Generating innovative and creative solutions to critical problems is highly significant for businesses to eliminate obstacles and bottlenecks.
All of the employees, along with managers and leaders, should be part of this process and work toward this goal to come up with the most inventive and creative ways to move their company one step further.
While there are many ways for a company to achieve this aim and overcome bottlenecks, not every alternative allows everyone to be a part of the process efficiently.
Brainstorming, a prominent problem-solving technique, presents a suitable way of generating effective solutions to problems by taking everyone’s views and opinions into account and enables businesses to find the most creative resolution possible.
What is Brainstorming?
Brainstorming is a collaborative and dynamic problem-solving technique used by teams to generate creative and innovative solutions to problems.
The term was coined by an advertising executive named Alex F. Osborn in 1938 and became widespread after his book “Applied Imagination” was published in 1953.
It is a process that encourages the participation of every team member, leveraging diverse perspectives and views within the group to spark unique and inspiring ideas.
During the brainstorming process, team members present their ideas and views on the subject matter using a certain method and everyone in the group builds on each other’s ideas.
In this way brainstorming, breaking down the barriers of traditional thinking, allows groups to explore different thoughts and opinions, and come up with a proper solution through collective efforts.
Benefits of Brainstorming
Brainstorming is not conducted through merely a routine gathering with an unclear goal; it is a cornerstone of strategic planning within any proactive organization with a crystal-clear purpose.
This technique offers numerous benefits that extend beyond the simple generation of ideas, touching every aspect of organizational health in addition to boosting overall efficiency and increasing productivity.
Enhanced Creativity and Innovation
As every opinion is valued and considered important during the process, brainstorming both allows and encourages participants to think more freely.
Team members, having the chance to think outside the box, can easily go beyond their imagination and express their “extraordinary” opinions which can get even more “extraordinary” with others building on these ideas.
As a result, everyone can get more creative and innovative with their opinions, while they can also get creative with other team members’ opinions as well.
In addition, since generating as many ideas as possible is highly significant in brainstorming, team members are encouraged to think and express various ideas – which also triggers creativity and innovation in digital collaboration.
In the end, this situation results in a richer pool of ideas, and it becomes possible to overcome challenges and seize new opportunities.
Increased Motivation
In compliance with the nature of brainstorming, team members are always listened to carefully, and their ideas are always taken into account during the sessions.
While this motivates them to generate more ideas and actively take part in the session, it also boosts their self-confidence as they believe more in their opinions and perspectives.
Since a brainstorming session is a great way to create a sense of belonging among the group, team members are also motivated to be a part of this environment to create something together through joint work.
Improved Collaboration & Teamwork
Through the instrument of brainstorming sessions, employees are creating a bond in an encouraging environment by working together collectively toward the same goal.
Team members, commit themselves to one shared goal, help each other out with their opinions, trigger new ideas, and inspire one another – which helps to build a sense of community and collaboration.
This engaging and collaborative environment strengthens team bonds which results in improved team dynamics that is highly crucial for long-term organizational success.
Advanced Productivity & Efficiency
Conducting brainstorming sessions is a productive way of eliminating bottlenecks and developing brand-new, unique, and innovative solutions that help a company enhance overall productivity and efficiency.
In addition, brainstorming allows team members to absorb insights and approaches from their colleagues, along with equipping them with enhanced problem-solving skills.
These exchanges among the team members foster personal and professional growth, in addition to helping them have a deeper understanding of their work environment, as a result of which they can become more productive and efficient in their positions at work.
Types of Brainstorming 
Brainstorming can be conducted through various types and methods depending on the team members, the problem, and the nature of the environment.
Let’s take a look at the most prevalent types you can make use of in your sessions:
- Brainwriting: In this method, team members write down their ideas and share them randomly. In this way, everyone in the group can offer feedback on others’ opinions and get feedback on theirs – which helps the group enhance their ideas objectively.
- Rolestorming: As it is clear from the name, this method focuses on putting oneself in another’s place during a brainstorming session. Individuals ask themselves, “What would that person do in this situation?” and try to come up with various solutions through different perspectives.
- Reverse Brainstorming: The brainstorming process changes shape in this method since the participants try to come up with ways of creating the problem discussed in the session by working backward.
- 5 Whys Analysis: Participants ask themselves the question “Why?” several times to have a better understanding of the problem. It becomes easier to discuss various ideas triggered by the repeated questions.
- Starbursting: The questions who, what, where, when, why, and how are written on a starburst to have an in-depth understanding of the main issue of the session.
- Stepladder Brainstorming: Group members are encouraged to think individually in this method as everyone in the group leaves the discussion space except two individuals who discuss their views on the matter, followed by other members who join one by one to share their opinions.
7 Steps to Conducting an Effective Brainstorming Meeting
Businesses make use of brainstorming meetings to generate innovative and creative ideas about their plans or current problems and streamline their workflow.
So, let’s take a look at 7 steps to consider before conducting a brainstorming meeting efficiently.
1. Set a Clear Objective
Brainstorming meetings are likely to fail in producing innovative solutions when conducted without a clear purpose. That is the reason why the first step always consists of setting clear goals for the session.
This specific goal guides the discussion along with ensuring relevance and focus which motivates team members to contribute ideas that align closely with the subject matter.
Sharing this purpose with your participants beforehand is highly important to give them space for thinking individually and getting prepared for the session.
It is also equally significant to have a meeting schedule – which involves the duration and the structure of the meeting.
It is a nice idea to include warm-up activities and icebreakers for online meetings to make your participants feel comfortable before they move on to sharing their opinions.
2. Set Out Your List of Participants
Gathering the right people together makes up an important part of planning the meeting.
To have various perspectives and opinions, it is always a good idea to gather people with different personalities and views. In this way, a broad variety of opinions can be produced during the session.
In addition, having people from different departments is also essential for a company to have overall efficient solutions and ideas about the subject matter of the session.
Moreover, it is possible to foster diverse participation by inviting people from all around the world to carry out the session online.
3. Collect Ideas
It is important to encourage an unrestricted flow of ideas during the meeting, and collecting ideas before the brainstorming meeting is a great way to achieve this aim.
Having conversations with your participants before the session to write down their ideas and opinions about the case is an efficient way to both collect ideas and give inspiration.
In this way, your team members can prepare themselves for the session and anticipate the session to hear the opinions and takes of team members on the subject.
In addition, it is a good way to prioritize quantity to foster a rich pool of concepts that can be refined later for quality.
4. Establish Rules
It is of critical importance to create a safe space where everyone feels safe conveying their opinions and views without having the fear of being harshly criticized.
If the participants do not feel comfortable sharing their opinions, the main objective of brainstorming, which is to generate as many ideas as possible, cannot be accomplished.
To secure your team members a safe and collaborative environment, along with fulfilling the main goal of the process, you must establish some rules for the session.
These rules must indicate that everyone must be included in the process and each idea or opinion must be taken into account.
5. Choose the Proper Type of Brainstorming
In order to conduct your session effectively, you must integrate the brainstorming type that follows the needs of the session and the dynamics of the team.
By choosing the right method, it is possible to keep the meetings alive and productive while continuously fostering innovation and strategic solutions along with enhancing outcomes and efficiency.
6. Find the Right Tool
If you are running your meeting online, it is an obligation to choose the most engaging and collaborative platform in order to successfully conduct your session.
The right platform, with a user-friendly interface design, should simplify the processes of collecting and saving ideas, along with facilitating teamwork, which is a significant part of brainstorming.
OctaMeet, a video conferencing tool by OCTAPULL, offers a proper alternative for businesses to manage their brainstorming meetings with its features that enable collaboration and cooperation.
7. Organize the Ideas
After planning your meeting, gathering your team, collecting ideas beforehand, setting the rules, and choosing the proper brainstorming method and platform, you must organize the ideas and opinions your team members shared during the meeting.
As there are various opinions shared ideally as a result of a brainstorming meeting, these ideas must be prioritized to be turned into actionable forms.
Making use of visualization, such as charts or diagrams, is a proper way of carrying out the prioritization process.
After evaluating the results and organizing these ideas, set an agenda to make the best use of the ideas shared during the session.
You might also ask for feedback from your team members, opinions of whom will guide you in designing your next brainstorming session.
Manage Your Brainstorming Meetings with OctaMeet!
You can run your brainstorming meeting effectively with OctaMeet by throwing ideas back and forth with participants throughout the world.
OctaMeet offers you an engaging, interactive, and productive brainstorming session with its features, such as:
- Screen Sharing: It allows you to share your screen with your participants during the session.
- Real-Time Communication: You can keep in touch with the participants seamlessly before, during, and after meetings with the in-app chat module.
- Interactive Whiteboard: It offers a great brainstorming solution as it presents a shared space where participants can sketch their ideas or visualize insights.
- High-Quality Video and Audio: It is possible to conduct a successful brainstorming meeting and communicate effectively with participants with high-quality video and audio capabilities.
- Document Sharing: It is easy to share your documents, regardless of their forms, with participants from all around the world.
OctaMeet, with its exclusive features, enables you to conduct your brainstorming sessions in a more engaging, efficient, and collaborative way.
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