Brainstorming games for business

Brainstorming is a popular technique that involves a group of people all bouncing ideas off one another. Everyone gathers around a whiteboard, talks through their ideas, and the group hopefully agrees on a creative direction on the spot. Secondly, it favors fast thinkers and vocal people, while quieter, more analytical thinkers underperform.

To get the most out of your entire team, you need to give everyone a chance to give their best answers. But it does mean that you need to design them to help different types of thinkers thrive. We all use two types of communication: real-time and asynchronous. But remote workers depend on asynchronous communication much more, and that uniquely affects their brainstorming sessions. Communication is less immediate, but there are many benefits. Firstly, it gives people more time to think before responding, which means they can give their best answer rather than their first.

Recent evidence suggests brainstorming is better when done alone for this reason. Individuals perform better when they can work on developing their ideas first, and then present to the group later on. Another benefit is that it makes the process more democratic; it allows the quieter, more thoughtful members of the group to have their voices heard just as much as their more vocal coworkers. With the right tools, your team can brainstorm in real-time, asynchronously, or you can mix the two styles.

Here are three essential techniques you can use when brainstorming, whether working in real-time or asynchronously. This will create an electric, dynamic atmosphere, well suited to brainstorming. In this icebreaker game, everyone is encouraged to name their favorite thing. This icebreaker game is useful because it can be adapted to align with the meeting goal, work environment or something more personal.

This works well for remote teams because everyone can participate. Ask the team members to find an image online and upload it to a picture sharing site, shared drive or online whiteboard. Within the group, each member should present the image and a short description online. It will stir the imagination and creativity of the participants, and makes an ideal springboard to brainstorming.

The aliens have landed icebreaker is a popular game for teams with remote participants who have language and cultural differences. Tell the group to imagine an alien spaceship has landed on Earth and wants to learn about your company. Take a few minutes and look at all the images. Are there common themes? The one word icebreaker can be used without a lot of preparation, and moves quickly. An online tool for mind mapping would work well. Or, they can use an online whiteboard solution or even a shared Google document.

For teams without a lot of time, this icebreaker does double duty. It acts as a fun and interactive icebreaker but it also kicks off the brainstorming session. Choose a word aligned with the meeting goals, such as the product itself, or the solution it is trying to provide.

Ask the team to reconvene and share their answers. The variety of one word answers will be enlightening. Plan and Track Training. StreamLiner Software. Lean and Continuous Improvement.

TRIZ Kit. Editable Template. On-Line Accredited Certifications. Brainstorming Games. SWOT Manager. Comment Box is loading comments More Info. Brainstorming Method Learn the brainstorming process steps, guidelines and multivoting. Creative Thinking Learn an exercise and triggers for creative thinking. Tree Diagram Review our tree diagram desciption, use, construction, and an example. Mind Mapping Learn the brainstorming mind mapping technique. We provide an example of it in action.

Lateral Thinking Lateral thinking is closely connected to creative thinking. QAS Home Brainstorming. Facebook Twitter Pinterest. Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

Click on the HTML link code below. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable. Each "hat" represents a unique set of priorities and perspectives that will help focus your discussion and consider the project from a wide variety of angles. For example, if you're wearing the "Devil's Advocate" hat, it's your job to consider the project's limitations and challenges.

It may feel uncomfortable at first to temporarily adopt a very narrow form of thinking, but the extremes can help teams fully explore a project. This exercise involves bringing together ideas that serve very different needs or interests to form a new concept. You see this sort of thinking all the time in products like the Apple Watch, the Swiss Army knife, smartphones, or even sofa beds.

To put this method into practice, bring a bag of random items to your next meeting, or draw up two lists of unrelated items on the board. Ask team members to pick two or more items and explore different ways they can be connected. This technique can produce some silly results, but it's ultimately a helpful way of getting your team out of a creative rut. In this exercise, participants simply write down a few rough ideas for solving a particular problem on a piece of paper. Each piece of paper is then passed on to someone else, who reads it silently and adds their own ideas to the page.

This process is repeated until everyone has had a chance to add to each original piece of paper. The notes can then be gathered, ready for discussion. The big advantage of brain-writing is that it makes sure everybody is given the opportunity to have their thoughts and ideas thoroughly considered by the group. This avoids the loudest or most extroverted people unintentionally dominating the sessions.

For some teams, brainstorming might come easily — they might even have a process in place. And trust me, there are no silly ideas in a brainstorming session. Write down anything that you or your team have come up with.

What may seem implausible now may be what your team chooses to pursue later. Consider creating budgetary constraints, establishing a timeline, and putting up guardrails that will keep your brainstorming session in line with your goals. Resist the urge to prune ideas as you come up with them. Ideas that seem obsolete can also act as guardrails later on.

When you get an excellent idea during your brainstorming session, you might feel tempted to commit to it and set it aside, then continue brainstorming other ideas. The goal of brainstorming, of course, is to finalize one final concept. What are they doing that you could imitate? Which ideas could you bounce off of? Even the most productive brainstorming sessions will come to a halt at one point, and inspiration will go a long way in jumpstarting your session again.

You might even print out certain images, articles, and campaigns to keep your team inspired as you work. Using a whiteboard might seem like the stereotypical brainstorming route, but it has its merits: It allows your team to get any and all ideas out in a seemingly impermanent way. No idea is too silly to write on a whiteboard because you can easily erase it. Remember to pair whiteboarding with a creative brainstorming exercise. Let your team take a walk, scroll through social media, or go out for a bite.

Do brainstorming in short bursts, or do it in long blocks. Traditional brainstorming is dead. Your team no longer has to sit in a circle in silence while you try to write ideas on an empty whiteboard.

Use the above exercises to come up with powerful marketing projects, advertisements, and campaigns that empower your team and your company to grow better. Editor's note: This post was originally published in November and has been updated for comprehensiveness. Originally published Aug 20, PM, updated August 24 Subscribe to Our Blog Stay up to date with the latest marketing, sales, and service tips and news.