Overcome the barriers in brainstorming with simple tips to engage everyone in the room.
Brainstorming sessions work at every phase of a process. Sometimes you are stuck, and need time to think of things from a different perspective. Other times, you need to start over and generate ideas for a new genesis.
I love brainstorming and I love facilitating brainstorming sessions. Regardless of my vantage point, it’s evident very quickly who likes the process and who doesn’t.
Those who don’t like it withdraw, visibly. They cross their arms, sometimes their ankles too as they push their chairs from their tables and recline. There’s a certain glare on their faces as they communicate to the facilitator that they are so over this, it is a waste of their time, and they are not going to play by the rules.
Meaning, they will take potshots at every idea to point out the flaws. These personalities are needed, but feel very heavy in a brainstorming session. More on these people later.
Why Brainstorm?
We brainstorm to get everyone’s ideas out in the open and let people build on the ideas that are shared. When we start the process, there are no wrong answers; truly, we are not yet evaluating anything until we exhaust all the ideas, or kernels of ideas, from the team.
It’s a way to give everyone a voice in the process and uncover information that would otherwise not be shared. The principle is that there are no wrong answers and every comment has value so no one need to hold back. It fosters collaboration and a team mindset.
Is there a Reason to Exclude Some People?
I don’t mean the negative ones mentioned above.
One of the biggest barriers to brainstorming is when the people in the room are afraid of more work. Fear doesn’t really describe it accurately. It’s fair to be leery of more assignments or responsibility while struggling to clear one’s desk every day as it is. You might be brainstorming to find something different, but if they are in the room, they are just hearing MORE, MORE, MORE.
So they shut down. They quit participating and they shoot down anything that sounds too big, too long, too complicated.
Excluding them sounds like a smart (and easy) solution, but it’s wrong. They need to be in the discussion or the project is doomed. You have to tee it up so that discussing the personnel needed is a second discussion. It may affect or involve their department, but there are other ways to get the work done other than overloading the currently stretched staff members, or telling them they’ll figure it out. Their concerns are valid, dismissing them will make them look for a new place to work.
Depending on the project, you can outsource it, bring in interns, make it a project for a college class, or take other work off the employees’ workload while this great new thing is happening, or completely sunset a project that this new one is replacing. It’s important to reassure them of that at the beginning. Then they are free to participate and let the ideas flow.
As soon as you you hear someone ask, “Who’s going to do this?” It’s time to back-up and tell them the point is to find out what THIS is or can be. At the beginning you might announce, “Let’s not worry about who’s doing this yet. I have an idea on that.”
Also mention that the idea may need to simmer on the back burner before the team has capacity to tackle it. That is 100% okay.
Good Ideas Come From Everywhere
A brainstorming activity helps uncover ideas with great potential, as well as those that will never see the light of day. The point is to get them all out before you start evaluating. Even the people afraid of more work have ideas, including ideas for more efficiency which you definitely want in the room.
There are usually ways to combine ideas and resources to make things even better, more effective, creative, robust — BETTER!
Those Naysayers
I used to loathe the non-participatory, negative-Nelly people in the room. Then I was in a conversation on social media, I think it was Twitter, that changed my mind. This guy argued about how valuable it is to have someone on the team to poke holes in ideas. It can save time and energy if someone can see the project five steps ahead and how it’s not likely going to work. Hmm, it made me re-think the hard-to-engage players in the room.
The Devil’s Advocates. That’s the term they like to use, I admit I had other terms. Though they can cast a real shadow on a happy, peppy, session where ideas are popping like popcorn, they are helpful. You just have to put them to work.
Ask them to keep a list of challenges to address, quietly. When it’s time to combine and eliminate the ideas, their list of challenges shrinks too. Once you have narrowed the list to three possibilities, you ask Nelly to tell the group what’s most possible, and how to address the remaining challenges.
As long as the identified challenges are real and not just negative opinions, you now have a roadmap to make it happen. Voila!
These are different from complete blockers. You will know blockers by their tendency to question the process, not just the content. “We always do this and nothing changes,” they say. They don’t belong on the team.
A Neutral Facilitator is a Must
Brainstorming is an ideal exercise to get buy-in and it builds respect. It requires a neutral facilitator. If the person leading the discussion has a vested interest in the outcome, it will appear, and possibly feel, manipulative. Avoid that and bring in someone neutral. A neutral facilitator will also ask enough questions to uncover any hidden agendas. This can save you a tremendous amount of time.
The next time you enter a brainstorming session, think about your mindset. Do you hate the process because it’s overly positive, are you afraid of leaving with a long list of more things to accomplish, or are you excited about creating new solutions? Help the process by sharing which camp you’re in, and promise to help the process from that perspective.
Reach out if you need help. Leslie@McCormickLA.com
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