Brainstorming?

If you’re like me, you have resorted to holding brainstorming sessions within your group in order to come up with some great ideas. Just a little advice from someone who still carries psychological scars from the exercise – don’t do it. Here are a few off-the-cuff reasons:

1) No one in your organization knows how to properly manage a brainstorming session. You likely won’t realize that until you try it for the first time.

Think “we need an outside consultant for this”.

2) Brainstorming sessions usually include the same old group of people – your gurus, who are all working from the same body of knowledge and experience. They will likely come up with the same ideas.

Think “we need diversity within the group”.

3) Few companies lack ideas. What they need is execution - how to turn the idea into cash.

Think “we need an idea support system”.

4) Everything is open and acceptable with brainstorming. Nothing is off limits. The problem is that most companies severely limit the scope of ideas which will be considered. And the larger the company often the more limited the scope of search.

Think “we need to have open minds as we identify opportunities”.

You probably don't need more ideas. Your employees and their networks already have plenty of good ideas. You need an improved way of moving ideas from a person’s brain into the pipeline of development within your organization.

There are hundreds of books on the subject. Here is most of the thought boiled down to a few bullet points:

• You should encourage ideas from everyone, not just your gurus.
• You should encourage employees to get off topic and mill around in new and different areas.
• You should provide a work place for employees to mingle, chat, and collaborate.
• You should permit employees to group together naturally. Innovation is all about the network and the relationship. Forced team structure can lead to broken networks and impaired innovation.
• You should ensure innovation is sponsored by the senior-most managers, and is driven from the top down.
• You should encourage your employees to journal. This captures the idea vapor before it disappears.
  
  

For more on creating an innovative culture you should read The PDMA Toolbook 2 for New Product Development, published by John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 0-471-47941-1. Don’t try to read the whole book at once. Just digest chapters 1 and 2.

For advice on journaling, see The PDMA Toolbook 1 for New Product Development, published by John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 0-471-20611-3, pages 46-47.

Strongly consider joining the Product Design and Management Association (PDMA). This is not an ad, but I am a member.

Please let me know your thoughts.