Would you rather go to the dentist or go to a team brainstorm? When I play this game in workshops the dentist often wins.
For the past 30 years I’ve participated in or facilitated 1000’s of brainstorms. I’ve worked with leading creative agencies, brand marketers, academics and government departments on their problems exploring ways to generate solutions.
Whether you like it or not, without exception this involved a meeting, a conversation and a group collaboration, or what’s more commonly called a brainstorm. Without guidelines, a brief and a facilitator it’s just a badly run meeting, what my fellow trainer Anahita Milligan describes at their worst as ‘the untrained, leading the unwilling, to do the unnecessary’.
Susan Cain the author of Quiet, argues that brainstorming is tantamount to torture for introverts and is less productive than just asking people to work individually. But is this true?
In this conversation myself and my longtime collaborator Anahita, discuss the intricacies of brainstorming and facilitation, exploring its benefits and pitfalls. We share our good, bad and really bad personal experiences as facilitators, highlight the importance of trained facilitation and preparation, and the need for psychological safety and trust in creative environments.
We also address some common myths surrounding brainstorming, such as the idea that there are no bad ideas, you need an hour in a stuffy room, with practical tools and techniques to enhance the brainstorming process.
Our chat also touches on the significance of engaging with real-life contexts and managing different personality types within creative sessions, ultimately aiming to redefine the brainstorming process for better outcomes.
I hope you enjoy the episode and feel better equipped to run a great brainstorm or workshop. I reflect after each session that I run, and I learn something new every time. It’s not something that you ever finish doing. It’s a blend of art and science and because people are involved and people are messy, it’s often a bit messy.
All the things we talk about the techniques shared are reflective of the content on any of our creativity courses, including our How To Be A Creative Ninja workshops. Please get in touch with Claire@nowgocreate.co.uk if you’d like a chat or more information.
Listen to the episode here