Steering Your Brainstorming Sessions from Failure to Success

December 2012

Do your organisation’s brainstorming sessions result in little more than brain drain?

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Traditional Brainstorming is ‘Anything Goes’

• People turn up, throw out ideas and go back to work...or maybe not, if the event has gone way over time.

• These sessions can result in little more than unusable ideas on paper.

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Traditional Brainstorming Sessions = Unproductive,

Waste of Time!

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Maybe it’s time to steer your brainstorming session in a

new direction.

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WiserChange™ would like to introduce you to brainsteering# -

a strategy for getting better results from your

creative thinking sessions.

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# A term introduced in the March 2011 McKinsey Quarterly

The following 5-step process will improve participants’ engagement levels and their perception of these

sessions.

More importantly, it will increase the

quality of outcomes.

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Are You Ready?  

Let’s Learn to Brainsteer!

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Step 1: Draft Ideas and Set an Agenda

• Pick a theme or subject.

• Choose who should be involved.

• Request ideas in advance from those attending.

• Convert key ideas into an agenda with time limits.

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Step 2: Create Thought-Provoking Questions Related to Key Ideas from Step 1

• Questions should be open-ended and encourage your people to look at the given topic from a different or unfamiliar perspective.

• Apply real-life limitations to refine creative ideas and steer them into viable, realistic options.

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Step 3: Begin the Brainsteering Session and Stick to the Schedule

• Aim for the goal of capturing a few viable ideas.

• Stick to the agenda to ensure time doesn’t run over.

• Break participants into small groups when there are a number of ideas per topic.

• Have these groups explore 2 ideas and then report their results to the larger group.

• Provide participants a summary sheet to document their discussions.  This formalises the creative process.

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Step 4: Agree on Actions and Socialise Them

• Have subgroups set the actions required for their allocated topic(s).

• After the session, socialise those agreed actions with key decision-makers and report back to the group.

• Allocate roles, responsibilities and actions to ideas that will be investigated further or implemented.

• Set a schedule for reporting back on progress and hold people accountable to their allocated actions.

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Step 5: Report Back

• Report back to the session stakeholders on outcomes of actions.

• This serves multiple purposes. You show that participants’ input was valued no

matter the outcome of those ideas. Participants gain a sense of pride when their

idea(s) are implemented. Organisational perceptions of “brainstorming

sessions” are improved. Organisational resistance to future creative

events is reduced.

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To read a more in-depth, detailed look at how to improve your brainstorming sessions…

• Visit the WiserChange™ blog and read, “How to run a half day workshop that will deliver some truly workable ideas.”

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Questions? Contact WiserChange™

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If you have questions about brainsteering, innovation or change management, please contact

the WiserChange™ team.

info@wiserchange.com

Phone - 612 9955 1212

www.wiserchange.comfacebook.com/WiserChangeConsultinglinkedin.com/company/wiserchange

@WiserChange

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