Interactive Brainstorming Techniques

Navigating power imbalances and fostering psychological safety in brainstorming sessions can be a challenge for facilitators. I recall a CEO of a law firm who was hesitant to run strategy workshops due to past experiences where the Chairman's voice dominated the room, making it difficult for other partners to share their perspectives freely. I assured them that as a facilitator, my role was to ensure that everyone's voice was respected, heard, and valued. I'm happy to say it worked well. 😊 Creating a psychologically safe space is crucial. This can be achieved by setting clear expectations at the start of the session, encouraging respectful dialogue, and managing the room to bring in all voices in a way that works. Here are some ways I run an idea generation or brainstorming session. ⭐ Start by clarifying what challenge or problem we’re here to address. Do this by reframing it as a 'How Might We…’ statement - a common method used in design thinking. This approach encourages collaborative thinking and ensures everyone in the room can contribute their perspectives. ⭐ Another design thinking tool I use is Crazy 8s, a great way to generate ideas quickly (handy when workshop time is tight). It involves generating eight ideas in eight minutes, which pushes participants to think beyond their initial ideas and stretch their creative boundaries. - Give each person a blank A4 sheet. Fold it in half 3 times so you have 8 equally spaced squares. - Each person silently writes or draws one idea per square per minute. - Go around the room so each person shares their ideas. Each idea has its moment. No judgement. Most senior persons share last. - Pop them up on a wall. - Each person then selects their top 2 to 3 ideas. - Discuss the ideas and collectively build on them (encourage the use of ‘and’ and ban ‘but’). - Collectively select the ideas you want to action. ⭐ But what about those quieter voices in the room? Silent Brainstorming is a way to encourage those who prefer to work independently to have their ideas heard. - It starts with individual ideation, where everyone writes their ideas independently before the session. - These ideas are then shared in an in person or virtual session and built upon collectively in a non-judgmental environment. These are just a few methods to address power imbalances and foster psychological safety in idea generation sessions. I'm curious, what other methods do you use to ensure that all voices, not just the loudest, are heard and valued in your brainstorming sessions? Thanks to Adam Grant for sharing the Work Chronicles cartoon below. ——————————————————————————- 👉 If you're looking for an experienced facilitator for your upcoming sessions or workshops, whether defining a strategy, mapping a plan, or crafting your purpose and values, I can help. #facilitation #psychologicalsafety #creativity #inclusion

#Nonprofits lack resources. We get it and we talk about it a lot. Probably too much. We have to pivot to creating a better future. How? I tried this "imagination and future-telling" exercise on a new project this week and loved how it helped to open up new thought which would typically be shot down by realizations like: "we don't have the team to pull that off" or "we cannot pay the salary for that type of role." Test out this Magic Circle exercise by IDEO: 🟩 Step 1: Pick a challenge Identify a project/initiative that’s been giving you a tough time. It could be anything from retaining staff, engaging new audiences, to stewarding #donors remotely. 🟩 Step 2: Acknowledge constraints Write down all the constraints you’re facing on sticky notes. This could include limited time, budget constraints, unsupportive leadership (😶), or too much varied input. This step is crucial for recognizing the difference between *real* and *perceived* constraints. 🟩 Step 3: Temporarily set constraints aside Once you’ve listed out constraints, put them away. Close the browser or remove the sticky notes from the whiteboard. This symbolically let's you free your mind from the limitations. 🟩 Step 4: Dream big & brainstorm outrageously With constraints out of view, let your imagination run wild. Think of the most outrageous ideas - the kind that involve creating a mascot for your org or launching a new vibrant online gathering space for interaction! The goal here is to explore the breadth of possibilities without the dampening effect of limitations. After this brainstorming, bring back your constraints and use them to sift through your ideas, refining the wild into workable solutions. I love this method b/c it DOES acknowledge real constraints but also leverages the collective imagination. It is far more effective to scale back a wild idea than to try and inject creativity into something boring. We need to reimagine what's possible ... this is one way to do it ✨ Please (please please) try it out and tell us if it worked!! _______________ #nonprofitleadership #fundraising #creatingthefuture

It has been a while since I've done one of these. Let's look at a card from a card deck! For those who don't know me — Hi, I'm Rach, and I have a card deck problem — I'm obsessed with them. This card comes from the Pip Decks Innovation Tactics deck by Tom Kerwin. Let's jump into *10-Star Experience* What the heck is it? 🤔 ↳ An activity that pulls you to the extreme of reviewing a product or service. It helps your participants think BIG. ⚡️ How to do it... ↳ Step 1: Put the prompt out to the group to "Write the story of a 10-star customer experience" — encourage them to use words, pictures, drawings, video, whatever they want! ↳ Step 2: Provide a space for people to gather these ideas. Virtually this might be a Miro board. In-person maybe you designate some large format paper on tables or blank walls. Give people the environment to get creative. ↳ Step 3: Invite participants to read other's stories and digest those. At the same time, ask those participants to indicate pieces of the story they felt were exciting or surprising (you can use dots for this type of indication) ↳ Step 4: As a group look at the items that were called out with dots and review those. Bring interesting insights into your next activities. 💜 What I love about it... ↳ It helps people think differently when you expand the review beyond just words, like having people add drawings or pictures. ↳ Going past the 5-star review helps people get the craziest responses out of their heads, which is what we want! 💪 How you can use, remix, or even flip this approach.. ↳ Use: I like to use this activity for brand strategy or product development workshops to put participants in the mindset of their audience. ↳ Remix: Switch it up to a 10-star experience social media post, in the style of user-generated content. Giving this different perspective helps people think less formally in terms of a "review" ↳ Flip: What would a NEGATIVE 10-star experience look like? Flip it so people can look at it from another view. Just like starting with the worst ideas in a brainstorm, this helps people relax a bit more and have fun with it; get all those negative thoughts out first - then you can look at why those reviews are bad and turn the lemons into lemonade. 🔥 Facilitator tips for this activity... ↳ Use a Me-We-Us approach where you have everyone contribute individually first, then share in small groups, and then return to the larger group. ↳ Use the craziest idea award in conjunction with this to gamify it, and help people think bigger. ↳ Switch up your dots and use emojis (virtually or in-person stickers) What do you think? Would you use this activity? --- Found this useful? 🔄 Repost for your network. 🎉

Stuck in a rut? Does coming up with a good idea feel like picking something to watch on Netflix? (every choice is mediocre, you end up arguing/scrolling for 2 hours) I have a few ‘good ideas’ to help. Here are 4 brainstorming techniques for UX problems. 💡 🧠 The HMW Reframing Method Start with a challenge—users aren't completing sign-up. Now, reframe it as a How Might We question—how might we make sign-up irresistibly easy? This simple switch kickstarts solution-oriented thinking.  Pro tip: Generate multiple HMWs for each problem to explore different angles. 🧠 The Intersection matrix Create a grid with user needs on one axis and random objects or concepts on the other. For example, "Quick checkout" meets "Rollercoaster." How could the thrill and speed of a rollercoaster inform your checkout process? It's weird, agreed. But you never know, you might end up with unexpected brilliance. 🧠 Reverse brainstorming Flip the script. Instead of asking "How do we improve user engagement?", ask "How could we completely destroy and annihilate user engagement?" List all the terrible ideas, then reverse them. It's a fun way to identify pain points and generate solutions you might have overlooked. 🧠 The 5 Whys You know this classic. Basically, become a toddler. Start with a problem statement and ask "Why?" five times. Each answer becomes the basis for the next "Why?" This helps you dig deeper and uncover root causes. For example: - Users aren't using the new feature. Why? - They don't know it exists. Why? - We haven't promoted it effectively. Why? - Our notification system is broken. Why? - It wasn't properly tested before launch. Why? - We rushed the development process. Boom. Now you know where to focus your problem-solving efforts. It also helps to begin ideation with the ‘hair on fire’ problem. Here’s how. https://bit.ly/4dHyjWl Let’s do opposites. What’s a brainstorming exercise you hate, and why do you think it doesn’t work? Looking to find some interesting answers in the comments! 🥸