BRAINSTORMING
The word Brainstorming was coined by Alex Faickney Osborn (1888-1966) in his book Your
Creative Power, published in 1948. Osborn was a very successful advertising executive and
business owner during his time.
This is how Osborn explains how the name “Brainstorming” came about:
‘brainstorm’ means using the brain to storm a creative problem and do so in commando fashion,
with each stormer attacking the same objective.”
What is brainstorming
Classical brainstorming is a group technique to create new ideas. The group takes a specific
problem and creates as many ideas as possible in a limited time. Members are encouraged to use
other members’ ideas as trigger (input) to create/associate further ideas, and to combine ideas.
Why and when use brainstorming?
We can use brainstorming to solve all kinds of problems (business, public administration, military,
family, personal). It is important to have a problem that is specific and can be made into a question.
What do we need?
• A specific problem/challenge expressed as a question.
• A group of between 5 and 10 people. We want a mixed group of men and women, experts
and non-experts. The group can contain the president, managers, workers, cleaners….
Everyone might have ideas that can help to solve the problem.
• A leader who ensures that a few basic rules are followed.
How to brainstorm?
1. The leader or another member introduces the problem. The problem is expressed as a
question. (this can be done before the meeting, or as first step in the meeting)
2. The problem is explained in a way that all group members understand its essence.
3. Some facts/details about the problem are provided before we start brainstorming. A field trip
or visit to the place where the problem occurs can help the group members to see and
understand the nature of the problem.
4. The group meets in a half circle and starts to storm the problem. Everyone just speaks out
his/her ideas. All ideas are welcome, simple ideas, crazy ideas…. We want as many ideas as
possible. The more ideas, the better. No group member, including the leader, is allowed to
criticize any idea. Everyone is encouraged to use other group members’ ideas to come up
with yet another idea.
5. All ideas are recorded by a note taker (can be the leader or another person) at a place where
all group members can see the ideas. The easiest way to record the ideas is in form of a list
on a flip chart or whiteboard. We don’t note ideas word for word but try to use keywords or
short phrases.
Four Basic Rules (as described by Osborn)
1. No criticism is allowed during brainstorming. (Evaluation of ideas after the brainstorming)
2. Quantity is important. The more ideas the better. (Don’t worry about speaking out only
“good” ideas.)
3. Wildness is good. Crazy ideas are welcome. (Many times the craziest ideas turn out to be the
best ones.)
4. Combining other ideas and taking another person’s ideas a step further or using them for yet
another idea is good.
A brainstorming session lasts between 30 minutes and 1 hour. After the meeting, the list of ideas is
copied and distributed to all group members. A good way to copy a whiteboard or flip chart is to
take a picture with a digital camera or smartphone.
Why is brainstorming effective?
• It is fun.
• It encourages creativity and discourages criticism during the idea finding phase. The
evaluation of ideas is separated from the creation.
• Ideas by one group member are used by other group members to come up with more ideas
(associations). Osborn calls this “contagion” and “chain reaction.” Osborn claims that more
associations are produced than if only one person brainstorms.
