7 Techniques for More Effective Brainstorming

Even if it was a good session with solid ideas, the meeting notes (if there are any) will most likely end up lost in an email chain abyss never to be found again.

These are classic examples of brainstorming gone wrong.

When venturing  into the world of brainstorming, keep a few important things in mind.

First, the top priority of brainstorming is quantity over quality. Yes, you read that right: quantity, not quality. Brainstorming is the first step in the exploration phase of a new project, so it's important to be open to all ideas and possibilities. Problems arise when team members filter out the good ideas from the not-so-good ones out of  a fear of rejection or judgment.

Another problem with brainstorming is many people think it can only be done one way: an open discussion in a meeting room with everyone involved. This method is not necessarily wrong, but leads to some largely unrecognized social drawbacks that contribute to an unproductive session.

The biggest problem with brainstorming is only a few people do 60-75% of the talking. This bias, often called “anchoring,” can often prevent other fresh ideas from coming to light.

For instance, when the first couple of ideas are shared during a session, there is a tendency to only focus on those ideas throughout the rest of the meeting.

 Let’s dive into seven easy brainstorming techniques that encourage collaboration while eliminating judgment.

Don’t get lazy when you brainstorm—keep it both efficient and effective. 

1. Stepladder Technique

Developed in 1992, this style of brainstorming encourages every member in the team to contribute individually before being influenced by everyone else.

The session begins with the facilitator sharing the topic or question with the whole team. Once the topic is shared, everyone leaves the room except two members of the team. These two members will then discuss the topic and their ideas. Then, one additional member is added to the group. This new member will contribute his or her ideas BEFORE the other two discuss theirs.

Repeat this cycle until everyone from the original group is in the room. This technique prevents groupthink in teams where one or two members hold sway over everyone else. This also helps encourage the shy folks in the group to share their ideas without feeling intimidated by a room full of people.

The stepladder technique is actually one of the more mature brainstorming strategies as it incorporates both an individual and a group participation aspect. This technique is useful for medium-sized groups of anywhere from five to 15 people. Once the group gets larger, however, it takes much longer and may become unwieldy.

2. Starbursting

This form of brainstorming focuses on forming questions rather than answers. Starbursting challenges the team to come up with as many questions as they can about your topic.

An easy way to begin a session like this would be to start listing questions that deal with the who, what, where, when, and why. This style assures that all aspects of the project are addressed before any work goes into executing it. It's a good technique for teams who tend to overlook certain aspects of a project and end up rushing to get things done last minute.

Thinking up some good brainstorming questions has the added benefit of giving you an instant backlog of ideas for web content: In case you need a FAQ section for your website or product, simply answer the generated questions

3. Round Robin Brainstorming

Teams form a circle to kick off this method. Once the topic is shared, go around the circle one by one and have each person offer an idea until everyone has had a turn.

Simultaneously, a facilitator records all ideas so they can be discussed once the sharing is over. It's very important to not evaluate any ideas until everyone has the opportunity to share. This technique is good when some of your team members have a tendency to stay quiet throughout meetings.

When leading a session, the round robin method of brainstorming allows everyone to pitch in and contribute. Just make sure to treat each idea with equal weight. And try to discourage people from saying "X already mentioned my idea." If this does happen, say you'll return to them at the end so they have time to think of something new.

4. Rapid Ideation

Sometimes, time limitations can help generate ideas quickly, because you don't have time to filter or overthink each one.

With this technique, the team leader provides context beforehand with information or questions on the topic, budget, deadline, etc. Then, a time limit is set for individuals to write down as many thoughts or ideas around the topic as possible, using any mediums available. Participants should not worry about filtering their ideas.

The great part about this style of brainstorming is that it's completely customizable to meet the needs of the team and project. Several different mediums can be used, such as pen and paper, white boards, Post-Its... anything to get the creative juices flowing. The time limit for your rapid ideation session can be anywhere from five to 45 minutes, depending on the complexity of your topic. This technique is good for teams who tend to get sidetracked, teams who hate meetings, or for placing a time limit on brainstorming sessions that frequently last longer than expected.

Here’s a tip you should take very seriously… get silly! Management professor Leigh Thompson conducted another study on this subject. She found that groups who shared funny or embarrassing stories about themselves came  up with 26% more ideas in 15% more categories than the groups who didn’t.

While brainstorming is the basic technique for developing ideas and getting people to think up new concepts and solutions, there is a very real temptation to overthink things. It's easy to get bogged down by every new idea and its details. This is precisely the problem that rapid ideation seeks to solve.

5. Brain Writing

The general principle of this technique is to separate idea generation from discussion.

The team leader shares the topic with the team, and team members individually write down their ideas. This helps eliminate the anchoring bias and encourages everyone on the team to share their own ideas. It also gives everyone more time to think over their ideas, which is especially helpful for your introverted participants. This brainstorming technique works best for teams who seem to be greatly influenced by the first ideas presented during a meeting.

When your team is brainstorming ideas individually, away from distraction and public opinion, you generate concepts that may not naturally surface in a larger setting. Individual brainstorming techniques like this will often give you more unique ideas than when the group comes up with topic ideas together.

6. Figuring Storming

Ever consider how someone else might handle the situation? Or what they might say about a particular topic? With figuring storming, you aim to do just that.

Think about how someone like your boss, a famous celebrity, or even the president of the United States might handle the situation. Putting yourself in new shoes can give the team a different perspective, helping them see the possibilities from fresh ideas. This technique works best for teams who find themselves coming across the same ideas for repetitive projects.

Try the simple question: What would Abraham Lincoln do? When you brainstorm questions that revolve around the possible actions of a third party, you free up ideas that aren't limited to your participants. It's one of those exercises for teams that gives everyone a different viewpoint.

7. Online Brainstorming (Brain-netting)

Virtual teams are becoming more and more common across all industries. The evolution of email and collaboration tools make working remotely the norm in some organizations. But what happens when the team needs to come together to brainstorm?

Sure, ideas can be tossed back and forth through email, but then it becomes difficult to archive those ideas for future reference. Creating a central location online where team members can collaborate is crucial for these virtual teams — consider cloud-based document storage or an online collaboration tool. See how Backcountry uses a collaboration software to brainstorm productively.

There are also a ton of great brainstorming tools that help make online brainstorming more of a visual and collaborative experience. One brainstorming exercise for groups involves using an online mind-mapping tool to answer very specific questions or generate ideas tangential to the main problem.