ICT for SMEs:

Brainstorming

Success Stories Best Business Practices BIG Project

IT-powered Brainstorming Sessions

 

European Innovation

  

Brainstorming: 10 Rules

Problem Solving Strategies: 4 Levels

Creative Problem Solving: Switching Perceptions

Turn Problems to Opportunities: 6 Tips

A Brainstorming Innovation Group (BIG) project supported by the European Regional Development Fund has allowed Technology Enterprise Kent, in England, to develop a new method to support creative thinking in small- and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) and other groups.

2 Creativity Catalysts

They use computer software during brainstorming sessions to elicit and capture ideas in a more professional and flexible manner than traditional methods.

In each BIG session, participants have laptop computers linked within a wireless network to contribute and develop ideas. Input can be anonymous, if preferred, and as each person types in their suggestions they can see everybody else's contributions popping up on the screen at the same time.

Same Reality, Different Perceptions

"What tends to happen is that some people send in the first few tentative suggestions, then suddenly you are hit by a flood of ideas that start surging in and feeding off one another," says Peter Parsons, chief executive of Technology Enterprise Kent.

 

 

The sessions are led by a professional facilitator, and as each session develops the facilitator can begin sorting the ideas into various themes and making it easier for them to be refined. The participants can eventually vote on various options, again anonymously, if preferred, allowing the support for different ideas to be assessed.

At the end of a session all of the input and results will have been captured electronically, and can be given or e-mailed to the participants, ready for them to analyze and consider further when they get back to the workplace.

"This is a huge improvement over more traditional systems, where ideas get noted down on flip charts or paper pads, then typed up, often with errors and misunderstandings, and then delivered to participants much later when the burst of creative enthusiasm may have waned," comments Parsons.

 

Brainstorming

10 Brainstorming Rules

How To Run a Brainstorming Session

Brainstorming Techniques

Manage Collective Tacit and Explicit Knowledge

Challenging Assumptions

"Why?" and "What If?" Questions

Tips for Challenging Assumptions

Tips for Adopting a Different Point of View

Be-Different Success Stories

Assumptions Quotes

Idea Management

Managing Creativity

Loose-Tight Leadership

Techniques for Fast Idea Evaluation

80/20 Principle

4x2 Perceptual Positions

Six Thinking Hats: Analyzing Proposals

Creative Problem Solving (CPS)

4 Levels of Problem Solving

6-Step Creative Problem Solving Process

How To Turn Problems To Opportunities

Questions for CPS

Asking Searching Questions

Lateral Thinking

Great Thinker 360

Thinking Outside the Box

Systematic Thinking

Holistic Thinking    Systems Thinking

Systemic Thinking

Reframing

Making Big Changes