The best ideas in an organizational setting often come through brainstorming. I love getting a group together and searching for new ideas or ways of doing things.
Change spurs momentum. If you want to create some excitement around you, get a bunch of people in a room and brainstorm about some change ideas. If you are in a stuck or stale position … and want to see new growth … one recommendation I’d give is to organize a brainstorming session.
But, you’ve got to be intentional to brainstorm successfully. You need enough people to establish a variety of thought. (If you don’t have a large church staff, invite some lay people.) You need the right people … people who will voice opinions, but will be positive-minded.
You need to have some open ended questions … or issues to solve … to spur discussion.
And, then you need to establish some rules up front.
Specifically, there are certain phrases that cannot be heard in an effective brainstorming session. They are off limits. In fact, you might even give everyone the freedom to challenge when they hear one of these.
Here are 7 phrases to eliminate in brainstorming:
- We’ve never done it that way.
- We can’t afford that.
- So and so is not going to like it.
- That won’t work.
- I don’t like that.
- The problem with that is…
- That’s crazy…(Or you’re crazy).
Long sighs … shrugged shoulders … or any animation that displays a sense of disgust or lack of initial support should also be discouraged.
There should be plenty of time to critique ideas before they are implemented, but for a brainstorming session you want every idea on the table. There are no bad ideas at this point. In fact, the one that may seem the worst idea of all may be the trigger for someone else’s spark of genius.
This is a great time to encourage randomness. I’ve even led us to play games prior to a brainstorming session.
New ideas are usually out there … they just need to be brought to the table. That’s the point of brainstorming.
What ideas can you add for productive brainstorming?
(Note: I am familiar that some are now saying the term brainstorming is offensive and not politically correct. I mean no harm by this post, but I used it because the term is still most people’s understanding of the process.)
