Brainstorming (part 2): May 2023

Brainstorming is a common consulting method to generate new ideas and identify possible solutions to difficult problems.?Different firms have different names for the approach, but the fundamental basics are the same…?get a group of people together, create ideas, and write them down.?Simples.

Practically, however, it is a little bit more complicated than that.?A structured, disciplined, and productive brainstorming session is many orders of magnitude more valuable than just sitting around talking about ideas.

Last month, I wrote about the first three tips for getting maximum value from brainstorming.?If you missed that article, or want to refresh your memory, here’s a link.?Last month’s tips were:

1.??????You might need to brainstorm the problem, before brainstorming the solutions.

2.??????Aim for quantity to achieve quality.

3.??????To get out of the box ideas from others, get out of the box yourself.

This month we’ll continue with the remaining three tips.?Ready??Here we go…

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4.??????Be transparent about how you will prioritise and select ideas.

Once you have generated a large number of ideas and solutions, it will be time to prioritise the large set into a smaller number of high potential ideas, and select those you will take into implementation.

Whether this prioritisation and selection happens during the brainstorm, or whether it is taken offline to decide afterwards, it is important to be transparent about the criteria and selection process to all participants.?

Who decides which ideas to select??The owner of the problem statement??An independent decision maker who wasn’t involved in the brainstorm??The most senior client involved in the project, or the project’s steering committee??

Will the brainstorm participants get a say, and if so, how should this be done??Perhaps a secret ballot??Or maybe each participant gets a number of post-it notes and can assign their notes to their favourite ideas, with the ideas receiving the greatest number of notes being prioritised?

Lastly, what criteria will be used to make the final selection??Business case financial value??Timeframe for implementation??Greatest competitive advantage??Best outcome for the client’s customers??Or maybe some combination of all of these in a weighted overall score.

Whichever process and criteria is used, be sure to be transparent about how things will work with all the participants.?Otherwise, they may leave the brainstorm feeling like they don’t know what the value will be of their invested time and contributions.

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5.??????Don’t praise ideas during the brainstorm.

It goes without saying (although I’ll say it anyway), that you shouldn’t criticise any suggestions during the brainstorm.?Telling someone “That’s a stupid idea!” will set a really negative mood in the meeting room and discourage that person and everyone else from speaking further.

But conversely, try to also resist saying the opposite, and giving praise to any ideas.?Saying “Wow – that is an amazing idea!” may be very tempting, but in praising that idea you are implicitly criticising the ideas that didn’t receive praise, which can be seen the same as rejection.

During the brainstorm, don’t evaluate, judge, criticise, compliment, or give any indication of your thoughts.?Make sure all the brainstorm participants do the same.?Everyone should just concentrate on generating as many ideas as you can.?There will be plenty of time for evaluation afterward when ideas are prioritised and selected.??

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6.??????Make sure to implement selected ideas, and communicate the results.

The worst outcome of a brainstorm session is if the ideas and solutions that are generated go onto a shelf somewhere, or into a consulting report, and are never actioned for implementation.?Not only will the client not achieve financial value from the brainstorm, the participants will feel as if their involvement was a total waste of time, and be hesitant to ever be involved again in the future.

As the consultant, do everything you can to help your client with follow through and implementation.?Document the next steps needed for the implementation, and assign them to appropriate accountable individuals.?Estimate the business case benefits that can be realised, and the investments and costs required (my November 2022 tips article contained some frameworks for business cases).?Setup a process to communicate results back to the participants so that everyone is aware of what happens after the brainstorm.

Alternatively, should the decision maker choose not to proceed with any of the brainstorm ideas, be sure to communicate that outcome also, and the rationale behind the decision.

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Conclusion

Brainstorming -- simple in concept, yet difficult in reality.?To get the maximum value from your brainstorming sessions, follow a few important best practices.?Make sure you are solving the right problem by brainstorming problems before the solutions.?Aim for quantity to achieve quality.?Be a role model that proposes some out of the box ideas yourself, to get out of the box thinking from others.?Be transparent about how you will prioritise and select ideas.?Don’t praise ideas, lest you be seen as implicitly criticising those which do not receive praise.?And be sure you implement the selected ideas, and communicate the results.

You’ll be a better consultant, and get more value for your client from brainstorming sessions.?What are some of the approaches you have used to get maximum value from brainstorming?

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Did you like this article??What things have you learned about being a better consultant??Contact me at [email protected].

Scott Frederick is Managing Director of Barkley Services, providing short term or part-time consulting services in business analytics, sales and marketing, business strategy and planning, change management, and process automation and outsourcing.?Prior to starting Barkley Services, Scott was a Partner at Accenture and IBM Global Business Services.?Scott is based in Brisbane Australia and has over 30 years’ experience in management consulting.