Hello there! It’s the first month of the year and it’s good to get ourselves rolling in the right direction. Rolling in the right direction means starting out and improving ourselves, our mindset, and our creativity. Improving our mindset, as well as our problem-solving and creativity skills are important because these will determine how we evaluate and solve the everyday problems that come our way.

Ideation or gathering of ideas is a necessary mental exercise. Through this process, we can look for a variety of concepts and related information about a certain topic. Thus, the process that facilitates this activity is called brainstorming.

Brainstorming is technically defined as a “group creativity technique by which efforts are made to find a conclusion for a specific problem by gathering a list of ideas spontaneously contributed by its members.” It is a popular method used in both academic and professional settings to generate ideas, solve problems, and promote creativity. The process involves gathering a group of individuals to brainstorm together, typically under a facilitator’s guidance.

The keywords here are sourcing and listing ideas together as a group. The main idea is that when many minds are put together to explore something, the different perspectives of the members will assemble diverse ideas or approaches about something. The more diverse the members, the better you can brainstorm.

Below are the advantages of brainstorming:

It promotes creativity and innovation. The brainstorming process encourages participants to come up with unconventional ideas and approaches to a problem. This process promotes creativity and helps generate innovative solutions.

It produces diverse perspectives. When a group of people comes together to brainstorm, there is a high probability that the group will have diverse perspectives, experiences, and backgrounds. This diversity can lead to the generation of a wide range of ideas that may not have been possible otherwise.

It increases engagement. The brainstorming process can be an enjoyable and engaging activity, especially when conducted in a supportive and collaborative environment. This can lead to increased motivation and engagement among team members.

It leads to faster decision-making. Brainstorming can lead to faster decision-making, as ideas can be generated and discussed quickly. This can be especially beneficial in situations where a quick decision is needed.

While brainstorming can be highly effective in generating a wide range of ideas, it also has its drawbacks.
The tendency to “Groupthink”. Groupthink occurs when members of a group tend to conform to a particular way of thinking, leading to a lack of diversity in ideas. This can be a significant disadvantage of brainstorming, especially if the group is not diverse enough, or if a dominant member of the group influences the others.

Lack of focus: Brainstorming can sometimes lead to a lack of focus, as participants may generate too many ideas without considering the practicality or feasibility of each one.

Fear of criticism: Participants may be reluctant to share their ideas during brainstorming sessions, especially if they fear criticism or negative feedback from others. This can lead to a lack of participation and a reduced number of ideas.

Time-consuming: Brainstorming can be a time-consuming process, especially if the group is large, and participants have divergent opinions. This can be challenging, particularly if time is a significant constraint.

Given the advantages and disadvantages, it is still advisable to engage in brainstorming since the advantages outweigh the negative disadvantages.

At this point, we are now to outline the process of brainstorming. Brainstorming follows certain steps and certain methods should be followed to make it more effective.

1. Set the mood for brainstorming. The moderator states the basic idea that needs to be sourced for ideas. All aspects and related ideas about the idea should be encouraged. The moderator should also reduce social inhibitions among group members, stimulate idea generation, and increase the overall creativity of the group.

2. Generate ideas. This is the heart of the whole activity. The process should proceed as follows:

Generate as many ideas as possible. The team should go for quantity and exhaust all possibilities. This is done to promote divergent thinking and facilitate problem-solving by generating as many ideas as possible. The greater the number of ideas produced, the higher the likelihood of developing a radical and effective solution.

Withhold criticism. This means that no member must criticize or limit whatever idea is suggested. Instead, they should focus on extending or adding to the ideas presented. By suspending judgment, participants will feel free to generate more unconventional and innovative ideas.
Encourage wild ideas. To create a comprehensive list of suggestions, wild ideas should be encouraged. The “generation of wild ideas” means to allow practically any suggestion, no matter how crazy it sounds. These ideas can be generated by examining issues from new perspectives and suspending assumptions. By thinking in new and unconventional ways, better solutions may be generated. The point it to source for suggestions from “out of the box”, and the only way to do this is to go beyond the normal suggestions.

3. Combine and improve ideas. After the generation process, the participants must evaluate and summarize the set of ideas that have been generated. They can now reject the useless ones, build on and select the best ideas.

Brainstorming is a valuable process for generating ideas, promoting creativity, and solving problems. To maximize the benefits of brainstorming, it is crucial to have a diverse group of participants, establish clear goals, and encourage open and constructive feedback. With proper guidance and an awareness of potential challenges, brainstorming can be a highly effective tool for generating creative solutions and innovative ideas.