Teamwork Exercise: Brainstorming

Exercise Purpose

This exercise is designed to encourage the contribution—from each team member—of potential solutions to problems facing a group. Participants are allowed to suggest their ideas without input or commentary from other team members; at the conclusion of the brainstorming process the group’s ideas are discussed collectively and the team works together to identify potential solutions to their problem.

Exercise Instructions

• The group should select a leader and a recorder (they may be the same person).
• Clarify the problem or idea to be brainstormed.
• Establish ground rules for the brainstorming session. They should include:
  • Allowing everyone to contribute;
  • Ensuring that no one will evaluate another response;
  • Stating that there are no bad ideas;
  • Breaking out of old patterns; and
  • Keeping the discussion focused on the problem.
• Start the brainstorming. Have the leader select members of the group to share their answers. The recorder should write down all responses on a flip chart so that everyone can see them. The ideas should be recorded as they are generated, but there is no need to discuss them at this stage.
• After participants have run out of ideas, the facilitator should allow for a few moments of additional thought. The facilitator should then check with participants and ask them to contribute any final thoughts.
• Once the team has finished brainstorming, the facilitator should lead the team in a detailed discussion of the results so that the concepts are fully understood by all members of the team.
• The group should then work to identify answers that are repeated or similar and group like concepts together.
• The team should then discuss and agree on the criteria they will use to assess the efficacy of each suggestion.
• Finally, the team’s facilitator should lead the group through a voting process to identify the best solutions to the problem. After the voting has concluded, the list of the team’s most promising ideas should be posted and the team should come to consensus on the final list. The team can then develop an action plan to move forward with problem-solving using the results of the brainstorming exercise.

Adapted from http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/staffdev/tpss99/processguides/brainstorming.html and Bens, FACILITATION AT A GLANCE! (AQP/Participative Dynamics/GOAL/QPC, 1999).