No Brainstorming

›› 11 Good reasons not to hold brainstorming sessions!

Good old brainstorming may not quite be dead, but for many it's already smelling a bit iffy. With good reason, as most of us have seen it fail time and time again to produce really convincing results. Here are 11 simple reasons why:

1. Because the participants have no knowledge of the creative process or creative thought strategies and instead have to rely 100% on their intuition and how they happen to feel on the day.
2. Because the objectives are far too vague and the participants have different ideas about the end result.
3. Because the participants don't take a mental step back from the routine business of the day!
4. Because it is rare that political correctness and the individual's need to conform are left behind when they go into the meeting.
5. Because bosses and clients don't demand radical creativity from the team members. Beyond a certain age managers tend to think about the security of their jobs rather than embracing risky ideas that break new ground.
6. Because meeting rooms are more like modern schoolrooms and are hardly inducive to unconventional thinking.
7. Because the participants are all insiders – clients or the “uninitiated” are seen as getting in the way.
8. Because thousands of people have already spent thousands of hours thinking about the same thing. Free association, as used in brainstorming sessions, generally produces only small variations on existing clichés. In order to come up with the big idea, well-prepared material, in-depth knowledge and unusual methods are required.
9. Because the participants have not learned to think in terms of opportunities and possibilities but are trained to sniff out problems and obstacles. This kills ideas dead before they have been properly explored.
10. Because too little time and attention is invested in idea generation. Ideas are the first link in any value-added chain, but most companies fail to recognise their importance.
11. Because companies attempt to launch the idea generation process within their own narrow structures. Where important or revolutionary ideas are required, this approach is generally doomed to failure. It is far more productive to conduct the innovation process win conjunction with an external partner who remains completely unaffected by the existing company structures.

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