A Half-Dozen Hints on How to
Heighten the Effectiveness of Your Business
Brainstorming
By Frederick D. Buggie
There are six changes you can readily make to the common practice
of "brainstorming," for any business purpose, that will make all
the difference in the world, with respect to the creative output.
- Number of participants: Seven, plus or minus two. More
than nine — it changes the character of the group. Some polite individuals
won't have an opportunity to say their piece ... or will have
forgot what they were going to say ... or the particular subject
is no longer on the table, when they do get airtime. It's noisy.
Fewer than five participants — You're below critical mass of
brainpower. It's quiet.
- Managing the exercise: It's a 2-person job. It takes a leader
to drive the Session, and the leader needs a facilitator, on the
other side of the table, who is equally aware of the objective,
and can serve as a "stalking horse," to demonstrate contributing
the sort of input desired.
- Attributes of participants: It is deep, diverse, relevant
knowledge you need — coming at the topic from different directions.
They need not be particularly creative by nature — the creativity
is infused into the group by the "Creative Techniques" utilized
by the leader. There are numerous, proven, classic Creative Techniques
available for various specific purposes; they are listed and categorized
in bibliographies, such as that included in the book, NEW PRODUCT
DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES (AMACOM: New York). As Casey Stengle used
to say, "You could look it up!"
- Preparation: ADVANCE assignment of the topic and some starting
points to begin the thought processes is absolutely mandatory
... classic Creative Techniques should be incorporated in the
advance briefing ... and there is no need for accuracy or completeness
or seriousness; in fact, it is better to loosen up a bit, and
leave some open ends to play with, and blank spaces which invite
proposed possibilities.
- Starting the Session: You'll want to begin the Session, in
the morning, with a "Key Triggering" Creative Technique (look
it up), focused on some distinct aspect of the topic, partly to
get the individuals in a rapid-fire mode of thinking, partly to
meld them into a cohesive working group (as opposed to a collection
of separate persons in different positions), and partly to generate
some lodes to mine.
- Conducting the Session: The leader stands, commands attention,
visibly records nuggets, responds to any questions with "I don't
know, what did you have in mind?" maintains the "electricity" and
excitement, and compliments good shots ... for 3&1/2
hours. In our experience, the human brain can only operate at high intensity
for that length of time, maximum. The group goes quiet. It's over. •
© 2006 Frederick D. Buggie
About the Author
A Certified New Product Development Professional,
Frederick Buggie is Founder and President
of Strategic Innovations International Inc., headquartered in Lake Wylie, SC
in the US, with operations in the UK and Europe.
Mr. Buggie conducts Seminars and Workshops (such as that presented on March
20, 2006, at National Manufacturing Week in Chicago) on Innovation in Business;
he has authored more than 60 articles on various aspects of creativity and
innovation, including "Set the 'Fuzzy Front End' in Concrete" (Research
* Technology Management Journal), and "The Four Phases of Innovation" (Journal
of Business Strategy).
You are invited to visit: www.StrategicInnovations.com
03/18/06
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