Why Use It
Individual brainstorming tends to
produce more ideas than group brainstorming because people are freer to create
ideas/solutions without the worry of other people’s opinions. However, personal
brainstorming may not develop as effective ideas, because an individual does
not have the experience of a group and cannot piggyback ideas on those of
others.
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Task |
Description |
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1 |
Find a quiet spot and get
relaxed. |
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2 |
Write out your challenge, “What would I change about my job?”
Concentrate on it for a few minutes, but do not think about ideas or
solutions yet … just what the facts are. |
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3 |
Decide to generate a
predetermined number of ideas/solutions. This will help get you past the trap
of stopping at the first good idea that comes up. |
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4 |
Walk away and do something
else for 5-10 minutes. This gets your conscious mind off the problem and
gives your subconscious time to work. |
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5 |
Come back and start
writing ideas as fast as you can. DO NOT analyze ideas but write fast and
write whatever occurs to you, even if the ideas seem foolish or nonsensical.
Do this for 2-3 minutes or until responses stop. |
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6 |
Next generate more ideas
by pretending you are someone else that is involved in the problem or
situation. Write ideas as if you were those people? |
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7 |
If you need more ideas,
pick some key words from your problem or challenge and use a Thesaurus to
change meanings. Use these words to trigger ideas. |
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8 |
Next, read and review the
list of ideas that you have written.
Narrow the list to the top 3-5 ideas. Improve upon each idea by
looking at an idea’s negatives or disadvantages and find ways to remove or
minimize them. |
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9 |
Finally, decide what idea
is best to implement. |
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