Photo by Hugo Rocha on Unsplash
Brainstorming is a technique that has been widely used for decades in industries like advertising to make creative success easier. Collaborative brainstorming online is a unique opportunity to rally around an objective and unleash creativity and spark ideas. Here at HeroX, we’ve developed techniques for both the introverts and extroverts to be heard, so that progress can be made toward a collective goal.
It starts with an open, respectful environment where all ideas--however “out there”-- are given consideration and respect. Our teams are diverse thinkers, culled from different disciplines who definitely all have one thing in common which is a love of knowledge and innovation. And though it may sound like a completely unstructured free for all, there is a method to our madness, and this is roughly how we operate:
Getting into a flow
As in comedy improv, good brainstormers don’t waste time tearing down silly-sounding ideas. We get into “Yes, and” mode, adding on to other team member’s ideas, generating new ideas.
Ideate, politely
Disruptive ideas are welcome, but decorum is important too. Each person gives one idea at a time--no one gets skipped over. It’s definitely not a contest to see who can be the loudest and most noticeable. All voices are encouraged.
Capture it all
Write down every single idea that’s mentioned, and take a neutral, respectful stance toward each idea. And while doing that, feel free to be creative, innovative, unexpected, unpredictable, unprecedented, uncontrolled, bold, wild, out-of-the-box, and out of hand. And serendipitous too, of course. Push back on assumptions and unlock unexpected possibilities. And since we’re encouraging group effort, we don’t attach people’s names to ideas.
When meetings are turned into focused, productive, strategic hotbeds of creativity, exciting stuff can happen! Many heads are indeed better than one.
