Some of us may have run traditional brainstorm meetings or most likely been part of a few. You get into a room with colleagues, throw ideas at the wall and come out with what sticks. As work went remote, many managers tried to replicate in-person experiences in the virtual world, without much success.
- While most of us are used to traditional brainstorming and know of it as a great tool for building team alignment and collaboration, it’s much less successful for generating innovation. Worse, when we try to recreate a traditional brainstorming session in the virtual realm, we lose all the positive energy and benefits of being in-person, and keep all the cons.
- Virtual brainstorming, on the other hand, provides a better experience for group members as a whole, generates more novel ideas, and balances the preferences of introverts and extroverts, optimists and pessimists, and lower- and higher-status members.
- It can be done with remote, hybrid, or in-person teams, but just requires everyone to not be in the same room. Begin by picking a shared collaboration tool, ask participants to submit their ideas (even if they’re contradictory), evaluate ideas through anonymous voting or polling sessions, and then you can decide to meet in-person or discuss shortlisted ideas virtually.
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Running a brainstorm is a great way to explore new ideas. As an individual contributor, you’ve probably participated in a few, or maybe you’ve even led your own as a new manager. You get into a room with your team, throw ideas at the wall, and see what sticks.