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Risks from brainstorming and how to overcome them

Brainstorming has numerous benefits to both you and your organization. And yet, not unlike most good things in life, it still has costs and risks involved. We expect these to be worth taking but you should be aware of them so that you can look out for them and readily counter any objections or problems if they occur.

The risk of losing your faith in brainstorming because of a lack of knowledge

Problems normally occur if you only use traditional brainstorming techniques. Many people think they know how to do brainstorming and they often expect enormous successes using only the basic brainstorming rules. Sometimes they just have a go at brainstorming and don't even know the rules. Then they wonder why it doesn't work!

Please don't try brainstorming without full knowledge of how to do it. It would be like trying to play chess when neither person knows the rules. You may get a result but you won't get the best result you could. EVEN WORSE, you could decide that it doesn't work and that you won't try again!

Bad brainstorming is worse than no brainstorming because you could destroy your faith in the technique altogether. That's why we are giving you free training on brainstorming. Brainstorming works if you know how to do it. Learn here for free and give us feedback on how you get on and what problems you have so that we can address them.

Solution to guard against the risk: Read all the web pages in this site by following both the Yellow and Green tours - in that order. Then get the rest of the group, department or company to do the same. This will train everyone for FREE. Alternatively, you can get a specialized brainstorming trainer or facilitator to train and host your initial sessions.

The risk of having a bad session

If you only have one go at brainstorming then it is possible that you could have a bad time. For some people, they blame the process and say that it doesn't work. This is simply not true. It does work but sometimes if the whole group of people are learning at the same time then it can be very difficult to work effectively.

If you follow the rules described in this website and use the techniques and brainstorming software it suggests then you should greatly reduce the likelihood of setting off badly. But you should know the risks so that you can still realize the potential even if you did it poorly for the first time.

If you have a bad session initially you run the risk of:

Making the staff believe that they are not creative because they did not come up with any radical ideas.
Destroying your faith in brainstorming and creativity. This could ruin any future chances of making the organization creative.
Making staff scared to voice their ideas because they were criticized in the session.
Alienating staff if their managers pressure them into participating in a poorly supervised session without a friendly, critical-free environment.
Making brainstorming sessions a time to be dreaded if focus is on individual performance.

In short, if you aren't careful you could destroy the hopes of brainstorming in your organization for a long time to come. However, you and I now know that you will be careful and will read the rest of this free web-based training manual so that you know how to introduce and run positive, professional brainstorming sessions, and that you will know how to prepare people in advance so that they know what to expect and know the techniques which will bring you all success.

There is nothing to be feared if you prepare in advance. It's neither complicated nor difficult if everyone is prepared. You should be able to train and run your own brainstorming sessions with the materials provided here. If you do want further advice or would like to hire a specialized brainstorming facilitator for your early or most difficult sessions then please contact us .

Solution to guard against the risk: Read all the web pages here, and get everyone in the group, department or company to do the same. This will then train everyone for FREE. You could then use special brainstorming software or other manual techniques to help you stimulate new ideas. (Note: While we provide free training at this site, if you or your organisation want to use this information on your own PC or network or as in-house training then we require you to purchase a licence for it. This money will be used to fund expansion of this website and the training you will be receiving.)

Now it's time for a brief summary before learning how to brainstorm.

Click on the yellow door to continue the yellow (Brainstorming) tour or click on the house to return to the table of contents.

Press 'n' to go to the 'N'ext page,
press 'b' to go 'B'ack a page

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