Divergent Thinking Can Improve Brainstorming

How Divergent Thinking Can Improve Your Teams Next Brainstorming Session.

Have your latest brainstorming sessions turned into a light drizzle of ideas?

There are many things that can hinder the effectiveness of a brainstorming session. Judgment is a main reason as to why brainstorming sessions dry up. Judgment is a creativity killer and in brainstorming creativity is king. When ideas are instantly shot down or not considered a “good” idea by the group, it alters the culture of your brainstorming sessions. This new culture doesn’t support the strange nor allows for wild ideas that may be or lead to the answer you are looking for.

To increase the effectiveness of your teams next brainstorm, practice divergent thinking. Divergent thinking will help break the barriers of your teams creativity and help lead your team to dynamic solutions. Divergent thinking is the process of generating multiple ideas for a given topic in a spontaneous, free-flowing manner. Before beginning your session it is important to establish an environment that allows different types of expression, encourages risk and allows failure.

Rules for divergent thinking

The first rule of divergent thinking: differ judgment. – Don’t be a creativity killer, welcome all ideas into your brainstorming session.

The second rule of divergent thinking: encourage the numbers. – The old saying goes, there is strength in numbers. The more ideas your team can generate in a brainstorming session, the greater odds you will come across the idea you are searching for.

The third rule of divergent thinking: Support the strange. – Sometimes an offbeat idea will change your perspective and bring new light to the question.

The fourth rule of divergent thinking – Look for combinations of ideas that might work together. – Build off the ideas of others; find ways to make your ideas work.

Put an end to your team’s idea drought by incorporating divergent thinking in your teams next brainstorming session. Remember to differ judgment, encourage the numbers, support the strange and look for combinations. Follow these rules and you will create a culture that encourages all team members to share their ideas, as wild as they might be.