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Aim
The aim of this exercise is to help kick start an improvement initiative by involving your team in the generation of ideas.
Brainstorming is a useful technique for generating a wide range of ideas in order to solve a problem or develop a new idea or concept. In this activity team members will collate a mass of ideas then sort them in order to identify the ones to take forward. Allow 90 minutes for this exercise.
Learning Objectives
Team members will be able to ...
- generate a diverse range of ideas to address a concern, issue or problem
- analyze the ideas to select those that are most likely to effectively address the concern, issue or problem
Preparation
Write the improvement initiative, issue or problem that your team plans to address on the top of a piece of flipchart paper.
What to Do (30 minutes)
1. Introduce the process of brainstorming to the team, explaining that the purpose of the session is to generate quantity rather than quality. Make sure everyone is aware of the three basic rules of brainstorming:
- There should be no criticism of any ideas.
- All ideas are encouraged, no matter how odd they seem.
- Participants should try to build on each other’s ideas.
2. As a result, all ideas, no matter how ridiculous they might seem, will be recorded on the flipchart. The team should not analyze or discuss any of the ideas as they are suggested.
3. Introduce the improvement initiative, issue or problem to the team. Ensure everyone understands the need, aim and objectives behind it.
4. Ask one participant to be a scribe. Their role is to record every idea proposed on a Post-it® note and stick it on the flipchart without questioning it or making comments. If you prefer, you may take the role of scribe yourself.
5. Invite the team to suggest ideas for how the initiative, issue or problem might be addressed, allowing the scribe time to record each one before the next one is called out. Continue until the ideas dry up.
Review Activity (30 minutes)
Now the team needs to sort the ideas to identify which ones could realistically help address the issue. Discuss with the team some initial sorting criteria to help filter the ideas. For example, you might choose two categories, like feasible and unfeasible, or categories relating to any restrictions you need to work within, such as time frame, budget, available resources, etc.
Once you’ve chosen your sorting categories, write them on the top of separate pieces of flipchart paper, which you should then stick up on the wall.
Taking each idea at a time, ask the team as a group to assign it to one of the categories, then stick the idea on the relevant flipchart. Do not automatically discount any ideas just because they seem odd. Explore them fully to establish whether they have any value. Even those that appear unfeasible may generate further discussion, which can lead to additional ideas. Group together ideas that are similar. Any ideas the group cannot agree on should be set aside and revisited at the end.
Once all the ideas have been allocated, you should have a more manageable list of feasible ideas. Do not discard the unfeasible ideas as they may be relevant for other initiatives or help stimulate thinking later in the project.
Apply Learning (30 minutes)
If your list of feasible ideas is still large, you may need to select further sorting criteria to filter it further. For example, those that will or will not add the most value, are the easiest to implement, the most cost effective, that will utilize the least resources, etc. Alternatively, you could ask each team member to vote for their favorite idea(s) (between one and three) and then sort them according to the number of votes each receives.
You should now have a manageable list of ideas or even one preferred idea. Agree with the team on the next steps and develop an action plan. This might incorporate what further activities need to take place to fully form the idea(s), who will be responsible for any actions, when the actions need to be completed, and how the outcomes of the improvement initiative might be measured.
