How can you facilitate brainstorming with stakeholders who have competing goals and priorities?

As a leader, facilitating brainstorming among stakeholders with competing goals involves creating an open and respectful environment. Start by clearly defining the problem or goal, ensuring everyone understands the purpose of the brainstorming session. Encourage all participants to share their ideas, emphasizing that all perspectives are valuable. Promote active listening and constructive feedback, discouraging any negative criticism. Use techniques like round-robin to ensure everyone gets a chance to speak. If conflicts arise, steer the conversation back to the common goal. After the session, summarize key points and next steps, ensuring everyone is aligned. This approach fosters collaboration.

Es esencial establecer el objetivo del proceso de lluvia de ideas, que a su vez, hay que asegurarse que esté alineado con el objetivo del proyecto, y comunicarlo de manera clara a todas las partes interesadas. De esta manera, se ayuda a mantener el foco en las prioridades tanto del proceso como del proyecto e ir ordenándolas.

Definitely brainstorming from multi community in any organisation would increase the possibilities of any gain that can attain goals and priorities in any business organization.

I think that one of the best of way for doing it right is : Nominal Group Technique , where Stakeholders independently generate ideas, then come together to discuss and prioritize them. This allows for diverse input without immediate influence from others. Also , you can conduct a Swot Analysis to help you to identify common ground and areas where compromises can be made. Follow me for more ??

To navigate the complexities of brainstorming with stakeholders harboring competing goals and priorities, a strategic approach is crucial. Begin by fostering an inclusive environment that encourages open communication and active listening. Clearly articulate the shared objective and emphasize the collective benefits of collaboration. Implement structured brainstorming techniques, such as mind mapping or round-robin discussions, to ensure each stakeholder's perspective is considered. Foster empathy by acknowledging and validating diverse viewpoints, creating a foundation for compromise. Establish a framework for prioritization, allowing stakeholders to collectively assess and rank ideas based on their alignment with overarching goals.

Algo que he encontrado práctico para ayudar a distender el ambiente y que todos participen es recordarles que toda sugerencia, comentario o idea es válido y suma. Así mismo, es importante mantener un ambiente de respeto y humor sano para ayudar a estimular la creatividad.

An example, one of our colleagues was always feel offended when we start any group discussions if we didn't let him speak first. We agree to set that rules, who ever speak first should have the (.....)task. No judgment, no matter you disagree wait until the other express .

Particularmente, me gusta usar una pizarra interactiva, como Miro, donde cada quien coloca sus ideas en unas sticky notes, clasificadas por colores asignados. Es una manera interactiva, estimulante y ágil de poder ir sumando ideas, porque visualmente atrae mucho y motiva a la colaboración.

One technique you can experiment with is the concept of “Idea Suduko”… You draw a basic “Suduko sqare”, i.e. 3x3 squares… In the middle you put your problem statement, and in the surrounding 8 boxes you add ideas based on the problem at hand. When done with all 8 boxes, you now move 1 of the ideas to the center of a new 3x3 Suduko Square and mature the idea further in the 8 boxes surrounding it… When done go back to the original 8 ideas and process the next idea, and repeat… After 30-60 min. group work you will have gone from a problem statement to 64 detailed ideas on how to work with the problem…

Being prepared with a plan to steer the session in meaningful direction is important. Try to show the bigger purpose- end goal of brainstorming session and how each person’s seemingly competing goals will end of the day lead to great results for organisation’s stakeholders

Creo que es muy importante escuchar activamente a todas las partes interesadas y dejar que expliquen su idea, validando su participación lo cual es una parte importante del proceso, ya que de ahí, posiblemente se generen otras ideas. Es caso de conflictos, siempre ayuda recordar el objetivo del proceso y del proyecto, como una manera de canalizar los desvíos y hacer conciencia del propósito de la sesión.

When differences arise in the context of brainstorming, I like to remind participants that during this creative portion of the exercise, we are collecting ideas and we’ll evaluate them later. I’ll encourage participants to improve upon one another’s ideas, rather than evaluate them.

Conflict management strategy should be kept simple- if one can not do as what they are suggesting then anyone who contadicts should suggest as to how can it be done? Or all ideas of brainstorming should be reviewed , evaluated based on pros and cons. Facilitator role is crucial here.

All brainstorming often yields diverse points of view that often lead to great solutions, but too many points of view also hampers the grounding of ideas. From my experience, consensus is fundamental because when stakeholders/ involved parties feel listened and valued, they are very committed taking actions for relevant agreed solutions. Asking to prioritize only the 3 most relevant points, selected by voting (democratically) is a good strategy. Based on these 3 points, the brainstorming is developed. Finally, the ideas are grouped by areas or blocks, in order to reduce and simplify criteria to reach better solutions, which are more productive and inclusive, ensuring the commitment of participants.

There many be many ideas and people's priorities at stake. One way is to give each votes X no of votes to vote to make them vote better. Thus, allowing all to narrow down which ideas have the higher votes and work towards it. This saves time and any arguments on which ideas are better. And, also more efficient in prioritizing ideas to work on.

When having a brainstorming session it is important to act as a moderator in conflicting situations. During that phase calling out few rules and guidelines will not only set the tone but will also help the participants to understand the process. In addition, repeat the pointers by nothing them down giving equal priority will help the participants to contribute.

In my experience, if managed well, you achieve BIG else it may need another few meetings to get back to where you started. Here is what I did in such occasions: * Prepare well, go as deep possible to understand the unique perspectives all the stakeholders are bringing to the table, use your network to get insights. If possible, you may have some per-cursory conversations. * Understand the competing priorities, whats the conflict and whats the common denominator,how does the common denominator maps to the larger goal and perspective. * Be focused, know your biases, try to have a very honest conversation, put some ground rules, be fair around the asks for better acceptance, be compassionate, create amicable atmosphere.