed by lengthy discussions about whether they’re viable or not.

Good brainstorming takes practice and skill in order to avoid them becoming meaningless time-traps that add little value.

As the saying goes: one person does not make a team, and in order to give our clients the best and most successful strategies possible we need to harness the collective brainpower of the wider Zazzle team; ideally from a number of different departments with a different set of interests, priorities and passions. This ensures our strategies have depth, colour and a range of contrasting angles and avenues to explore.

Therefore, we hold lots and lots (and lots) of brainstorm meetings, and have learned some valuable lessons about the right and wrong way to do it.

The right people for the job

The first and most important consideration for any brainstorm organiser is to decide who is going to attend. Whilst you might be tempted to invite your entire organisation (safety in numbers, right?) I have found that any more than between 6-7 participants becomes difficult to manage and you’ll find yourself in one of two situations; neither of them desirable:

1) He who shouts loudest - One or two people take over the meeting and put forward a couple of perfectly good, but obvious suggestions. The rest of the group (feeling under pressure to perform and conform) spend their time brainstorming around these first couple of ideas, not wanting to be the one to think outside the box and say something ‘crazy’.
2) No one shouts at all – The sheer volume of the group scares everyone into complete silence; no-one wants to be the first to speak so, as meeting organiser, you throw a few ideas into the arena to get things moving. Everyone nods and smiles at you, relieved they no longer have to speak out. The meeting ends.

Think carefully about the topic you’ll be brainstorming and think about the skills and interests of the people you have at your ‘disposal’. However, don’t be tempted to only invite people who have expressed a deep and vested expertise in the subject up for discussion – some of the best ideas come from people with no prior experience in resolving the problem at hand. I would suggest a good mix of knowledgeable and novice is ideal.

Make sure they’re prepared – allow time for the ‘solo-brainstorm’

Research suggests that often the most creative people are introverts, and introverts are often much more creative when they’re allowed to ponder a problem in privacy, free from interruption.

In fact, even extroverts would find it difficult to be summoned into a meeting room with no prior warning, given a problem and have someone demand that they solve it there and then. It’s little wonder that this method usually fails to uncover any new or original ideas as, when put under pressure, our creative brains switch off and we go into auto-pilot – searching for the first and most obvious solution without having the time and thinking space to do anything else.

I always supply brainstorm attendees with a bullet point list of short, succinct information prior to any meeting: At the very least outline the problem, the goal and let people know what will be expected of them. If you want everyone to come armed with at least one great idea ready to share, then tell them this in advance. You’ll usually find that given this opportunity they’ll have loads of good ideas they’ll happily share with the group.

Lay down the ground rules – no fear

The most obvious, but most commonly overlooked rule of any brainstorm is that there is no such thing as a bad idea. If you find yourself chairing a brainstorm meeting then you must live and die by this rule - whatever weird and wonderful, mumbo jumbo ideas spill from your attendees’ mouths you must take note of them, smile encouragingly and wait for someone else to take that image and build on it. Trust me, it will happen.

Everybody has an in-built fear of being ‘wrong’ and this fear is one of the primary hurdles to us consistently performing at our creative best. But here’s a fact: There is no wrong and right when it comes to creativity.

At the start of each and every brainstorm, remind people that the meeting room you have gathered in is a ‘safe’ zone. Free from ridicule, mistakes and errors. What happens in Tracey Island stays in Tracey Island. Each and every idea provided is a valuable one – and the more ideas the better. This is a numbers game.

It’s also important to remember that absolutely no one will be allowed to discuss the viability of any ideas put forward during the session – this isn’t the forum for this. At the time of the brainstorm, every idea is completely possible at this stage.

Filter your ideas - Utilise data

As a creative ‘luvvy’ type, you might think that data is not for you. Too complicated, too organised and very likely to stifle your demiurgic mo-jo. I certainly did once upon a time.

However, you must learn to love data and make it your friend as without it you run the risk of completely going off on a tangent, mistakenly believing that an article about rainbows and butterflies is completely suitable for a client selling security alarms (I exaggerate of course!)

Some data should be shared with your meeting delegates prior to the brainstorm (see section: make sure they’re prepared) – but avoid overloading them with ‘facts’ that could cloud and stifle their innovation. Using these ‘facts’ to filter through the ideas post-meeting is your job.

Data lies at the heart of everything we do at Zazzle Media, but there is a fine balance to be had. I’m a firm believer that creativity must be nurtured and cultivated away from the constraints of spreadsheets and algorithms, but how do you know whether the suggestions you’re putting forward will work? What’s the goal? Will they solve the problem? Will anyone else like them? What’s the measure of success?

Creativity won’t give you these answers; data will.

Don’t be afraid of silences

Silences in a group setting can be incredibly uncomfortable, but are an essential part of the creative process.

A moment or two of quiet gives people valuable thinking time; for example, how many times has a great idea come to you while you’re in the shower, driving, or lying quietly in bed? Allowing yourself a moment or two of unspeaking calm, away from distraction, seems to unlock an artistic part of your brain that would be unobtainable otherwise.

You’ll find that periods of silence are usually followed by great eruptions of conversation. Don’t fear them.

Have a deadline & wrap up on a positive

Every brainstorm should have a time limit and you must be mindful of sticking to it as much as possible. I would suggest half an hour is an ideal time limit – unless by this time the team are still quick-firing suggestions, in which case extend the meeting by 5-10 minutes.

If there is still more to say, you need more ideas, or feel there are still unexplored avenues, then hold a second (more focussed) meeting at a later date.

Learn for next time

Every day is a school day, and brainstorm meetings offer the ideal learning ground. Who performed well and who seemed intimidated? What brainstorm method worked best? Did people appear more energised when they were standing or sitting? Do afternoons work better than mornings?

Don’t be afraid to test different methods and groups of people to establish what works best for you and your organisation.