{"id":696,"date":"2012-02-16T05:41:19","date_gmt":"2012-02-16T10:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/facilitativeleadership.wordpress.com\/?p=696"},"modified":"2026-05-01T15:35:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T19:35:39","slug":"facilitate-brainstorming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mgrush.com\/blog\/facilitate-brainstorming\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Facilitate Brainstorming: Ideation and Analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"

The term \u201cbrainstorming\u201d is technically a gerund, a verb that wants to be a noun. A gerund implies more than one step or activity. Osborne’s original Applied Imagination, also known as Brainstorming, relies on separate Ideation and Analysis activities. Here’s how to facilitate brainstorming effectively.<\/h2>\n

To facilitate brainstorming properly use ideation rules and analysis tools. When done poorly, brainstorming leaves a bad taste in peoples’ mouths. Optimally, brainstorming includes three discrete activities:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. List<\/strong> (also known as diverge or ideate)<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Analyze<\/strong> (the hardest of the three activities and frequently omitted)<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Decide<\/strong> (also known as converge or document)<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    A facilitator or session leader must be conscious of where the group is and upon which activity the group should focus. Many people are confident in their facilitation skills because they can stand at an easel and capture ideas (or provide instructions and gather Post-it Notes\u00ae). Those same leaders then turn to their participants. They ask them to create categories, or worse, ask what they would like to do with the list. This type of leadership is NOT<\/em> facilitation and does NOT<\/em>\u00a0make it easier for the group to make an informed decision.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Besides non-narrative methods of capturing participant input, consider the following ideation options when gathering narrative input from your participants.<\/h2>\n

    With narrative brainstorming, first, remember to enforce the rules of ideation when diverging. Prevent discussion while you are capturing their ideas. At the end of ideation, consider one last round robin for final contributions, allowing participants to say \u201cpass\u201d if they have nothing to add.<\/span><\/p>\n

    \"Five

    Ideation Ground Rules for Narrative Brainstorming<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

    Keep in mind that the term \u201clisting\u201d may be more appropriate if you are collecting a known set of information. True ideation derives all future possibilities\u2014anything goes. Beginning with the traditional, facilitator-led question-and-answer approach; consider the following to improve ideation:<\/span><\/p>\n

    Ideation Options to Consider for Narrative Brainstorming<\/h3>\n