Defining brainstorming ground rules
Encourage your employees to view brainstorming as an opportunity to create any kind of solutions they can imagine. Give them the freedom to suggest anything and you’ll find that their ideas and proposals are as creative as they are effective.
The best brainstorming occurs without limits to creativity but focuses on one area at a time. Suggest a few ground rules, such as:
Use the agenda: The agenda (see Chapter 7) isn’t just for show. Ask them to choose a topic from the list and focus their conversation on that point until they’re ready to move on. This technique helps prevent them from jumping around from topic to topic.
Remember that any idea is a good idea: Brainstorming is about articulating any and all possibilities before deciding on anything.
Follow time limits: Some of the best ideas come when people are pressed for time. I worked with a large group facilitator who would give groups five minutes to come up with ideas that came in 20 minutes were no more creative than the ones that surfaced in the first few minutes. Keep the brainstorming short, and then spend quality time refining the ideas.
Say then weigh: Generate as many ideas as possible before weighing and evaluating a single one. Don’t let the brainstorming process derail by getting bogged down in the details. I like to capture the first few ideas and then start saying “and” after every suggestion. Keep the ideas coming!
Create a parking lot: If one of the parties has an idea for a different agenda item, quickly jot it down next to that topic (I call that “parking it”) until you’re ready to move to that point. Similarly, if the employees think of something they need to check out or want to add another topic for discussion, into the parking lot it goes.