5 Ways To Make Brainstorming Fun Again

Have you ever been asked for ideas, whether for a new project or for a workplace party and suddenly your mind goes blank? And you can’t come up with a single idea no matter how hard you think? Well, that’s where brainstorming might help you. It is quite a common problem-solving approach used everywhere. Brainstorming literally means storming your issues with creative ideas that might help solve the problem. To spark your creativity, here are 5 ways through which you can make brainstorming fun again for you and your team:

1) Write ‘em down

Start with everyone individually writing their ideas over a certain topic. This method is known as brain-writing. By doing this, everyone’s ideas are not anchored towards a certain direction and one could really see the team’s diverse ideas and creative thinking, with no singular public opinion and other distractions. Writing the ideas first helps the introverts in the team as well.

2) Embrace your geek

Jot down the quick thoughts on sticky notes, keep thumb pins and strings/threads by your workspace, and now you’ve got the chance to create a sticky-note map like the ones you see in the movies. This is a creative way of brainstorming and can even catch the attention of team members who aren’t usually interested in such activities.

3) WW(?)D

Thinking through someone else’s perspective can really help get your creative juices flowing. Imagining what would someone else do – may it be a colleague who inspires you, your role model, or even a fictional character – can make brainstorming for a tedious task quite fun.

4) Brain netting

For the modern workplace, brain netting is the way to go. Participants working remotely or working from home can participate in brainstorming by using virtual collaboration software. Through such software, team heads can ask about a certain project, and teammates can respond. The responses are then saved within the software.

5) Think Fast

Rapid ideation is a method that works best with team members who are impatient and do not enjoy long meetings and often lose track in the middle. Team leaders could set a time limit and then employees could share as many ideas that they can think of within that limited time – no matter how ridiculous – and then the team could lead from pondering over those ideas.

It is important to remember that not every brainstorming method could work well for your workplace, so think of which one suits your team’s dynamic, or even try each to make teamwork more fun and inclusive!