How to facilitate productive brainstorming sessions

Define exactly what you're trying to solve before brainstorming. Provide context, constraints (time, budget, technical), success criteria, and what's out of scope. A well-framed problem like "How might we reduce customer onboarding time from 5 days to 2 days without adding headcount?" generates better ideas than "How do we improve onboarding?" Share framing materials in advance so participants arrive prepared.

Great ideas come from cognitive diversity. Include people from different departments, seniority levels, backgrounds, and thinking styles. Bring in someone totally unfamiliar with the problem—they ask questions experts miss. Aim for 5-8 participants; smaller than that lacks diversity, larger becomes unwieldy. Consider inviting customers or external experts for fresh perspectives.

Use structured phases: first diverge (generate many ideas without judgment), then converge (evaluate and select). During divergence, explicitly ban criticism, feasibility checks, and "yes, but" responses. Quantity over quality initially—wild ideas often spark practical ones. Only after generating 20+ ideas do you shift to evaluation, using defined criteria to assess and refine.

Don't just ask "any ideas?" Use structured methods: SCAMPER (Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to other uses, Eliminate, Reverse), Six Thinking Hats for different perspectives, Crazy 8s for rapid sketching, or "How might we" questions. Alternate between individual silent ideation and group building on ideas. Change techniques if energy drops or ideas stagnate.

Establish ground rules: no idea is stupid, build on others' ideas, defer judgment, encourage wild thinking. As facilitator, model vulnerability by sharing imperfect ideas first. Use techniques like round-robin sharing so quieter voices are heard. Call out dismissive behavior immediately. Thank people for bold suggestions even if they're not feasible.

Make ideation visible on whiteboards, digital canvases, or sticky notes. Assign a dedicated scribe so the facilitator can focus on guiding. Group related ideas as you go. Don't get bogged down in perfecting wording—capture the essence and keep moving. Photograph or digitize results immediately so nothing is lost.

Define evaluation criteria before assessing: impact, feasibility, cost, time to implement, alignment with strategy. Use dot voting, impact/effort matrices, or weighted scoring. Be transparent about how decisions are made. Select top 3-5 ideas to prototype or develop further. Document why other ideas weren't chosen—they might be valuable later.

End with concrete commitments: who will prototype which idea, by when, with what resources. Create experiments to test assumptions rather than building full solutions immediately. Schedule a follow-up to review results. Share session notes and decisions with participants and stakeholders within 24 hours while momentum is high.