The 5 Best Ways to Brainstorm

Brainstorming is critical for the development of new businesses and innovative business ideas. But believe it or not, there are effective ways to brainstorm and extremely ineffective ways to brainstorm. Check out our five tips for effective brainstorming and you'll be well on your way to innovation and creativity.

1. Bring Diverse People
Brainstorming sessions must include a vast array of ideas from an wide range of people—from senior staffers to junior staffers, from financers to engineers, from marketers to accountants. When there is more diversity within a brainstorming session, there tends to be more unique ideas that are brought to the table. Innovation requires cross-pollination from seemingly unrelated fields. On the flip side, however, the people within the group must share the same vision and common goal. Without this sense of ambition, diversity within the group can actually be a challenge and make the team less effective.

2. Use an Effective Space
In order to develop inspiring ideas, you need an inspiring space to work in. The worst way to brainstorm is in an uncomfortable room with simple talking. Instead, make sure that within the brainstorming space, there are plenty of ways for people to externalize their ideas. Within the space, provide materials that people can use, such as marker boards, bulletin boards, modeling clay, Slinkys, and Post-It notes. Fill the brainstorming space with interesting and inspirational posters and allow the space to be organized in a "round table" format.

3. Make Equality Important
Nothing kills a brainstorming session—or encourages brownnosing—like an intimidating authority figure. When you bring an authority figure into the session, the brainstormers may just agree with everything that he or she says instead of contribute their own interesting ideas. Although the boss can join the brainstorming session, do not sit him or her at the head of the table and do not allow them to take control. Use someone other than the boss to be the facilitator of the session—someone who can jot down the ideas or help the session move along.

4. Focus on Quatity
The goal of a brainstorming session is not to develop three genius ideas. Instead, a brainstorming session should simply generate as many ideas as possible—no matter how outrageous some of the ideas may be. Focusing solely on coming up with the "best idea" encourages judgment, which is not the point of brainstorming.

5. Make Brainstorming Part of the Company Culture
The best way to brainstorm is to infuse the process into your company's culture. Some companies do this by integrating "creative time" into the week—where employees can do whatever they want, but during that time, they must generate ideas and brainstorm.

Use these helpful tips when engaging your employees in their next brainstorming session. Who knows? Maybe you will develop your next big idea once you implement these easy suggestions!