How to Brainstorm in a Small Group

Okay, so you need some ideas. You've got a some bright people together in a room. You've got your notebook and pen, a big table and plenty of caffeine. Now what? Brainstorming is all about the free flow of ideas--helping to make them flow and then capturing as many as you can. In its simplest form, brainstorming is just a discussion that yields ideas. Here's how you can make the most of your time in an impromptu brainstorming session.

Smaller group. Brainstorming rarely works well in a large group. Too many people makes it difficult to give everyone an opportunity to share their ideas within a given timeframe. It also rarely works well in a tiny group. Three or four people rarely develop the interaction that will lead to a volume of original ideas. A good brainstorming group should have no fewer than five people and no more than sixteen.

Remember that a brainstorming session is about generating ideas versus eliminating them. In the generation phase, all ideas are good. Be careful to separate the idea gathering from idea judgment--especially if the same group is going to be doing both.

Warm up. Do something fun and entertaining as a warm up to your brainstorming time. We usually begin our sessions with dinner since we do them in the evening. The conversation during this time is excellent for getting the team to relax and open up. You could also do a quick thinking game or other exercise with the group. The warm up is simply to get the team in the mindset to start talking and sharing their thoughts.

Broad strokes. Keep instructions broad and open--brainstorming has to have some opportunity to go off the map from time to time. Don't get too specific about what you are looking for early on. Instead, talk in general about what needs to be accomplished and let the conversation wander a little.

No judgments. Remember that a brainstorming session is about generating ideas versus eliminating them. In the generation phase, all ideas are good. Be careful to separate the idea gathering from idea judgment--especially if the same group is going to be doing both. During brainstorming, the team must be able to freely express their thought without fear of others' opinions. This works both ways--being overly enthusiastic about one particular idea can also squelch the flow of thought. Don't allow the group to focus to early on "the obvious best." Discourage comments on individual ideas and continue pressing for additional thoughts.

Release and capture. One of the most important aspects of brainstorming is release and capture. Each participant must be given the opportunity to share their ideas and feel they have been heard and "captured" by the team. The easiest way to do this is with an easel pad and marker. Avoid a whiteboard or blackboard--you want to put ideas down with ink so everyone knows that an idea released is captured forever. Also avoid writing down ideas on a personal notepad or on a laptop. The ideas need to be captured in full view of all participants so by seeing it themselves they can then "release" the thought and go on to the next idea. 

Discourage interrupting one another. Have one person serve as the secretary, writing down each idea as it is shared. The secretary should not "summarize" ideas, but rather try to capture as accurately as possible what the team members are putting on the table. Also, don't allow team members to take separate notes apart from the group--any thoughts during brainstorming that are shared need to be shared among the entire group.

Pressing On. During brainstorming, there usually comes a point where the obvious ideas are exhausted and the team's conversation will wind down. Plan on this happening and on pressing the team past this point. It is often just past when the surface thoughts are shared that interesting new connections are made. This "forced thinking" is key to developing a really effective brainstorming team.

It's a good idea to have an exercise or strategy ready when you reach this point. A great way to stimulate additional thought is to come up with a condition or quota that must be met before quitting. When the idea flow slows, you could suggest that all future ideas must consist of five-letter words. Or you could put down the letters of the alphabet and ask the team to generate an idea starting with each letter. Or you could impose a quota of 100 additional ideas before stopping. Any of these are ways to stimulate thought and focus toward generating additional ideas.