Without direction, most people are uncertain if their line of thinking is in alignment with the overall ambiguous goal or do they chart a new course altogether. The ambiguity of the task will make them shut down.

Do not rely on just one brainstorming session.

A brainstorming session must end on a good note, with all participants knowing that the result of their efforts will lead to action. Prioritise the ideas at the session, don’t leave it for another day. If you don’t get to the action immediately...

Put all the opinionated people (Those who like to control the direction of a meeting) in one group. If you have a brainstorming session with a group of 16 people, and 4 of those people like to dominate conversations, but them in one group, and have three other groups.

Provide some incentive...

We tell people to think outside the box, yet we don’t function like that in our everyday life.

Brainstorming is an overused technique that generates confined and limited solutions, but we can’t get enough of it. Organizations hold on to old business best practices that have since ceased to ...

• The assumption is that brainstorming is the best way to generate creative ideas as a group and the idea that we are stronger as a group than we are if we are alone.
• Brainstorming is synonymous with the creative idea-generating process.
• A method for organizations to use employ...

1. Focus on quantity, not quality (Generate as many ideas as possible no matter how wild and out of the world they may seem)
2. Prioritise original and uncommon ideas
3. Defer Judgement and avoid criticism
4. Combine and fine-tune generated ideas

Alex Osborn claimed that brainstorming should enhance creative performance by almost 50% versus individuals working on their own. More than six decades after, research has shown that brainstorming hinders the creative performance of individuals in a group.

Organizations need to redesign how they organise and conduct brainstorming sessions to get the desired results.