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3 • Brainstorming - Part 4

Brainstorming is a relatively simple procedure. In reality, all it amounts to is a group of people tossing out ideas, without self- or outside evaluation, as fast as they can be thought up and recorded. There is no "discussion," "elaboration," or "selling" of any par­ticular ideas. And when the flow of spontaneous ideas begins to slow, the moderator or chairman moves in to get the flow going again. Members of the panel listen to each other and try to im­prove, modify, or combine their ideas to increase the number of alternatives. When the time limit is up, or some arbitrary quota of ideas has been reached, the chairman closes the session by thanking the panelists for their efforts, and requests that any "after-session" ideas be written down and sent immediately to the secretary for inclusion in the typed list. And the whole ses­sion is kept relaxed, informal, and friendly.

That is all there really is to Brainstorming, but simple as it is, there are some real pitfalls to be avoided in introducing the tech­nique into a company.

One of the first is to avoid overselling the technique before it has produced anything worthwhile. It takes time and experience to learn to lead a Brainstorm session effectively. It takes a certain amount of indoctrination and practice before people can partici­pate to the full extent of their capabilities as members of a panel. Therefore, a good way to initiate it, or any group method, in a company is to suggest trying it as an "experiment" to explore the possibilities. As long as you keep your Brainstorming on an experi­mental basis, and everybody understands and is sympathetic with this objective, you have both time and freedom to make mistakes, analyze them, correct them, and gain the experience you and your Brain stormers will need.

Another major difficulty of Brainstorming is attempting to use it as a substitute for individual thinking. This can quickly earn you hostility from your panelists. Brainstorming should not be used on a problem simply because an individual is too lazy to work out solutions himself. It may be used to supplement the work of the individual by adding to what he has already produced. But it is not a substitute for individual thinking.

A prime pitfall is failing to orient your problem correctly. A problem that is too broad will cause the panel to flounder and go off in far too many directions for them to really explore or exhaust the possibilities in any one approach. On the other hand, a prob­lem that is too narrowly confined does not take advantage of Brain storming's ability to uncover many different approaches. And in between is the problem that is just plain misdirected: trying to design a better mouse trap when what you really want is a new way to get rid of mice.

As mentioned before, it takes a certain amount of indoctrina­tion before panelists are ready to brainstorm. So another major pitfall is to fail to give this indoctrination. Brainstorming, for all its simplicity, is different from any other kind of meeting, con­ference, or group activity. This means that, initially, the average person will lack an understanding of just what he is expected to do, and how he is supposed to do it, and, most importantly, ivhy he is doing it. All these questions should be covered in an indoctri­nation meeting with panelists before they are expected to partici­pate in a Brainstorm session. It is also a good idea to put new Brainstormers through a simple practice session at the time of this indoctrination so they can get the "feel" of participation without, at the same time, feeling that they are on the spot to produce. A simple, nonobjective problem like "How many uses, other than writing, can you think of for a common pencil" makes a good practice problem.

Two major pitfalls of Brainstorming lie in the area of follow-up: failure to take action on ideas produced; and failure to report back to the panel members with any "successes." Either of these failures can result in discouragement and apathy toward the Brainstorming process and make future participation and coopera­tion difficult to obtain.

Here are general types of situations where you might consider the use of Brainstorming, with some observations on the results you could reasonably expect:

Exploring the Possibilities in a Product or Situation. Example: "What changes could we consider to make this product more salable?" (or to increase the performance or the function or to cut the costs). In this type of problem, you can expect that your ideas will be largely broad, general leads—but only leads or approaches —-which will have to be developed. In this case, you should know in advance that the next step will be for an individual (or, per­haps, a team) to evaluate those leads for possibilities. Chances are you will also know who that man is, because he should be the one who requested the Brainstorm in the first place.

Creating a List of New Needs. Example: "What new food products, not now on the market, would you like to be able to buy?" This was actually brainstormed for a food-products manu­facturer who wanted to diversify his line. There was no question about how he was going to screen and evaluate his ideas—he knew in advance what he wanted them for and had set up criteria covering his production abilities, research budget, and general plant and financial considerations. These effectively limited how far a field from his present lines he was willing to go. (These criteria were not, however, given to the panel members for fear of restricting their thinking.) And this manufacturer got what he was looking for: a few ideas for promising products that merited further attention and development.

Uncovering Potential Uses for New Products or Raw Materials. A chemical company use Brainstorming in this way. When a new chemical or seemingly promising material comes out, they brainstorm for possible new products they could make with it or possible replacement uses in their present products. These ideas are considered only as starters—the list is then turned over to a development group to evaluate and research. Sometimes this group reports complete blanks. But this is not considered a fail­ure. It simply means "no potential for this material at this time." This is what the company wanted to know in the first place.

As a "Crash Program" Knowledge-pooling Device. Brainstorm-ing is primarily an orderly method for concentrating the knowl­edge, experience, and education of a group of people on a prob­lem. By mixing a variety of specialists, who, as individuals, know something about the problem, you may be able to save time in gathering information. Notice, the word was "information" not ideas. This use of Brainstorming utilizes the rules and framework of the tool for the sake of discipline and expediency, but the objective is different. If you do happen to get a few promising ideas, they are side benefits.

As a Group Test. This can be an effective and productive use of Brainstorming, particularly on technical problems. When an individual, or a team, has what looks like a feasible solution to a problem, the problem and the solution are given to the Brain­storm panel with the challenge: "What improvements can we suggest on this solution?" To evaluate the resulting ideas, you simply measure them against the test idea on standard criteria of cost, function, dependability, efficiency, etc. Again, you may not get anything worthwhile. On the other hand, you may get some new approaches or good modifications or simplifications. Either way, you know your final solution is probably the best you can come up with at the moment—even if it is not completely satisfactory.

Related terms include small and medium businesses and bookkeeping.