In the ancient military strategy book, the Book of Five Rings, Japanese swordfighter Miyamoto Musahi advised “never have a favorite weapon”. The most effective warriors (and business leaders) have a variety of tools available to help them reach their objectives. Whether it comes to winning a war or generating great ideas, the same concept applies. Here are the top 10 brainstorming techniques:
1. EdgeStorming – A cousin of brainstorming, this technique requires you to push your ideas to the absolute furthest extreme. What’s the most expensive? The least expensive? The loudest or softest? What’s the worst idea you could imagine? By forcing yourself to the edges, you’ll uncover countless fresh and new ideas.
2. The Long List – In this case, quantity will help drive quality. Brainstorm a list of no less than 100 ideas on your particular creative challenge. The length requirement will push you beyond the obvious and into the zone of the new and unique.
3. The Steve Jobs – Steve has the ability to envision the ultimate solution to a problem, with absolutely no regard whatsoever for the cost or execution challenges of how he’ll actually get it done. Be like Steve. In fact, save a chair for Steve at your next meeting and when it comes time to brainstorm, ask everyone to chime in on “what would Steve do?”
4. The Hot Potato – Pick a creative challenge with your group, and then quickly pass toss potato around. Each person has to shout out a possible solution immediately, no matter how silly or crazy the ideas is. No judging, no over-thinking. Do short bursts (3-5 minutes each) and have someone serve as a scribe to capture all the amazing ideas you’ll generate. Nerf balls work great instead of potatoes, by the way.
5. The Opposite – Rather than solving the problem in front of you, what if you flipped the problem around. For example, instead of asking “how do we generate less customer complaints”, you might ask “how do we generate more complaints”? This type of thinking will lead to a fresh perspective and uncover some great new ideas.
6. The Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup – Mix the right two things together and you have a hit. For this technique, List as many “ingredients” as possible, and then try random combinations to see if you can get a better end result by combining two things that were previously unconnected.
7. Trading Fours – Jazz musicians do a technique called “trading fours” in which they take turns doing short solos, every four measures. The idea is for one musician to play off what the previous musician created. In your case, have one person start with an idea, sentence, or even just a thought-starter. The next person’s job is to take that idea, and add something small to it. Keep going in a circle and see where the idea takes you.
8. Back to the Future – Imagine you jumped in a time machine and went back 50 years ago. How would they have solved your creative challenge then? Now go into the future. How would you solve the problem 50 years from now?
9. The Blindfold – In this case, keep the actual creative challenge vague so your team doesn’t only focus on quickly reaching an easy outcome. For example, instead of brainstorming around “How can Lexus charge a premium for their high-quality cars”, you might ask “Why do consumers pay more for some products over others?” Keeping your team “blindfolded” can help generate some really original and non-obvious ideas.
10. Brainwriting – In this exercise, each person writes an idea on a slip of paper and then places the idea in the center of the table. Randomly select and idea from the pile, and then go around the table with each person required to expand on the idea. Repeat until all the papers have been explored or you discover an absolutely killer idea.