Brainstorming: To Have or Not To Have

As much as I espouse the virtues of a brainstorm – one properly conducted, of course – there certainly are times when you should NOT have one.

First of all, a brainstorm should never be a universal answer to “How do we generate creative ideas?” Some people simply think and work better creatively when alone. Sometimes the team doesn’t have enough appropriate information to brainstorm.

I can even think of a few instances when I’ve conducting a brainstorm – against my better judgment, alas – because I felt the client's internal culture meant that we were running a brainstorm simply to satisfy a political agenda instead creating good ideas. In the end, it wasn’t the waste of time and ideas I bemoaned, it was the effect on the people who knew their supervisor was protecting himself – and not the team.

In short, brainstorms have positive and negative aspects, and the person leading or hosting one should consider the merits of both sides before deciding to schedule one.

Positive Aspects v. Negative Aspects

A good brainstorm can generate better solutions, and thus, better decisions.

On the other hand, a bad brainstorm can make bad decisions if the group itself is lacking in senior counsel, direction or the ‘big picture.’ This is especially true if the brainstorm defaults to the loudest person in the room, more so if this person is more senior than the others.

A good brainstorm acts as ‘stop-gap’ for the team, to ensure they aren’t avoiding risk, also to double-check that the team is pushing the envelope when necessary.

On the other hand, a bad brainstorm can end up with ‘group think’ if the collective wants to avoid responsibility (“they can’t fire all of us”), or anything different or unusual (“why can’t we just stay the same?”).

A good brainstorm is more time-efficient. A group has more information and knowledge than an individual. An expert only has to explain a confusing/ complex topic or answer questions once. It’s faster to convince a group about certain direction, strategy or idea.

On the other hand, a bad brainstorm takes more time and resources (both collectively and individually) and emotion (in terms of discussion and debate). This is doubly so if the group is unprepared or without a proper agenda.

A good brainstorm is more urgent and interactive because there’s simply more conversation – which in turn stimulates debate and imagination.

On the other hand, a bad brainstorm doesn’t necessarily have the sense of urgency when a deadline is looming because each person may assume someone else is taking care of the deadline when in fact no one is in charge.