While employees may not all be working side-by-side, there are ways to collaborate. Virtual brainstorming sessions — done effectively — can yield unique and plentiful ideas for businesses.
At a July 15 virtual event for the Central West Coast Chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association, Mimi Cirbusova shared tips for getting the most out of brainstorming. Cirbusova, membership manager of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, has trained at the Creative Problem Solving Institute and worked on the Florida Creativity Weekend. “Some of the best ideas you’re going to get are not from the people at the top, they’re from people who are dealing with the problems day in and day out,” she says. Advice from Cirbusova includes:
- Leaders facilitating a brainstorming session should consider the Osborn-Parnes creative problem-solving process. The model provides a four-step process for coming up with creative ideas: clarify, ideate, develop and implement.
- The first step — clarifying — is crucial. “You want to set the stage by saying, ‘This is the actual problem we’re trying to solve,’” she says. The next step, ideating, involves coming up with lots of ideas. “Brainstorming is really a process of letting as many ideas come to light as you possibly can,” says Cirbusova. In the develop stage, participants refine ideas. Then comes implementing. “Once you figure out, ‘This is the best solution for the problem we’re trying to solve,’ now you create a plan for putting the solution into action.”
- At brainstorming sessions she facilitates, Cirbusova posts guidelines. One is to defer judgment. The point: no ideas are right or wrong, and all ideas are worth sharing.
- During a session, Cirbusova recommends striving for quantity. Facilitators can set a specific numeric goal like, “Let’s come up with 100 ideas for this problem.”
- To encourage people to speak up, Cirbusova uses invitational language such as “How might we” or “Yes, and.” She encourages employing similar phrases outside of brainstorming, too. “Start using these phrases in your everyday language,” says Cirbusova. “The things that will come forth in your conversations — even at happy hour — are unbelievable.”