What are the rules to be followed during brainstorming session?

When innovating with your team, there are a few rules that are important regardless of the ideation session you’re conducting. In this article, we’ll outline the four golden rules of brainstorming and talk about how following them can improve your team’s innovative capabilities.

Rule #1: Every Idea Matters

One of the critical aspects of a successful brainstorming session is everyone feeling comfortable sharing their ideas. This means that no voice reigns supreme over the others, and no ideas are shot down before they’re proposed.

This is easy to say but often hard to implement—a brainstorming environment, both digital and in-person, can be overwhelming and judgmental at times. To ensure that every possible idea is successfully proposed rather than getting stuck in someone’s mind, people need to feel comfortable sharing their thoughts.

One creative way to do this is through incognito collaboration. This is a feature on digital whiteboards where, for the allotted time, people can only see their own notes. This means for the duration of the exercise, they can share ideas without feeling the judgment of someone who might disagree, and can remain more open to their own crazy inspirations.

After the exercise is done, there will be time to review the contributions, and the group is able to come to a conclusion based on what ideas have the most potential.

Rule #2: No Note Left Behind

One of the difficulties that occurs with brainstorming is that there can be so many good ideas, but only a limited amount of time and space to record them. In this case, it can be common to lose ideas that were supposed to be recorded or remembered.

The solution is simple and effective: document every single idea that’s discussed.

Using an online whiteboard is a great way to ensure that all ideas are documented and tracked properly, and that none of them fall through the cracks. Virtual whiteboards live in digital permanence, so there’s no worry of the marker getting erased or the notes being deleted.

Even if an idea doesn’t have tangible value to the end goal, it can still help provide necessary context to the ideas around it and to the meeting at large. This way, regardless of the importance of a note or the outcome of a meeting, everything will be saved on the board.

Rule #3: Embrace New Techniques

Part of brainstorming is experimenting with what is most effective for your team—and with the emergence of remote brainstorming, there are many new exercises that teams can conduct to find new ideation methods.

One potential solution is a hybrid brainstorming model, where people blend individual and group ideation to facilitate a holistic brainstorming experience. This ensures that people feel independent with their creative freedom and have space to share their ideas while also allowing multiple perspectives to integrate into the greater group context.

Online whiteboards make this hybrid model possible by facilitating both synchronous and asynchronous collaboration. Because the board is permanently saved online, you can access it at any time and from anywhere, allowing people to contribute asynchronously to the board before or after the group session.

Once the ideas are ready, everyone can gather on that same board and gauge everyone else’s contributions and come to a shared conclusion about the best option.

Embracing new brainstorming methods, including asynchronous collaboration, is something that is vital when moving forward and helps everyone approach innovation with an open mind.

Rule #4: Innovate Your Process

Innovation is not strictly applied to ideation but can also influence the process that teams use to brainstorm.

One of the most important things an innovative mindset can bring to a brainstorming session is simply changing the structure that your exercise is conducted within. This could be using a specific template to ideate, changing your meeting schedule, or conducting more design thinking exercises rather than text-based brainstorming.

By innovating the framework you work under you can begin to perfect an efficient workflow for your brainstorming exercises.

Whether you’re brainstorming some ideas for a project or are trying to radically shift the structure of your team, sticking to these four golden rules of brainstorming will help you get there in the most effective way possible.

About the Author

Paul Van Zandt is the founder of Fresco, a startup enabling real-time collaboration for people everywhere. Fresco allows you to collaborate with your team on an incredibly simple interface customize your workspace, and save all of your changes online in digital permanence. If you liked this article, make sure you check out Fresco to see how you can begin utilizing a futuristic brainstorming method.

Everyone knows the term ‘brainstorming.’ The premise is fairly simple: You gather stakeholders and conduct a meeting where everyone shares their ideas. But in practice, group brainstorming sessions can have the same problems as traditional meetings.

Not all brainstorming sessions will need a set of ground rules to be successful, it can make the brainstorming process easier. Having a set of ground rules can help set expectations, improve team building, and help participants feel more comfortable.

You may want to implement different rules based on specific group needs or go without rules brainstorming altogether. However, the suggested rules outlined in this article provide some helpful guidelines that facilitate a more effective brainstorming experience.

Why you should establish rules for a brainstorming session

While a brainstorming session can be successful without setting up rules or a code of conduct, establishing a set of norms can help make the session go more smoothly. Here are some added benefits of using rules during a brainstorming activity:

Set expectations

By setting some rules of brainstorming, you help participants know how the session will be run and which customs are allowed. How are ideas collected and prioritized? Are all ideas welcome? What boundaries, if any, should exist? Setting some expectations will help inform participants about what norms should be followed throughout the workshop.

Prevent conflict and improve team building

Is it okay to evaluate ideas right away, or should comments be held until the end of ideation? Set some guidelines around how ideas will be evaluated so participants don’t accidentally end up feeling shut down or hurt during the brainstorming phase.

Setting up a few norms for the brainstorming session will help participants focus on building upon each other’s ideas instead of competing to have the “best” idea.

Help participants feel comfortable

Sharing ideas can feel very personal, so it’s important you establish an environment of psychological safety to help more ideas flow freely. Treating ideas with respect can go a long way in making participants feel like they can share all their ideas, not just the ones that will be received better in the group.

Whether you're a facilitator for a formal group brainstorm, or just looking for tips to conduct an informal brainstorming session, here are our 7 recommended rules for better brainstorming.

7 rules for effective brainstorming

1. Accept all the creative and wild ideas

Brainstorming is all about new idea generation. If your participants are only comfortable with providing safe answers, the ideas at the end of the session will likely be more generic. Encouraging wild ideas will help engage creative problem solving and enable participants to think outside the box.

2. Build on other participants’ ideas

 Encourage participants to put a spin on or build upon the ideas from other participants. This may not only reduce the pressure on participants to have a fully-developed idea, but also helps encourage collaboration among the brainstorming group.

One way to integrate this concept into your brainstorming and ideation session is to use the round robin exercise. This brainstorming technique is run by dividing your team into small groups, and having each person pass their ideas along to the following teammate, who then offers counterpoints or further suggestions, helping identify potential weaknesses or spurring innovation within the session.

The round robin brainstorming template provides a structured way to brainstorm ideas, have participants build upon the ideas, evaluate, and solve the core problem introduced in a brainstorming session.

3. Use an asynchronous or private component

As a means to avoid group conformity, group brainstorming sessions should either involve individual preparation or private contributions to a project at the outset. If you know your topic and stakeholders, you can give everyone time before the meeting to brainstorm individually, and then bring their suggestions to the wider group for discussion and refinement.

This group brainstorming template is structured so you can generate creative ideas privately on your own, then come together again to share, discuss, and sort through everyone's ideas. It even includes some helpful rules for brainstorming to introduce at the beginning of the session.

The Conducting a Brainstorm Template from Meta's Think Kit comes with sections for both private and group brainstorming.

Alternatively, if you don’t have the luxury of pre-work, you can use a platform like Mural to collect ideas in real time while avoiding groupthink through Private Mode. This allows each person in the brainstorming session to think independently and not be influenced by other ideas from the group, but stay within the context of the individual session.

4. Don't criticize other collaborators' ideas

Brainstorming is impossible without mutual respect—teams need to be comfortable speaking their minds and taking risks. As we’ve noted in our article on psychological safety, just like trust, “psychological safety is fragile: it builds slowly, but breaks down very quickly.” Be sure to remind your brainstorming collaborators that there are no bad ideas.

Being intentional about establishing an environment where everyone feels comfortable contributing and that their voice is heard is key. But how can you create such an environment?

When thinking about the circumstances of your brainstorming session, consider these elements:

• If your brainstorming session is synchronous, make sure that you schedule it at a time that fits all your stakeholders’ working hours. If there is no way to avoid a difficult time for some team members, reach out and ask if that is acceptable before scheduling the meeting.
• If you’re meeting with a large number of people, that alone can be intimidating, especially in a virtual setting where people may not know one another. In these cases, breaking down into smaller discussion groups can foster better participation.
• Defer judgment and ask for clarification of a teammate’s ideas before challenging them in front of the group.
• Remind everyone that disagreement is fine, so long as it is respectful. (Chances are, if everyone completely agrees, it hasn’t been a very productive session.)

5. Aim for quantity over quality

At this stage, you may not even know what ‘quality’ means for your topic, so collect as many ideas as you can. Getting past the desire to self-edit is essential in brainstorming — sometimes what you might think is the most outlandish suggestion will lead to the best possible solution. Give your ideas a chance to shine, and ensure that everyone contributes to the session.

Some things to consider:

• Use a common turn-taking approach to make sure everyone has a chance to speak. This can be something predetermined or flexible, like ‘pass the ball.’
• Record every idea so that none of your work is lost — what may not seem as compelling at the outset might become the idea that is central to your work later on, so don’t lose it.

Using a shared digital space like Mural helps facilitate group engagement, and provides a single source of truth for later analysis once your brainstorming session is over. Learn more about how Mural enables brainstorming & ideation to drive better outcomes.

6. Make the brainstorming session visual

Giving your team visual tools to express themselves expands everyone’s ability to generate lots of ideas, levels the playing field, and helps foster understanding.

During your brainstorming session, you’ll likely encounter ideas that fall under consistent themes — using a visual platform or an online whiteboard helps you quickly and easily organize and categorize ideas, making the path forward clear.

Using a visual tool during ideation also removes the ‘loudest person in the room’ problem because everyone’s ideas are represented in the same way. This helps level the playing field so one person doesn’t end up contributing more than the next. Additionally, participants can easily add new ideas to the digital canvas when they have them.

7. Make the brainstorm collaborative and fun

While it’s easy to give over to worries about groupthink impeding ideation, let’s not forget that the primary goal of group brainstorming is to collaborate and create something together.

These valuable sessions are opportunities to build on one another’s ideas and create a shared vision for next steps. With the right preparation, mindset, and environment (as well as the right tools), brainstorming should be fun. It’s a way to not only collectively solve hard problems, but also get to know one another better and appreciate the unique value that each teammate brings to the table.

Related: 7 brainstorming techniques for developing new ideas

Use these tips for better brainstorming

Brainstorming is something that is commonly known but less commonly understood. It’s important to have an intentional approach to every part of your brainstorming session so that you can encourage creative thinking, set your team up for success, and get the results you need to create actionable next steps.

To run your most effective (and enjoyable) brainstorming session yet, follow these guidelines:

1. Use asynchronous (or pre-work) or private work to allow for individual brainstorming and avoid groupthink
2. Create an environment based on psychological safety so that you can maximize contributions and engagement
3. Focus on quantity, not quality
4. Make it visual
5. Make it collaborative (and fun)
   
   Bonus tip: run a warm-up or ice breaker to get your team in a creative mood and get their creative juices flowing.

More resources for successful brainstorming sessions

Whether you’re looking to gather ideas asynchronously from your distributed team, or working in real-time to collaboratively craft solutions for your company, Mural makes it easy to capture and organize your ideas so that you can create concrete next steps. Every mural is a record of your brainstorming that can be referenced later, and tools like tags for sticky notes and color coding make it easy to categorize ideas based on themes.

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