Calling your tribe together in a brainstorming session can be a great way to entice creative thoughts and develop team camaraderie. But, if not managed correctly, brainstorming sessions can be a huge waste of time and could actually cause dissension within your tribe.
Now some leaders have the ability to call all tribe members together in a face-to-face brainstorming meeting, and others are spread out so far that using an online software to have that meeting is the best method.
There are various online resources to have meetings with team members. It is great if that system allows screen sharing and recording so team members can review the meeting at a later time.
We have discovered that Zoom fulfills all those needs.
If a brainstorming session is properly managed, you will see amazing benefits.
I am going to share several brainstorming tips to help you in your next session. If you have any questions or added tips, feel free to share them in the comment area below.
Brainstorming Tip #1: Introduce Everyone
While each person may know the others, I still suggest you go through the tribe members introducing each person and a compliment of that person’s primary skill.
I also suggest that you recommend each tribe member takes notes during the session.
Brainstorming Tip #2: Have A Purpose
When you plan a brainstorming session, you need to have a specific purpose for that meeting. Be sure and explain that purpose at the start of the meeting and certain members may need to have that information before the meeting so they can prepare slightly.
I say slightly, because you should only give them short time to prepare. Tell them about the meeting just 24-70 hours before.
Why?
Because the idea is spontaneity.
Just as an example, you want to generate a social media advertising campaign. You will want any members currently managing social media and those who develop ad campaigns to know the info before the meeting. But you should not tell them the primary goal, just that they need to explain social media to the other members.
Remember, keep it spontaneous.
Brainstorming Tip #3: Plan The Action
As the moderator, you need to plan the order of action.
- The time each person gets to toss an idea
- The order of each person giving their idea
- Rebuttal times
- Etc…
It is up to you to keep control. I even suggest you explain the rules just after the introductions.
Brainstorming Tip #4: Ask For A Certain Number Of Ideas
“Okay team, I want to generate 40 ideas for social media ad campaigns using content, banners or anything else you can dream of. We will go around the room and each person gives an idea until we reach 40. We will take each idea and each person will give their critique of it.”
This system works great because you keep order and you will get ideas that will amaze you.
Brainstorming Tip #5: Make Brainstorming Part Of The Tribe Culture
You can keep these meetings to a minimum by creating an overall culture in the tribe of sharing creative ideas at any time.
Let your people know that they should send any and all ideas via email to all team members at any time. Let them know that all critiques of these ideas should only be sent to you, and you follow up with the member explaining why, or why not their idea may be used. But reward them no matter the outcome.
Brainstorming Tip #6: Have A Time Limit
If you set the meeting for 1 hour, keep it 1 hour!
If the meeting did not get completed, explain to everyone that you will pick up where you left off and set the next meeting day and time.
If you don’t have a set time, some members could get frustrated because they have tasks to complete and did not make room for extra meeting time.
Brainstorming Tip #7: Eliminate Roadblocks
In some circumstances, tribe members may feel there is a roadblock keeping them from sharing an idea. These roadblocks could be:
- Costs
- Time
- Personnel
- Laws
- Etc…
Before the meeting, let all tribe members know that roadblocks are all removed. You WANT all ideas without any roadblocks.
Another way brainstorming leaders help this is by not having critique of ideas during the meeting. Critiques of each idea are sent via email to the leader and he/she breaks the ideas down to the most viable.
Conclusion
These are just a few brainstorming tips. As a matter of fact, I may have a brainstorm session and come up with more… I will let you know the outcome.
I want to add one more tip… Ask for crazy ideas. Some of the best creative feats came from an idea that 90% of people thought was crazy.
Did this post help you? If you received some value in it, please share it with team members on social media.
One thing that I can say came from brainstorming is the Home Business Success Kit. My tribe all worked together and determined that we can help home based business owners have success quickly. So I suggest you see how this kit can help you by clicking here.
Here is to your next brainstorming session…
To The Top!
