Brainstorming Tips & Techniques

These short brainstorming tips and techniques will help to maximise your next problem solving session. No matter what business you are in your future success depends on the innovation and ideas that are happening today. Effective brainstorming sessions have an essential part to play in this success. Browse through the list of ideas to help shape your existing strategic thinking sessions or let a random thought take it off on another tangent altogether.

Short brainstorming tips and ideas to maximise your next problem solving session.Short brainstorming tips and ideas to maximise your next problem solving session.

 "When you realize that you just came up with an idea that betters anything that has been done, well, you hair stands up on end, you feel an incredible sense of awe; it’s almost as if you heard a whisper from God." – Hank Zeller

Brainstorming Tips & Techniques

  • Get to 100 ideas
  • Write everything down
  • There are no bad ideas
  • Stand during meetings
  • Host a whiteboard session
  • Act like your customer
  • Play
  • Move around
  • Change seats
  • Use XXL-Post its
  • Talk to someone on the same level
  • Read public forums
  • Have a glass of wine
  • Draw on the back of a napkin
  • Cross departments
  • Start a  mastermind group
  • Host a google hangout brainstorm session
  • Try Dropbox Paper
  • Improve upon ideas
  • Be creative
  • Think outside the box
  • Combine ideas
  • Synergise ideas
  • Encourage cross-fertilisation
  • Involve everyone
  • Set directions
  • Welcome free-wheeling
  • Allow individual brainstorming
  • Use group brainstorming
  • Pass the paper
  • Brain-netting
  • Use different colours
  • Prepare thoroughly before the start
  • Present the problem
  • Guide the discussion
  • Train brain writing
  • Use sub-topics
  • Break it apart
  • Add time constraints
  • Remove time constraints
  • Welcome silly ideas
  • Hitchhike on other ideas
  • Use categories
  • Reward quantity not quality
  • The wilder the better
  • Combine ideas
  • Improve ideas
  • Celebrate diversity
  • Challenge assumptions
  • Suspend judgement
  • Transform other ideas into better ones
  • The secret is spontaneity
  • Keep the question short
  • Rephrase the question
  • Use different question words
  • Pick the right brains
  • Mix the brains up
  • Mix the specialities up
  • Mix the attitudes up
  • Mix the ages
  • Mix the genders
  • Keep changing groups
  • Rotate the chairs
  • Send out a formal invitation
  • Change the times
  • Meet for breakfast
  • Meet for lunch
  • Meet for dinner
  • Change the venue
  • Create a brainstorming room
  • Start with warm-up exercises
  • Choose your players wisely
  • Assign pre-meeting homework
  • Encourage collaboration
  • Play background music
  • Add some colour
  • Add some artworks to the room
  • Start with a short movie
  • No brainwashing allowed
  • Use a bell to sound out killer phrases
  • Capture and record all ideas
  • Set a deadline
  • Introduce periods of silence
  • Use trigger ideas
  • Take regular breaks
  • Review old ideas
  • Distribute typed lists
  • Be open-minded
  • Evaluate later
  • Start with 12 players
  • Vary the number of players
  • Use lead questions
  • Number your ideas
  • Write playful rules
  • Get physical bring in props
  • Appoint a good facilitator
  • Use graphic organizers
  • Minimise distractions
  • Create a comfortable meeting environment
  • Provide enough light
  • Open the windows
  • Have fun
  • Submit ideas anonymously
  • Provide incentives
  • Attitude determines outcome
  • Change your perspective of the problem
  • Generate an idea book
  • Use hypothetical examples

More brainstorming tips and ideas to try

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