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I am glad to welcome you, my dear readers and guests of the site. Do you know what brainstorming is and what is its impact on problem solving? Have you ever wondered why most of the people in the team are afraid of public opinion? Along with this, they are afraid to express their opinion on their own behalf. Surely you have heard the phrase: «Give a man a mask, and he will tell you the whole truth in your eyes.»
All information of the article will be fixed with examples and other interesting facts.
Brainstorm. What it is?
Brainstorming is a verbal way of generating new ideas and making interesting decisions in a short amount of time (about an hour and a half), often through group discussion and evaluation. There are two types of brainstorming: individual and collective.
Both methods are popular, but choosing between them, it is necessary to focus on the situation and the problem that needs to be solved. Brainstorming often finds its place of use during the adoption of important resolutions in business, management, and also, in management structures.
A bit of history
One of the first who drew attention to such «collective» problems as self-doubt and fear of the opinions of others was Alex Osborne. Back in the 30s, he began, quite successfully, to practice the brainstorming method in his advertising agency.
What is more interesting, it was Osborne who changed the established opinion that not only quality is important, but it makes sense to take quantity into account as well. After all, the more attempts, the greater the likelihood of hitting exactly the bull’s-eye, which means that the achievement of the intended goals is close.
According to Alex’s method, it doesn’t matter at all what quality these «attempts» will be. The main number of them! Surprised? But what can I say, this is the basic, and most importantly, effective core on which the entire brainstorming system is built, with all its additional aspects.
The role of the leader in this assault system
To start brainstorming, you need to carefully select two teams (one is the generator of ideas, the other is to evaluate these theses), they consist of 4-12 completely different people (in character and temperament, age and status, qualifications and development). A leader (secretary, moderator) of the general group is elected without fail, who is well aware of all the stages of the event and the problem under discussion.
The function of the moderator deserves special attention, because it is on him that the process of generating solutions depends so successfully. The fact is that it was not by chance that I gave an example with a mask at the beginning of the article. People are often embarrassed of themselves, their thoughts, and even more “inappropriate” in their opinion statements or ideas.
All this gives rise to complexes and self-doubt, which can affect both personal life and work. Thus, the task of the group leader is to create the most favorable conditions for the «boundless flight of fantasy» of all participants, to liberate them and «pull» creative thoughts out and, preferably, more!
Required Leadership Skills
- Positive attitude
- Equal treatment of all participants in the process
- Ability to be tactful (tolerantly stop criticism)
- Erudition (to stimulate the number of thoughts expressed)
- Knowledge of the basic elements of psychology
What follows from this? The chosen leader of this process should be moderately communicative and a person with good erudition, be able to briefly and meaningfully convey the essence of the problem (within 15 minutes) to each of the participants. None of those present should be singled out or encouraged, to create a friendly atmosphere of the movement. Gently stimulate those present to present new and interesting ideas every minute. The whole process consists of two main steps:
- Thought generation
- Analysis of ideas
Main Goals of Brainstorming
- Develop divergent (versatile) and creative thinking
- Raise the team spirit
- Create team interaction
- Diversify points of view
- Generating new ideas
Principles of Brainstorming
- quantity over quality
- application of combinations and generations of ideas
- approval of eccentric, funny, creative solutions
All the provided rules and principles of brainstorming work to create a new creative space in which each of the participants stimulates each other for new, free decisions and “useful” discussions. What does it mean? This means that everything is allowed in the brainstorming system, except for criticism or any kind of ridicule!
Members of the group are free to express the most absurd, fantastic and absurd ideas, thoughts, decisions. Everything is taken into account, everything is discussed (but not criticized!). Of course, we must take into account the fact that there are time limits. But with the right choice of team leader, this nuance does not affect the positive outcome of the process. On the contrary, skillfully organized work in a short time makes the brain better focus on the main task and solve it safely.
Conclusions
Finally, I would like to emphasize this: if you do not plan to apply (even positive) collective results of brainstorming within the company, then you should not implement this technique at all. After all, from the side of business profitability, it will be useless and unnecessary. And it’s not about the financial side of the issue.
The brainstorming technique is easy to use, does not require prior training and, in itself, is not particularly expensive. Another thing that plays a role is trust. After all, what kind of atmosphere you sow in your team, you will reap such results.
Do not forget that human psychology is designed in such a way that it needs to be necessary and useful, both for society and for each individual person. If you “strangle” these impulses with your indifference (in this case, to the leader), you can be left without very amusing and interesting concepts and ideas. People become stale, close, doubt. All this leads to insecurity, complexes, chronic stress.
Finally, I would like to recommend that you read previously published articles, perhaps you will find what you were looking for in them: “How to find yourself or where to start personal growth” and “How to set goals correctly in order to achieve success in any activity”.
On this I say goodbye to you, see you soon friends. Don’t forget to share your favorite articles on social media. networks. Bye Bye.