How to run brainstorming - designing sessions that draw out creativity
Brainstorming is used as if it were a cure-all, yet in many situations it fails to deliver the expected results. An experimental study by Girotra and colleagues (Management Science, 2010) showed that a hybrid approach, in which people think individually before meeting, produced about 3 times as many ideas per unit of time as the traditional team approach of talking it through together, and that the average quality of the ideas was also significantly higher. Done the wrong way, brainstorming becomes a ritual that actually stifles creativity.
The structural flaws of traditional brainstorming
The classic brainstorming that Osborn proposed in 1953 has structural problems pointed out by later psychological research (such as Diehl & Stroebe, 1987).
These flaws are built into the format of everyone talking at once and cannot be solved by the facilitator's skill alone. The format itself needs to be redesigned.
Brainwriting - paper and pen free the mind
Brainwriting is a method that solves the problems above structurally. Ideas are shared by writing rather than speaking. Psychological experiments have also shown that writing and sharing ideas produces better idea generation than individual work without sharing (Paulus & Yang, 2000).
A count of 108 ideas in 45 minutes is a number that traditional brainstorming rarely reaches. Writing eliminates Production Blocking, and writing in a nearly anonymous way also eases Evaluation Apprehension.
Nominal Group Technique - individual work, then group discussion
The Nominal Group Technique (NGT) builds time for individual thinking into the first half of the meeting. It avoids the downsides of group dynamics while keeping the benefits of discussion.
| Stage | Guide | How it runs |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Silent Generation | 10 min | Each person writes silently on the theme. No influence from one another |
| 2. Round-Robin | 15 min | Each person presents just 1 of their ideas in turn. No discussion until everyone has gone once |
| 3. Discussion | 20 min | Discuss the collected ideas by adding to them, asking questions, and combining them |
| 4. Voting | 10 min | Each person votes for their top 5. Tally anonymously and pick out the top ones |
The best size and length for a session
The effect of brainstorming depends on the number of participants and the session length. Efficiency tends to drop with too many or too few, and there is an appropriate range.
| Size | Suitability | Caveats |
|---|---|---|
| 2-3 people | Deep-dive discussion. Develop one idea thoroughly | Perspectives become narrow, and diversity is hard to secure |
| 4-7 people | Suits standard brainstorming | The recommended range. A good balance of diversity and efficiency |
| 8-12 people | Possible, but Brainwriting/NGT is a must | In traditional brainstorming, Production Blocking becomes severe |
| 13 or more | Split into subgroups and run them in parallel | Speaking time per person physically cannot be secured |
A design that keeps sessions to 45-90 minutes is easy to work with. At 30 minutes or less, divergence tends to stay shallow, and beyond 120 minutes focus drops and the quality of ideas in the second half tends to fall. From the standpoint of preventing meeting fatigue as well, brainstorms longer than 90 minutes should include a break.
The facilitator's role
The success of a brainstorm depends heavily on the quality of the facilitator. The role is not to chair the meeting but to design a space for creativity. The skill set also differs from that of an ordinary meeting chair.
- Ensures everyone gets an equal chance to speak or write
- Steps in immediately when criticism appears: "We're diverging now, so let's hold that"
- Offers a different angle (for example, reverse thinking) when things stall
- Keeps strictly to time
- Runs the final voting and narrowing down fairly
- Slip their own opinions in as ideas
- Make remarks that evaluate the ideas
- Steer the direction of the discussion
- Try to fill the room out of fear of silence
- Talk more than anyone else
Results are decided by preparation
The quality of preparation affects the results of a brainstorm more than how the day itself runs. Get everything in order at least 24 hours ahead, from designing the question and choosing participants to setting up the environment and wording the invitation.
- Write the question in 1 sentence (for example, "How can we raise the first-time sign-up rate among student users?")
- Share the background of the question and current data with participants on 1 page
- Narrow participants to 4-7 people while securing diversity (roles and years of experience)
- Choose the format (Brainwriting / NGT / Crazy 8s, etc.)
- Prepare a whiteboard or a collaborative tool such as Miro or Mural
- Ask in the invitation for people to bring ideas in advance (5-10 each, written individually)
After the session - do not let ideas gather dust
Even when a brainstorm produces a large number of ideas, most of them tend never to be acted on and end up gathering dust. To prevent this, it helps to narrow them down and decide the next actions within 24 hours of the session.
Brainstorming starts before people gather
What many organizations misunderstand is the belief that brainstorming means gathering in a meeting room to think. As the Girotra experiment suggests, what supports the productivity of idea generation is time spent thinking individually, and meetings should specialize in the work that can only be done together: combining ideas and setting priorities.
Make sure participants bring ideas with them, and spend the session only on inspiration and integration. Creative meetings are, in fact, where asynchronous communication tends to work best.
Brainstorm design has much in common with kickoff design, and it often involves coordinating large groups. Designing the agenda around just the question and the format, and keeping the group to 4-7 people, lays the foundation for drawing out creativity. There is little reason to cling to the traditional format of everyone speaking at once.