Here's how you can enhance brainstorming by asking clarifying questions.

1. Align on Vision: Use Hoshin Kanri to connect brainstorming sessions with your organization's long-term vision. Start by asking, "How does this idea contribute to our strategic goals?" 2. Break Down Objectives: Clarify broad goals by breaking them into actionable steps. Ask, "What specific milestones must we achieve to reach this objective?" 3. Prioritize Goals: Use the X-Matrix to rank ideas based on their strategic impact. Ask, "Which of these ideas align with our top priorities?" 4. Challenge Assumptions: Question underlying assumptions. Ask, "Why do we believe this approach will work?" 5. Measure Success: Clarify how success will be tracked. Ask, "What key metrics will indicate we've met our goal?"

Setting a goal isn't just about defining the outcome; it’s about understanding the process to achieve it. Key questions like How will the goal be accomplished? Who are the essential contributors? What challenges may arise? And, if it's an organizational goal, How will it benefit everyone involved? To succeed, ask: 1. What needs to be done? 2. How will it be accomplished? 3. Where will resources come from? 4. When should milestones be reached? 5. Who will play key roles? Lastly, ask Why—this clarifies the goal's purpose and helps prioritize what truly matters. Success comes from not just setting goals, but by asking the right questions to achieve them.

To enhance brainstorming by asking clarifying questions, layout the key goal of the session and then ask an open ended question to all as to how they would best accomplish the goal under given time constraint.... To help set the context, give the group 3 key assumptions behind the goal along with relevant background to ensure all have the same information set. Moreover, clarify the situation is dynamic and evolving or that some of the assumptions are 'elastic' or have some room for interpretation as this will help expand perspectives and idea generation. Finally, and before everyone begins, clarify any term misunderstandings or definitions....

Asking clarifying questions during brainstorming sessions is like adding fuel to the creative fire. It encourages deeper exploration of ideas, unearths hidden assumptions, and sparks new connections. When someone shares an idea, follow up with questions that probe for details, motivations, or potential implications. This not only fosters a deeper understanding of the concept but also encourages the contributor to refine their thinking. By clarifying ambiguities and challenging assumptions, you create a fertile ground for generating truly innovative and well-thought-out solutions.

Clarifying goals during brainstorming sessions is essential to ensure that the ideas generated are relevant and actionable. To begin, it's important to define the specific outcomes of the session clearly. This involves articulating the problem to be addressed and the desired outcomes, which helps set the scope and expectations for participants. By maintaining clarity around goals throughout the brainstorming process, participants can enhance their creativity while ensuring that their efforts are directed towards achieving specific outcomes.

It is important to ask clarifying questions to help the patron go from a really broad question with many different topics and narrow it down to a more specific question that keywords can be found.

Curating a strategy and ideation session can be overwhelming for all involved, however navigating this session can be the exact experience needed to shift everyone's perspective. Using the saying "this is how we've also done it" no longer works if you want to remain relevant in business. What happens when people question, with the right intentions, the status quo? You end up with big ideas, edgy initiatives, inclusivity, and improved morale. In your next strategy session I challenge you to shift how you think, be okay leaving the room with multiple solutions. Each one can be the right answer in its own way but you will never know if you fail forward.

All of the team needs to know key terms to be effective, one idea is to write down all key terms and make copies of them so all know exactly what each one means. This helps to not only clarify key terms, but it could also help clarify the objective the team has set for it self. When all are on the same page from the beginning you are far more productive