9 Secrets of Successful Creative Brainstorming

6. DON’T EVALUATE THE IDEAS AT THE SAME MEETING. Your creativity hat is a lot different from your critical-thinking hat. Of course, you’ll need to prioritize the ideas, and winnow out the weaker ones, but don’t do it at the brainstorm. It’s sure to slow the flow.

7. MANAGE GROUP DYNAMICS. There’s no faster way to kill the creativity of a group of people than by having one person dominate the brainstorm. You need to make sure everyone feels comfortable contributing.

8. SHARE INFORMATION. Not everyone attending the brainstorm has the same facts or background. An excellent way to begin a brainstorm is to have every member give a brief overview of what they know that’s relevant to the problem at hand.

9. FOLLOW-UP IS ESSENTIAL. Some of the best ideas come up after the brainstorm. You need to share the notes as soon as possible, while they’re fresh in people’s minds, and then have a process for them to keep thinking.

Schedule a follow-up meeting with a smaller group of people who attended the original brainstorm. They can evaluate ideas, build on them and decide next steps. This can often be even more productive than the original brainstorm.

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