Brainstorming, Brain Stilling

Brainstorming is one of the most frequently used group-based creativity process used for problem solving. It is a method using which numerous ideas can be collected from a group of people in a short time. It also provides a good background to have open discussions and communication during the entire project’s duration.

Brainstorming sessions generally take place between 10 people, however the numbers vary depending on various factors. The discussions of the group will be moderated by a leader who can also help in triggering different thoughts, which gives the participants time to connect their thoughts organically.

The whole process of brainstorming often takes one hour and is conducted through several stages, the first one of which is stating the topic of discussion and calling for different solutions. However, a creative thinking expert will replace the standard approach from “How to”, and put it down as “In how many ways can we”.

The four basic rules of brainstorming are:

• No prejudice against any participant.
• No criticism of any idea, however unlikely.
• More the ideas, the better. People use them to connect different thoughts.
• Sharing relevant experiences to help people use ideas to construct new ones.

Like the verbal communication method used in brainstorming, there is also another written medium of creative thinking known as Brain-Writing. In this process, ideas are generated by individuals and then written down on a piece of paper. These notes are then reproduced and exchanged with other members of the group, who will then read these notes and write down ideas.

Generally, Brain-Writing follows the 6-3-5 Method in which six members of the group generate and write down three ideas in five minutes. After five minutes, each member of the group will pass his paper to the participant on the right, who reads it and adds three new ideas in another five minutes. This process continues until each participant gets the original piece of paper back.

When you’re marketing a business, creativity, fresh ideas and innovation can contribute greatly to the success of your efforts. But creativity isn’t easily controlled, and often fresh ideas are hard to find. When you’re trying to come up with effective marketing campaigns, advertisements or slogans, brainstorming can help you get the creative juices flowing.

Collects Different Viewpoints

In any business, when a single person is responsible for generating all of your ideas, those ideas are likely to become stale or repetitive at some point. During a brainstorming session, however, you can collect ideas from a number of others. Those ideas may not be brilliant or even viable, but as you brainstorm together your ideas may evolve into something that is fresh and effective. Since your coworkers or associates likely have varying backgrounds, interests and motivations, they may help you generate ideas that no single individual could have fleshed out on her own.

Encourages Critical Thinking

One major advantage of brainstorming is that it requires you to think critically to solve a certain problem or create something innovative. The more you brainstorm, the better you become at encountering a problem and thinking about it critically. This means taking a topic or situation and looking at it in a logical and clear way, free from personal bias. Critical thinking may require you to break a topic or problem down into smaller parts. For instance, if you need to form a campaign around a new product, you’ll need to consider various pieces of the campaign, like product packaging, advertising mediums and messaging.

Gets You Out of Your Head

When you need to be creative, your own brain can become your worst enemy. That’s because creative thoughts may get jumbled and confused in your head, preventing you from thinking them through clearly. You also may come up with a vague idea, but find yourself unable to get the idea to take definite shape. Brainstorming requires you to pull the jumbled ideas from your head and get them out either audibly or on paper. Seeing or discussing these ideas can help you give them detail and shape, increasing the likelihood of finding something innovative.

Brainstorming Builds Teams

When you practice brainstorming as a group, you take team ownership of a campaign, product or event. This means that one person isn’t left feeling like he is carrying the workload for the entire company, and also cultivates a feeling of team ownership. Groups that practice brainstorming together may also learn how to work together better. Your brainstorming sessions will enable you to see certain talents or expertise in your coworkers of which you weren’t aware, which can be a great advantage when you need help in the future.

Brain Stilling

Brain stilling is allowing unconscious mind to work on the problem. The unconscious mind provides intuitive solutions. Brain stilling is also used to understand the others’ viewpoint with full concentration on the description provided. Ability to suspend judgment till the other person presents his view completely is important. Top managers need to cultivate the ability to combine intelligences of many people. Spirituality scholars with focus on management even talk of utilizing the universal intelligence in decision making.

Brain storming is a group creativity enhancing technique. In this technique, the members of the group are provided continuous stimulation in the form of ideas presented by others. Some of these ideas may provide the stimulus to bring forth new ideas. Every idea is recorded without any evaluation to encourage further participation by others. Top managers will get the benefit of conscious effort by many in the organization by holding brain storming sessions. The brain storming sessions can be followed by individual suggestions that are communicated after providing more time for external search and individual thinking. There is scope for intuitive suggestions also when time is provided to many for thinking.

After brain storming, some time can be given for brain stilling to allow time for the unconscious to bring out from the depths of one’s mind and brain some thing interesting that is of use to solve the problem under investigation.