LATEST ENTRY

CREATIVITY | Noah Brier

It's Not a Brainstorm without a Leader

It's important to always have someone leading a brainstorm who follows a different set of rules and guidelines from everyone else.

November 16, 2005 | RSS | EMAIL | PRINT | 4 COMMENTS

In the comments of Bringing Brainstorming to the Boardroom, Ben brings up an interesting point that I failed to mention:

This was all very interesting. I've been thinking about brainstorming in groups a lot lately, as this is frequently the type of thing you're expected to do in law school. Its been my experience lately that when you put a bunch of bright, creative people together in a room, there is a tendency for everyone to go around saying their ideas, not really building on or developing any of them. I don't think people are purposefully closed-minded, I think its just a natural reaction to want to flesh out your own idea before considering another person's.

One of the things that has kept our brainstorming going is having a group leader who kind of moderates everything and steers the discussion towards collaboration. But I think having a leader is probably just one way to confront the problem. I bet if you have a group of people who do a lot of brainstorming--say at a marketing company for example--after a while you probably can dispense with a leader because everyone is familiar with the process.

I wish Ben was right about the ability to dispense with the leader in a marketing setting, but it's just not the case. It is incredibly important to always have a leader in a brainstorm, otherwise, just what Ben mentioned tends to happen. Even worse at an agency you run the risk of a brainstorm turning into a tactical discussion without the help of a leader. The rules I mentioned for a great brainstorm were aimed at brainstormees, not the leader, who must assume a much different role.

The leader of the brainstorm should not actually be a participating member, instead their job is to guide the discussion, keep people on path, make sure people are following the rules and write everything down. It's sometimes hard to let go of control as the leader of a brainstorm, but it's important to accept that position going in; as the leader it's not your job to contribute ideas and you need to deal with it.

Once the brainstorm has ended the leader takes those ideas that the group has come up with and starts to evaluate them and shape them. By writing the ideas down in a more coherent format, holes start to show up and next steps and needs emerge.

So for Ben, and anyone else who's brainstorming, next time you get a bunch of smart people in the room, make sure there's someone leading the discussion, things should work much better that way.

PREVIOUS ENTRY | NEXT ENTRY

LEAVE A COMMENT

First name, first and last, whatever you feel like.

Required, but not displayed (so don't worry about spam).

If you've got one, flaunt it.

You can use some HTML (a's, br's, p's, oh my!) if you'd like, if you don't know what that means, don't worry about it.
REMEMBER ME?

COMMENTS

1Ben

That makes a lot of sense. I think one of the ways we've been going astray is by trying to have the group leader be an active participant as well as steering the discussion. Next time I'll suggest the leader plays more of the type of role you suggest. Good stuff...thanks.

November 17, 2005

2Noah Brier

No problem, glad I could help.

November 17, 2005

3Adrian

Good blog Noah.

Instead of suggesting that moderators not contribute ideas, I would recommend that we have better moderators.

Typically, a planner briefs a creative team who then go to wrap their head around the problem, and come back some time later w/ concepts. A brainstorming session is different however in that its purpose is to generate ideas in a short period of time. Not allowing a moderator to contribute at all would limit the flow of ideas. A good moderator knows their role is distinct from the group, and should be able to balance that role in order to guide the conversation and unbiasly participate in the ideation process at the same time. One way we do this is by separating the group into teams, and having the moderator shift between different teams.

"A good idea can come from anywhere, from any...department, at any level," -CP+B handbook

November 19, 2005

4Noah Brier

Hey Adrian,
I agree, I do think it's okay for a moderator to contribute, as long as they remain cognizant of their role as moderator. I think my bigger point is that it's essential to have a moderator, because without one a brainstorm tends to go off in too many directions. I don't think the flow of ideas should be limited, but it can be difficult to balance moderating a brainstorm with contributing because I think you risk overpowering others with your own ideas. As you mentioned, though, a good moderator can deal with the duality, and they should absolutely should contribute.

Also, nice quote. It actually plays perfectly to the other piece I wrote about bringing brainstorm thinking to big companies. Thanks.

November 19, 2005