Each of us in a leadership position within our companies often has to manage a creative meeting or brainstorming session. While we aim to make these exciting, inspiring exercises that yield wonderful, mind-blowing ideas they often lack the creativity we desire. So here are some tips on how to manage a truly creative brainstorming session.

The first thing to remember when managing a creative gathering is that creative thinking is a journey and not a destination. As a participant, to effectively contribute to a brainstorm we need to remove any fear that each suggestion has to be a fully-formed idea. The pressure of perfection kills our confidence to be creative, so try to encourage all the participants at the gathering to contribute, no matter how raw or unpolished their idea might be.

It is very rare that a single idea is offered and taken on board with no additions or variations, so participants need to see their ideas as a raw ingredient that will be bashed, mashed and stirred around a bit in order to come to the desired result.  Participants need to see this is a vital part of the process, rather than a criticism of their idea.

In addition, each team member needs to consider it their duty, for the good of the debate, to suggest a raw ingredient that they feel may add value. Nerves at a brainstorm session are inherently selfish, because they can hinder you from sharing your idea and the whole team/project could be missing out on your amazing suggestion.

If you are asked to run a creative meeting, here are some practical ideas for maximising the output of your time.

5 tips for running effective brainstorm sessions

1.  Use an energiser /icebreaker exercise at the start to get people into a creative mode.

2.  Describe the topic to be discussed as a question as it helps open the mind and allows the person running the session to bring it back if focus is being lost.

3.  Asking the right questions is as important as offering thoughts and suggestions so prepare a few questions that may add a different perspective on the problem or topic being discussed.

4.  Post-it notes are a great way to get thoughts and ideas out from individual/pairs onto the flip/board.  These can then be ‘clustered’ into similar areas, which then provides sub-headings to then add detail.

5.  If creative juices seem to be getting stuck, then get the group to think about the topic from a ‘future history’ frame of mind. For example imagine the event has already happened and it was the most successful one ever. What happened that made it so?  This directs everyone to think beyond any problems or boundaries.

Finally, remember that the more energy in the room, the more ideas will flow, so enjoy it and set a clear timeframe so the meeting does not end up getting sluggish.

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