Brainstorming as technique for leading unbiased sessions #EMBA27

We had a wonderful on how to use brainstorming to lead an unbiased session,

Important notes on Brainstorming

• Works best when people are comfortble about voicing their ideas
• Leaders must be scrupulously neutral for this to work
• Ensure there is a blanksheet/board available
• Write down every idea
• Let the team know upfront that no idea is sttupid, and no one is allowed to express any opinions on other’s idea during the session- no ohh or ahh
• With introverts, you can ask them to write down their idea and pass it anonymously
• Encourage people to focus on the objective, not their personal or departmental preferences
• Use probing questions throughout
• Don’t ignore hybrid solutions
• Use the ‘Yes and’ technique

When brainstorming is used for generating ideas

• After ideas are collected, subjected it to an initial vetting process
• Use open ended questions to interrogate the options e.g, ‘How might this achieve our objective/goals?’ Not ‘will this achieve it’
• When you have narrowed down to 4/5 alternatives, subject the options to criteria analysis and choose the most optimal, keeping the next best one in view.

Brainstorming is a very interesting and useful technique in leading unbiased sessions.