BRAINSTORMING
by Earl C. Joseph, Walden University Professor
A publication of the Minnesota Futurists
To futurists, brainstorming is a tool that cultivates the generation of divergent thinking and creative dialog. It is a participatory tool for producing from a group a large number of different alternative possibilities (ideas) for a particular future time frame.
It takes place in a meeting designed to get the full participation of all present. Evaluation of ideas is suspended to allow a full range of ideas to develop freely on a particular issue or future. A brainstorming meeting is thus designed to facilitate the free association of ideas and to open new avenues of alternative possibilities thinking.
Brainstorming assists group thinking by:
ð providing a means to get many ideas on alternative possible futures identified over a short period of time;ð fostering creative idea generation and out-of-the-box thinking;
ð increasing the involvement of participating group members;
ð eliminating the need to find the ãbestä or ãmost feasibleä idea for the future;
ð reducing negative idea feedback, competition, one-upmanship, and leader control during idea generation;
ð stimulating idea generation by eliminating idea analysis and negative comments on the ideas generated;
ð providing a rich source of ideas for later analysis.
Brainstorming works because:
ð itâs more productive; ideas are not evaluated or discussed at the time proposed; this is important because most of us are trained to be critical and judgmental rather than creative;ð by deferring judgment, more ideas and alternatives are generated which, at a later time, can be analyzed and the best ones chosen;
ð group production yields a greater number of diverse ideas than when one tackles the problem by oneself;
ð itâs far more likely a ãright pathä towards the future will be chosen if many ideas are available to choose from.
Some uses of brainstorming:
ð to develop visions for the future;ð to determine future goals;
ð to decide which products, events, and programs to sponsor;
ð to find a future possible solution to a current problem;
ð to flesh out new uses for a product or an idea.